long term empty homes & second homes on the rise in the district
On the 26 July 2023, Cabinet Member for Housing & Homelessness Cllr Rebecca Shoob (Green) informed the world there were 1,540 households on the council housing waiting [...]
Rebecca Shoob
Ross House: Is this another dodgy £1m contract?
How do you win a million pound contract when you don’t have the necessary accreditation to even tender for the contract? Folkestone & Hythe District Council [...]
Cllrs, Social Housing Tenants & Visitors equality rights broken by Council
One of these days, you the good people of Folkestone & Hythe District are going to get good local government – and you are not going to like it. But while [...]
Overview & Scrutiny: Retrofitting, Housing, Fuel Poverty and a dash of hypocrisy
Housing, housing, housing, it’s all about housing. On the agenda at the Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on the 17 Jan 2023 was Retrofitting Council homes in the [...]
Private Rented Sector: Damp & Mould: “It’s not lifestyle”
The similarities in this case of damp and mould are so striking to the one which took the life of the two year old Awaal Ishak, we just had to write about it. Tina is a mum [...]
All work and spending on Bigginswood must stop with immediate effect due to lapsed planning permission
Land at Bigginswood, Cheriton, was purchased in Dec 2016 under urgency powers by the then Coporate Director Dr Susan Priest. The price paid by the Council was £1.5m; which [...]
Otterpool Park Update: Hidden Agenda’s and Fair Value
Ever since the first piece of land was purchased by the Council at Otterpool, in Dec 2015, for £5m from the Champney Brothers, the fair value of the land has risen by 540%, [...]
Council reluctant to place reports about financial and contract irregularities into the public domain.
Updated 26/10/22 @19:30 Sometimes, just sometimes, we do feel for Cllrs who try their best, but find themselves unsupported by other Cllrs who sit on the same committee. [...]
The Looker’s £19,000 High Street Fund application to be heard by Overview & Scrutiny on the 13 July
On the 22nd June we ran the post: Wimble’s Looker Magazine, applies for £19,000 from Council’s High Street Fund Since then things have moved on at pace. The amount [...]
Wimble’s Looker Magazine, applies for £19,000 from Council’s High Street Fund
Cllr David Wimble (Ind) (pictured) is never a man far away from controversy or fake news. Just recently we informed you he’d made a complaint about Fred Miller of [...]
Council publicly admit two investigations into contractual and financial irregularities
Updated 09.06.22 @09:28am Charlotte Spendley (pictured), Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s s151 Officer (the council officer with statutory responsibility for [...]
Council short changed town and parish councils & ignore due process and pay policy
“She’s a fcuking menace” is how one senior council officer described the Chief Executive of Folkestone & Hythe District Council, Dr Susan Priest [...]
£40 million Veolia Waste Contract investigation will not be held in public
The Council set up an Overview and Scrutiny Waste contract Task and Finish Group to investigate the Veolia Waste Contract Fiasco, which led to thousands of homes NOT having [...]
The Overview & Scrutiny Committee Inquisition into the £40 million waste contract cock up has begun
It was a miracle, whether divine or not is impossible to say. On Tuesday 15th June at 6.30pm at the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, the number of apologies from Cllrs [...]
Cllrs go missing in action
What a waste! In the last two years there have not been many opportunities for opposition members to land any significant blows on the Tory led coalition at Folkestone & [...]
Folkestone & Hythe District Council breaking Environmental Law
New evidence has emerged which shows Folkestone & Hythe District Council are in clear breach of environmental law and in particular the Environmental Permitting (England [...]
Folkestone & Hythe District Council the gift which keeps on giving
Data they say, is the new oil. Each month Folkestone & Hythe District Council produce their monthly payment to suppliers data which continues to be a rich seam to drill [...]
£40,000 Pay Rise For Failing Chief Exec of Folkestone & Hythe District Council
She says she understands the importance of transparency and is able to discharge responsibilities to the highest standards of probity. Dr Susan Priest, the Chief Executive of [...]
Otterpool Park Update: It’s Official. Folkestone & Hythe District Council Now Own The Racecourse
Updated: 26/10/20 @12:40 It’s official. Folkestone & Hythe District Council now own Folkestone racecourse, according to the land registry. The deal has taken close [...]
Raw sewage flowed into our rivers in 2019 and Shepway Green Party remain silent.
Yesterday, The Shepway Green Party announced that Cllr Rebecca Tamsin Shoob (Green Party) (pictured) has accepted a place on the Ottepool Park LLP In 2019/20 Cllr Shoob [...]
Otterpool Park Update: Cllr Jim Martin “Shocked” Council appoint Tibbalds using a waiver for phase 1 of the Otterpool Park, at a cost of £120,000.
At a behind closed doors meeting of the Otterpool Working Group in April, an officer of the Council let slip that Tibbalds had been appointed as consultants to prepare [...]
Changes afoot to Overview & Scrutiny are decided behind closed doors continuing the lack of Openness & Transparency.
We have long said the effectiveness of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee (O&S) has been unacceptable and that it has been the lion which never roared. It has been a [...]
Folkestone & Hythe District Council Continue to Spray Toxic Glyphosate Weedkiller in District Play Areas
Glyphosate was originally patented as a chemical pipe cleaner in 1964. In 1969 it was patented as a herbicide. Glyphosate is poison. That’s the first thing to understand [...]
Otterpool Park Update: The Council grants itself £100,000,000.
Updated 19:15 (21/11/19) It took 49 minutes for the request for the facility to draw down £100 million to be debated and finally agreed at last night’s full Council. [...]
The Long Read: Is £10 an hour too much to ask?
On the 24th July the full council resolved and approved the following amended Labour motion put by Cllr Connor McConville (pictured), Leader of the Labour Group at district [...]