Kent fire service plans biggest shake-up in more than a decade
Five on-call stations at risk, plus Margate town council plans, storm overflows in Thanet, some very old naming, and custard pies
Kent Fire and Rescue Service is preparing its biggest reshaping of fire cover in more than a decade, with five on-call stations facing closure and changes proposed across the county. Plus the World Custard Pie Championships, Margate town council plans, storm overflows in Thanet, A249 delays, Eurotunnel legal threats and the rest of the week across Kent.
Kent fire service plans biggest shake-up in more than a decade
Kent Fire and Rescue Service is preparing for its biggest reshaping of fire cover in more than a decade.
Five on-call fire stations could close, with four attached on-call sections at wholetime stations could be removed. Overnight cover at two larger stations could be reduced, and resources shifted to provide extra daytime appliances elsewhere.
KFRS says this is not simply about cutting costs. It argues that the risks facing Kent have changed, and that resources need to move with them.
Firefighters are not convinced.
The proposals would close on-call stations at Grain, Cliffe, Wye, Chilham and Westerham. Attached on-call sections would also be removed from wholetime stations in Herne Bay, Deal, Tunbridge Wells and Faversham, though the full-time cover at those stations would remain.
At Dartford and Northfleet, two appliances would remain available during the day, but overnight cover would reduce to one appliance. KFRS says this would allow additional daytime appliances to be based at Strood, Ashford and Folkestone, where demand is higher.
Taken together, it amounts to a significant redrawing of the county’s fire cover.
The plans first emerged after details were accidentally shared with staff before being reported by the BBC. KFRS subsequently confirmed the stations involved and announced its intention to consult, subject to approval by the Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority.
Ann Millington, the chief executive of KFRS, has argued that the current network reflects a different era of firefighting.
“The nature of the risk has changed so much in the last 20 years,” she told BBC Radio Kent. “What we’re facing now is not what was set up in the original on-call system.”
The service says some stations now attend very few incidents. Millington told the BBC that some receive fewer than seven “shouts” a year, making it harder for firefighters to maintain the operational experience needed to keep themselves and the public safe.
That is the core of KFRS’s argument. A quiet fire station may feel reassuring to a community, but the service says low activity can create its own problem if crews are not attending enough incidents to regularly use and develop their skills.
The wider picture is more complicated than a simple story of falling demand. Government figures show KFRS attended 18,326 incidents in 2025, up 7.6% on the previous year. Total fires increased by 22.7%, while outdoor primary fires rose by 67.4%.
KFRS is not arguing that firefighters have less work to do. It argues that the work has changed and that the current network no longer matches where and when that work is happening.
That is where the dispute begins.
The Fire Brigades Union says the proposals risk increasing travel distances and weakening local resilience. Tim Green, the union’s South East chair, told the BBC that longer journeys “directly reduce the chance of survival in certain types of fire and makes it harder for us to contain incidents quickly.”
Kent FBU representatives also met last week to discuss a wider package of proposed changes, including station closures, removal of attached on-call appliances, appliance deployment changes, 12-hour shifts and changes to day-crewed stations.
For KFRS, the proposal is about moving resources toward demand. For opponents, it risks thinning out cover in places where distance already matters.
Those arguments will play differently across the county.
On the Hoo Peninsula, Grain and Cliffe are both marked for closure, leaving Hoo as the only remaining fire station on the peninsula. In west Kent, Westerham residents are likely to ask similar questions about distance and rural cover. In east Kent, Wye and Chilham face the same basic argument about whether low demand justifies losing local stations.
The attached on-call removals raise a slightly different issue. Herne Bay, Deal, Tunbridge Wells and Faversham would keep their wholetime stations, but lose the additional on-call sections that currently provide extra capacity. KFRS describes these as over-provision. Critics are likely to ask what happens when demand spikes or multiple incidents happen at once.
The consultation documents have not yet been published, so the detailed evidence behind the proposals remains unseen. That matters more for the county-wide story than any single quote. If KFRS wants residents to accept that fewer local stations can still mean effective cover, it will need to show the call-out data, attendance modelling and risk analysis behind the plan.
Until then, the argument is clear enough.
KFRS says Kent’s fire service needs to be redesigned around modern risk. Firefighters warn that closing stations and reducing local appliances could lead to longer waits during emergencies.
Residents will be asked to decide which case they find more convincing when the 12 week consultation opens on 25 June.
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The big read
Okay, so it's not really a read so much as a series of photos, but the Guardian sent along a photographer to the World Custard Pie Championships, which took place in Coxheath over the weekend. The competition has been held every year since 1967 to raise funds for Coxheath Village Hall, and it's as ridiculous and glorious as you'd expect.
Guardian staff reporter
Council matters
Meetings this week:
- Gravesham: Council meets on Tuesday to discuss nuisance vehicles, town twinning, planning, and more.
- Sevenoaks: Cabinet gathers to discuss public space protection orders, finances, leisure centres, solar farms, and much more.
- Maidstone: Cabinet will discuss finances, temporary accommodation, and traveller sites on Wednesday.
- Thanet: Planning Committee meets on Wednesday to decide on an application for 150 homes on the former Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate.
- Dartford: Development Control Board will meet on Thursday to decide on a mixed-use town centre application for 69 homes, commercial floorspace, artist studio space, and more.
- Sevenoaks: Development Management Committee will decide on an outline application for 135 homes south of Edenbridge.
- Thanet: Council will hold an extraordinary meeting on Thursday to discuss establishing a town council for Margate.
New planning applications:
- Ashford: Outline application for 175 homes in Kingsnorth.
Keeping track of Kent properly takes time, travel and a fair amount of patience.
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In brief
📍 Some enterprising councillors in Swale have decided to come up with new names for the new Kent councils we'll be switching to from 2028. Rather than boring names like North Kent, West Kent, and East Kent, suggested names included Greater Cantium, Wanstum and Downs, Saxon Shore, and more.
👷 The junction upgrade between Iwade and Kemsley on the A249 is 'nearly complete,' a mere two years behind schedule.
🚧 Meanwhile, parts of the Sheppey Crossing will remain closed for days due to emergency repairs to a bridge joint.
👃 Residents near Canterbury are increasingly annoyed by a 'stinking mountain' of waste.
🚗 Canterbury City Council has seen a £500,000 drop in parking fee revenue.
🚓 A Kent Police officer has been discharged following threats to damage a member of the public's car in a parking row.
🪧 A far-right protest in Maidstone over the weekend led to a racist on racist altercation as Britain First leader Paul Golding and a White Vanguard supporter got into it with each other.
📄 Rochester and Strood MP Lauren Edwards is reintroducing the assisted dying bill back into the Commons.
🧑⚕️ Plans for the merger of Kent Community Health and Medway Community Healthcare have been set out.
🏊 Swimming was restricted at 12 Thanet beaches for two days after South Water discharged storm wastewater.
📋 Hythe will host a public exhibition of plans for the 8,500 home Otterpool Park development later this month.
🏭 Kent County Council is inviting proposals to take over the running of eight KCC windmills.
🚄 Eurotunnel is threatening legal action after its business rates tripled.
🪖 A history of Ashford's tank.
🌊 The world's first shoreline community allotment project has received funding on the Isle of Sheppey.
🐝 Folkestone has fallen to the bees.
🦋 The population of a rare butterfly in Kent has increased by 900% since 2005, thanks to the work of farmers and volunteers.
Property of the week
This week’s property is a substantial period house in Sandwich that comes with one very useful distinction. It is not Grade II listed, which in this town almost feels rebellious. The house is spread over three floors, with four bedrooms, two reception rooms, a large kitchen and dining space, a conservatory and three bathrooms, including an en suite to the main bedroom. It is also being sold with no onward chain. The real headline, though, is outside. For a central Sandwich home, this has a silly amount of parking, with a double garage, car port and space for three more vehicles at the rear, plus a sunny enclosed garden. In a town where parking can become a lifestyle issue, that may do more selling than the period charm.
Events this week
🗳️ 16 - 20 Jun - I'm Sorry, Prime Minister // Final chapter from the co-creator of Yes, Minister, sees Jim Hacker and Humphrey Appleby endure one final crisis. Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. Tickets from £19.
🎸 Fri 19 Jun - Garbage + Skunk Anansie // Two alt-rock heavyweights share a bill by the sea. Dreamland, Margate. Tickets £64.
🤼 Sun 21 Jun - UKPW //Action-packed wrestling entertainment featuring a 20-person rumble. Westgate Hall, Canterbury. Tickets £12.
Footnotes
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