By Local Democracy Reporter Simon Finlay
The leader of the county’s biggest local authority is to press ahead with a proposal for a single council in Kent as part of planned government reforms.
Reform UK Kent County Council chief Cllr Linden Kemkaran believes that one, new unitary body would deliver the best outcomes for local residents and be more cost-effective.
Other leaders of councils in the county have already agreed to submit a plan supporting three and four unitaries to replace the current 14 which will be abolished under the local government reorganisation.
Their preferred choice of options were:
Option 3A would consist of: West – Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Malling, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells; East – Ashford, Folkestone & Hythe, Dover, Canterbury and Thanet; North – Medway, Dartford, Gravesham and Swale.
With 4B, the components would be: West – Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Malling, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells; North – Medway, Dartford, Gravesham; Mid – Folkestone & Hythe, Ashford and Swale; East – Dover, Canterbury and Thanet.
Thanet council leader Rick Everitt said TDC’s preferred choice is 4B, although this could change as detailed work takes place.
Local government reorganisation plans were launched last December by then Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, and her junior minister Jim McMahon, both of whom have since left their posts.
KCC’s plan
Cllr Kemkaran has written to other Kent council leaders confirming her intention to put forward plans for a single unitary authority and three area assemblies.
KCC has confirmed it will self-fund its solo project but has yet to work out the cost to the taxpayer.
Cllr Kemkaran’s letter said: “I remain of the view that the cost implications and risk to service quality of disaggregating significant and complex KCC services into smaller unitary councils is of very high risk and therefore unacceptable.
“I remain unconvinced that the full cost of LGR (local government reorganisation) has been explored or understood in any detail by anyone involved in this process. I am deeply concerned that the cost will ultimately be borne by the Kent taxpayer.
“I believe that this scenario should be avoided at all costs.”
Costs
One borough council leader said Cllr Kemkaran’s plan is “undemocratic and unsupported” which will be hugely costly but the influential County Councils’ Network (CCN) appears to endorse its cost efficiency.
When Mrs Rayner’s “Devolution Revolution” was announced last year it was predicated on 2020 CCN data, which would have delivered £2.9bn in savings over five years.
Revised figures and further analysis this year showed that level of savings can now only be made if there is only one unitary authority in each of the 21 English two tier counties, of which Kent is one.
But the government reforms would need to see the formation of dozens of new unitaries in total, which the CCN says would be a massive money loser.
‘Best outcomes’
A KCC statement said today: “KCC’s administration believes that a single unitary council would deliver the best outcomes for Kent residents to quickly bring about cost savings for taxpayers while ensuring that local communities can have their say on how services in their area are run.
“A single unitary has the added benefit of avoiding the substantial costs that would come with reconfiguring the county into multiple councils which is being proposed through other LGR options.
“This could see an additional cost of up to £40million every year to run four unitary councils and could result in council tax increases or reductions in service to cover the costs.”
The KCC leadership says £16.2m a year could be saved on social care and services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). There would be economies of scale by providing county-wide services.
The area assemblies would run services such as libraries and leisure facilities, roads and make planning decisions.
Cllr Kemkaran sought to reassure the other leaders in Kent that “despite our differences” KCC would “continue to act in good faith”. T
The new Secretary of State, Steve Reed, must receive submissions by November 28.
On self-funding, a KCC spokesperson said: “The proposal will be self-funded by KCC, with the majority of the KCC business case prepared by KCC officers.
“There may be a need for some external support on specific aspects of the business case, but we have not yet confirmed those and therefore cannot comment on costs. Any additional support required will be funded from existing approved budgets.”
‘Vanity project’
But Green Party leader of Maidstone Borough Council, Cllr Stuart Jeffery, who is also a KCC member, said Cllr Kemkaran’s plan is a “mess”.
He added: “KCC’s proposals are undemocratic and unsupported by the rest of Kent’s councils – Reform UK is throwing a huge amount of tax payers’ money at a vanity project that will fail.
“Their proposal would be for a council twice the size of Birmingham’s and we can see what an appalling mess they are in.
“Simply adding councils together will just add the problems together. With Medway facing a £20m deficit and Kent £80m, Reform’s plan will simply land us with a £100m problem.
“We need to be far more radical if we want local councils and local democracy to survive.
“In addition, the idea that a council can function with 260 councillors is frankly bonkers.
“Can you imagine the chaos in a full council meeting? If you had fewer councillors than that, then the work load would be overwhelming and residents would not be properly represented. Their plan is a mess.”
A former Conservative county councillor from the last administration said: “I can understand why Linden is doing it but she hasn’t a hope in hell of getting it accepted by the government.”
Yay, no more TDC!!!
The KCC proposal goes against value for money and democratic responsibility. It is most unlikely to be funded by the Government , who are likely to approve the views of 14 councils from all over Kent.
Reform want Less local democracy with coastal towns including thanets continuing to get less money than west Kent. We need a divorce from west kent to prosper.
I actually agree with Rick Everitt [it had to happen sooner or later]! Unitary authorities are the norm in London- 32 Boroughs and the City of London. Thanet will always lose out to the posh West Kent Tory councils. Keeping East Kent council tax in East Kent seems like an excellent idea to me. Our only concern is that we will have Kent’s only,- and internationally renowned – city of Canterbury that will hover up a lot of the resources for tourism. We have a lot in common with Dover so may have to jointly keep the archbishopric under control. Town and parish councils will probably get an enhanced role in this set-up.
The penny has finally dropped for Reform at KCC that their primary job is to abolish themselves.
The most sensible combination for East Kent would be a Canterbury, Dover, Thanet, Folkestone combined Council but note that one didn’t make the final cut.
Well the sensible combination is 4b and does include the 4 eastern Districts, but even so Thanet and Dover do contain some the highest levels of deprivation and Canterbury has a shed load of debt fromm all it’s retail acquisitions. We must also understand that the eastern coastal Districts are also retirement spots with places like Birchington having a high percentage of over 65s within their populations,this has a knock effect on social care.Without careful negotiations with government we might find ourselves in difficulties.
Certainly government is not going to give KCC any assistance and I am sure would quite like to put the commissioners in should Reform bulls up the KCC budget.
It is also quite untrue that no one has worked out the costs of doing all this, because the County councils network commissioned a report from PC in 2020, and updated in March, which if you have read them are good going working documents. You have to make some assumptions, butbyou won’t find out exactly what everything will cost until reorganisation happens.
The so called DOLGE accountants might be alright in dealing with SME accounts or even the larger tech businesses, but I am doubtful of their credentials in dealing with something as complex as KCC or even Medway and the Districts.
I don’t give any credibility to a woman who supports a conference speaker who suggests that covid vaccines cause cancer.
Andrew you seem woefully ignorant of cancer specialists worldwide calling out the turbo cancers caused by the unsafe and ineffective covid jabs. My retired medical and scientific friends (and ex big pharma employees) all say this out loud without censorious employers to worry about any longer).
The boot is on the other foot.
The opinion of your friends counts as nothing against the peer reviewed conclusions of a vast body of research.
Andrew & MMR like the idea of control.
I like the idea of science, rather than pseudoscience and quackery.
Andrew – vast research globally on the toxic side effects of the experimental jabs with many medical experts speaking out. And observe neighbourhoods in Thanet with sudden deaths and debilitating illnesses. And those in the NHS treating them acknowledging it. Many of us do.
Democrat- Which neighbourhoods in Thanet should I be reading about in order to find details about these sudden deaths and debilitating illnesses?
No. You are completely wrong.
The consensus of peer-reviewed scientific opinion is that covid vaccines are safe and effective.
Democrat- you like to quote conspiracy theories,but you should take them with a big pinch of salt. You wouldn’t want Britain to be run by a bunch of people who do believe in them, would you? Look at what’s happening in America!
America’s in far better shape than we are. if you actually went there, you’d know that.
The American healthcare system is an exemplar. In the developed world, it is the most expensive with the poorest outcomes.
Gun crime in America is the worst in the western world.
The US healthcare system is headed by a vaccine denier.
Its president is a climate change denying nutter.
I don’t think I want to go to America.
I don’t think America cares what you think. I don’t.
M.M. ‘conspiracy theory’- weaponised propaganda term used by the CIA at the time of the JFK killing to shut down debate very successfully. You seem to have fallen for that trap. Most have woken up to it all by now.
Democrat- I don’t see why conspiracy theory should only be used for one event.
Yay no more TDC,is that the best you can come up with?
All you really have to decide us which option will run services best,at the least cost?
Do you want everything to be decided in Maidstone and if so why not abolish local government and run it from Whitehall as both are equally remote from East Kent?
Most people are not bothered by this and so any consultation will attract only nerds and those with all sorts of other axes to grind.
The wrong option was taken in 1972, let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.
Says someone who wrote a 160 word post on an article about a book, without even mentioning the book…
At least my post is on-topic instead of the ramblings of an old fool.
So you counted how many words I used, and you are trying to tell me that I am a rambling old fool.If this is about Reform’s literary pretension and censorship, it doesn’t matter what the book was called, they have no business deciding what we should read,nor make value judgements on the morals of others.in fact if we were all a little more tolerant of each other,the world be a lot happier.I tolerate you and i don’t count your words, but I am hopeful that one day you might say something profound and interesting, rather than your usual trite one liners, which say more about your level of erudition than the subject at hand.
Is everything a conspiracy theory to you… even a book about Thanet’s work history? It was this, you loony:
https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2025/09/10/new-nostalgia-book-focuses-on-how-we-used-to-make-a-living-in-thanet/
What an unpleasant person you are, but finally we get to the heart of the matter.You are referring to the book on Thanet’s industrial history,if you read my post, you will see that far from dissing the book, I was referring to the nostalgia for the past and pointed out that we need to build for the future Really PC you must control your anger, calling people names only makes you seem childish.Sticjs and stones,PC,sticks and stones.
George Nokes- Peter Checksfield shouldn’t have called you a “loony”. I agree with you about nostalgia.
He only does it because he feels angry and inadequate in some way.
From the IoTN Commenting policy:
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to user-to-user personal abuse and will bar any commentator who verbally abuses another user.”
Kent County Council was a thing for a very long time. Then it was broken up. Reuniting the historic council, a thing that grew organically over centuries, is a good thing to do. The economies of scale that it brings are economically good. The population clout it gives at a national level is good.
Obviously the Greens, Lib. Dems., Tories and Labour are going to oppose anything put forward by Reform. That’s party politics. Unfortunately for them, the people of Kent chose Reform.
I didn’t vote for anyone. However, the plan makes sense. All the other Splitter scenarios would leave Kent and its people in a weaker, poorer situation. As for Birmingham…. It’s failure is not down to its size. That’s the politics of its administrators!
I am afraid not Harry. KCC dates from 1889 and was set up under an act of parliament, You are right however in saying that the borders of Kent have changed as part of Kent is now in London.
A whole Kent administration would be too unwieldy and would soon displace TDC as the most unpopular council in these parts.
This is the worst of all worlds and simply about reform trying to cling on. They should have know when running for election their primary role was going to be to dissolve KCC. I can’t see this being approved by the government, it goes against the very idea of the reforms. KCC is already far too remote and out of touch, creating a single unitary authority will make matters worse. Just shows how utterly incompetent and self serving reform are.
I thought Reform were always going on about councils wasting taxpayers money and how they were going to do the opposite? Clearly another lie!
David – unlike Conservative and Labour administrations – they all lie and Labour more so so than others!