Kent County Council’s preferred option for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is a single unitary council covering Kent and Medway to include three Area Assemblies.
KCC says this will now be taken to the next stage after a discussion at the Kent Leaders’ forum.
The preferred KCC option will go forward alongside other options from Medway Council and district and borough councils. They will be assessed against the Government’s LGR criteria, with results and feedback provided by advisors KPMG to Kent Leaders in September.
At a meeting of all Kent’s council Leaders on Wednesday (13 August) the Leader of KCC Linden Kemkaran, and Deputy Cabinet Member for Finance and Cross-Cabinet Activity, Chris Hespe, outlined their concerns about the potential cost and disruption of disaggregating vital county services such as adult social care, children’s social care and highways to new councils in Kent and Medway, with the resulting additional costs likely to be met by increases in council tax for Kent households.
Linden Kemkaran said: “I am pleased that my fellow Kent Leaders agreed that KCC’s preferred option 1a should be put forward along with the other options, to be considered for the next stage. All the other options will cost an absolute fortune to implement, and no one has yet been able to explain to me how that will be paid for. I think the bill will be picked up by the council taxpayers, something I find unacceptable.
“I am determined to do what’s best for Kent, rather than blindly following the Government’s instructions and attempting to force a square peg into a round hole.
“Kent is a unique county and should be treated as such. We are the gateway to Europe and the gateway to the United Kingdom. We are large, with varied geographical features that includes 350 miles of coastline, and we are special. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure Kent achieves the best outcome when it comes to Local Government Reorganisation.”
However, Thanet council leader Rick Everitt says that is not the preferred option of TDC and it is not compliant with guidance for the new councils.
He said: “KCC’s proposal is not compliant with the government’s model for devolution or its guidance for the new councils. I remain strongly in favour of scrapping our current district and county councils and for a new East Kent unitary. What that will look like we don’t yet know, but there is zero chance of the model proposed by KCC being adopted.”
He added that there are now seven different options on the table, and any Kent council can put one forward, so it’s premature to say any of them have primacy. Thanet council supports plans for four unitary authorities although boundaries may differ from those put forward by authorities such as Medway Council.
Medway Council says it supports a proposal for four unitary authorities across Kent and Medway that align with the healthcare system, and priorities around prevention and early intervention ensuring residents receive the best level of care, and that health inequalities are tackled head on.
The reorganisation of councils in Kent and Medway will mean all current councils will no longer exist and instead new unitary authorities would be created with responsibility for all services across a wider geographical area. The Government has asked for a comprehensive business case on proposals by 28 November this year.
Further information
A key part of the process will be a public awareness campaign to ensure residents and businesses fully understand the potential changes that LGR will bring. An initial survey has gone live this week. More information can be found here: Your councils – change is coming – Kent Council Leaders
Kent and Medway were not selected as one of the areas to be a part of the Government’s Devolution Priority Programme, which fast tracks the installation of locally-elected mayors and an overarching mayoral authority. However, all of the county’s council Leaders have been asked to work on LGR.
Just picked up my 20 to 40 pieces of daily litter in 70 yards.Walked along the seafront passing several pieces of dog poo.Along the coast every litter bin was overflowing into the sea with grafitti and industrial levels of weeds.Then walked
to Ramsgate where some roads have 6 foot weeds on mass and havent been swept in years.
Holiday on Suffolk coast last week and it was perfectly clean.A month ago I drove 1500 miles around France.Absolutely spotless.Saw more litter and weeds just driving out of Dover ferry port.What apalling value for money Council Tax is.
Can things get any worse.I have given up voting its pointless.
Whether it is 3 or 4 Unitaries, things can’t get any worse in Thanet so we will be better off regardless. As David says, the streets are filthy, dog poo everywhere. The pavements covered in weeds give you a great idea of what the world would look like in some dystopian, post-human era.
Thanetian Blind- your comment regarding the state of Thanet’s towns are very much exaggerated. The streets aren’t filthy, “dog poo” is not everywhere, and the pavements are not “covered in weeds”.
“Is very much” not “are”
I assume you don’t get out and about in Ramsgate very much. Here are some streets to have a walk down if you do ever venture outside of the seafront area. You’ll perhaps change your view after. Dumpton Park Drive, Hereson Road, Boundary Road, Thanet Road next to the San Clu.
That was just one walk the other day. All filthy. All covered in weeds and litter. Thanet Road next to the San Clu heading up to Ramsgate Glass Centre has the most dog poo I think I’ve ever seen on a residential road. Completely disgusting.
As I said, other districts are far cleaner so reorganisation will only be a good thing if their influence spreads to Thanet.
Just please, please, please don’t let any senior managers from TDC or Councillors have anything to do with the new Council.
Thanetian Blind_ I live near the streets you name, and I do “get out and about in Ramsgate ” several times a week.
I’m with both of the above. Even just a few miles away in Whitstable and Tankerton the streets are cleaner (and the toilets are open all year round!).
So, Rick Everitt says, “I remain strongly in favour of scrapping our current district and county councils and for a new East Kent unitary. What that will look like we don’t yet know.”
How can you be in favour of something that you don’t know anything about?
I don’t know about ‘Council Leader’, I think this clown should visit Santus Circus & apply for a job with them. At least when the circus moves on, Thanet will be rid of this joker
Right, let’s get this straight Kemkaran’s empire building is a non starter and is non compliant as Rick Everitt suggests.
4 unitaries with a big mid kent Unitary is probably not suitable either, as it makes the others too small. Faversham should be with the east ,Swale ircat least most of it with Medway, eastern Ashford with the east and Western Ashford with the West.This was all worked out 50 years ago,but because politicians interfered we ended up with the dogs breakfast of today.
Kent is not anymore unique than Cornwall,Lancashire or more especially Yorkshire,and of it was not allowed to become a province of its own. There are in fact 2 Kents the first is the well to do,clapperboard cottage kent of the weald etc, which Kemkaran alludes to, and then there is coastal community, and post industrial Kent, where pay is low,life expectancy is low, and attainment is low, where Kemkaran gets most of her support, from people who feel left out.
Why KPMG should be making any decisions on this is beyond my ken, but that is modern Britain,where technocrat make all the decisions that count.
Kathy Bailes Why is my comment here- disagreeing strongly with “Thanetian Blind”- not being published?
No idea, perhaps it is in moderation
This whole reorganisation is being foisted on us by a government that finagled its way into power and would be wiped out if the election were rerun. I don’t remember this proposal even being in its manifesto.
Any local politician worth his salt would simply say ‘no, not cooperating until there’s a proper consultation on whether people want their local council abolished not just on what they want to replace it’.
I dread to think how much more us council tax us payers in the proposed East Kent would have to pay to cover all the expenditure when so many in this deprived area don’t even pay any council tax.
Well Jane, there will be some savings from one council doing all the work.The settlement that East Kent will receive will be different to West and Mid Kent to account for the nature of deprivation.As some get council tax discount now,the change will not affect the situation.Of course if by some miracle in Reform land they actually do run KCC for less, thank to those huge savings they keep claiming exist, then there should be no.problem will there?
I do wish the gloomsters and doomsters would stop talking the country and the local. Community down.We should be thankful that we do not live in the parallel world of the US, being murdered by Russians, or being starved as in Gaza.
The UK may not be firing on all 4, but it is a hell of a lot better than living in most of the world. Old Starmer may be boring,but he is not self obsessed like Trump,a 6 cylinder hood like Putin,or autocratic like any number of world leaders.
If all you have to worry about is council tax,then your troubles are miniscule in comparison with many souls in much of the world.
This is just a power grab by the Reform leader.