Culture wars and cost-cutting set tone at KCC
Plus what else has happened at KCC this week, the padel fightback begins, news in brief, and more
Just how are things going for Kent’s new Reform administration? KCC held a full council meeting today, with culture wars and cost-cutting setting the tone. We’ve got the full details below, alongside news of what else has happened at KCC this week, details of the war on padel, news in brief, and more.
Culture wars and cost-cutting set tone at KCC
Two and a half months into Reform’s tenure at Kent County Council, it’s fair to say that things haven’t been quite as smooth as the insurgent party might have liked.
It’s been another messy week for the administration, with a row dominating over whether a cabinet member was sacked or resigned from his role in charge of the transport brief. Kent County Council put out a formal statement saying that Cllr Bill Barrett of Ashford Rural South ‘made the decision’ to step down from the role.
That isn’t quite how Cllr Barrett tells it himself. Speaking to Politico, he claimed that the idea he resigned was a “complete lie.” He went on to say he was “ambushed” by KCC leader Linden Kemkaran, her deputy Brian Collins, and whip Maxwell Harrison, who proceeded to spend “50 minutes saying how shit I was.”
Cllr Barrett has since been replaced by Hythe West’s Peter Osbourne, another success of the party’s vetting program, who has littered social media with misogynistic ‘jokes’ and comments based on racial stereotypes.
All of this comes in the same week that Cliftonville councillor Daniel Taylor appeared in court charged with three offences, including making threats to kill his wife, sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message, and engaging in coercive control over a period of 11 years from 2014 to 2025. Reform suspended Cllr Taylor last month, though he continues to sit as an independent.
Outside the chamber, a group of young pro-trans protestors waved signs and chanted in favour of trans rights, urging councillors to ‘Reform your mind.’ It was a jarring sight in the centre of Maidstone on a Thursday morning.
So it was with this backdrop that Kent County Council met today for one of the first proper council meetings since Reform swept to power in May. On the agenda: the big savings Reform’s team of cost cutters has supposedly found at KCC, changes to councillor allowances, and the opportunity for opposition councillors to scrutinise the administration.
It took all of two questions to leader Linden Kemkaran before things descended into the culture wars. Green councillor Stuart Jeffrey asked a reasonably straightforward question about tackling violence toward women and girls, but of course, things are never straightforward at KCC. Kemkaran replied that men from “deeply misogynistic” and “unenlightened cultures” were “invading” the county. For bonus points, she also managed to get in a jibe about some people believing that “a man can magically turn into a woman because he wears a wig and a skirt.”
Next, it was the newly minted Cllr Osbourne’s time to shine as he was asked to share his administration’s strategy for improving roads in Kent. When Labour’s Cllr Brady accused him of not having a plan, he retorted, “We most certainly do have a plan, we just haven’t chosen to let you know about it yet.” Which seems like a healthy way for a democratic institution to operate.
Cllr Stepto of the Greens asked about what powers the DOGE team that visited KCC had, and whether the letter that Reform sent, threatening council staff if they didn’t cooperate, was seen by the council's Chief Executive before it was published. Cllr Kemkaran said that it wasn’t, which again, all sounds very healthy.
Following questions, it was time for Cllr Kemkaran to announce the big savings that the administration had been able to cut from the budget since they took over. The headlines:
£202,500 saved by cutting councillor allowances by 5%.
Scrapping the net-zero renewable programme of property renovations, saving £32m over four years, with a further £7.5m by scrapping the transition to electric vehicles.
£14m saved by not moving out of the current headquarters at Sessions House, which was due to be relocated to Invicta House.
£180,000 saved by cancelling some subscriptions.
Debt has reduced by £16m since Reform took over, which will increase to £33m by March, though opposition councillors, this would have happened regardless of who was in charge and doesn’t qualify as a saving.
While these may represent some savings, within the full KCC budget of £2.6bn spent every year, it appears that DOGE haven’t found the huge savings they were looking for. Cllr Kemkaran even added some additional costs, such as some money to bring Sessions House up to standard and, perhaps most excitingly, ‘recommissioning the coffee cart’ for council meetings.
Opposition councillors raised concerns about some savings, particularly the decisions to remain in Sessions House, which Conservative leader Harry Rayner called a “significant black hole.” At the same time, Labour’s Alister Brady said the savings didn’t add up.
Elsewhere, councillors agreed to cut councillor allowances by 5%, and there was even a moment of cross-party unity when Reform accepted a Lib Dem amendment to increase the amount given for carers. Similar unity could not be found in response to shithousery from Labour, who wanted to increase the cut to the leader to 10% or the Conservatives, who wanted to cut allowances for councillors who don’t turn up to meetings.
But if Reform had hoped this first full council meeting would help steady the ship and present a competent face to the public, it didn’t quite land. Between culture war outbursts, unanswered questions about internal conduct, and savings that appear more symbolic than structural, the meeting laid bare the growing gap between Reform’s headline-grabbing rhetoric and the messy, often mundane business of running a council.
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What (else) happened at KCC this week?
Following our reporting last week about an invented moral panic by the administration, where they falsely claimed a trans reference book was in the children’s section of a library (it wasn’t), the debate rumbled on during full council with Cllr Kemkaran claimed that a ‘whistleblower’ had been in touch to tell her that there are trans books in the children’s section after all. This is no secret, and Kent’s library system makes no secret of the fact that age-appropriate books about LGBT+ issues are indeed available, so it’ll be interesting to see if moves are made to remove these titles as well.
Cllr Kemkaran wrote to the Minister for Future of Roads to ask for a cut of the increased Dartford Crossing revenue when the charges go up later this year. It’s a move that feels wildly optimistic, but there’s no harm in asking, right?
Reform leader Nigel Farage actually got within 30 miles of his Clacton constituency this week as he decided to visit County Hall. While here, he declared that Kent should hold a referendum on the government’s plans for local government reorganisation and devolution, even if such a thing would have no meaning and there would be no way to compel Medway to take part in it. He also said KCC should remove home-to-school transport funding for children who need it, and reminded councillors that they should ‘think before they act,’ which might have come a little too late, given the above.
The fightback against padel begins
You can barely go anywhere anymore without someone going on about padel, a slightly smaller version of tennis that is somehow taking the world by storm. Over the past year, developers and organisations have rushed to build courts to cash in on padelmania, but the tide might finally be turning, at least in Kent.
Plans for courts at the Lockmeadow entertainment complex in Maidstone have been withdrawn, with the reasons unclear. The council leader claimed noise for nearby residents (the closest of which are literally across a river), while a backbencher said it was about protecting insects. Either way, Kent’s county town won’t be playing padel anytime soon.
Elsewhere, tennis club members in Tunbridge Wells are angry about two courts being converted into padel courts. Speaking to KentOnline, they claimed the courts would be like ‘constant gun shots’ going off and would ruin the concentration of the proper tennis players, all of which sounds incredibly reasonable and not overblown at all.
In Sevenoaks, planning officers recommended that councillors reject plans for new padel courts at an existing club, claiming the move would cause ‘urban sprawl.’ In a rare example of residents supporting a planning application, over 500 wrote in favour of it, with councillors voting to overrule officers and let the padelling commence. Perhaps the sport shouldn’t be written off after all…
In brief
🚨 It’s been a bad week for Kent Police officers engaging in questionable activities. A detective was sacked after sexually touching a female colleague, another was sacked for trying to have sex with a woman reporting a crime, and a third was jailed after getting relatives to take speeding points for him.
🏗️ The recent Government Spending Review allocated money for road projects across the country, including upgrades of junctions on Bluebell Hill and the North Thanet Link.
👷 A milestone has been reached on a flood protection project that will protect nearly 1,200 homes and businesses in Tonbridge and Hildenborough.
🚧 Operation Brock will be reinstated on the M20 next week ahead of the summer holidays.
☀️ Plans have been submitted to Ashford Borough Council for a vast solar farm around the village of Kenardington that would generate 35MW of power.
📄 An application has been submitted for 59 new homes south of Lenham.
🎥 Plans for a Netflix-linked film studio complex in Ashford have been abandoned, with more homes going on the site instead.
🏘️ Medway Council don’t seem thrilled that Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council plan to build a temporary accommodation complex on their border.
👑 King Charles visited Kent today, taking in Walmer Castle and Deal.
👃 No one seems any closer to figuring out what is behind the ‘toxic’ smell at a new roundabout near Aylesford.
🏥 Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust are to make 30 cleaners redundant in a move that couldn’t possibly go wrong.
🪦 Maidstone Borough Council are to debate a petition calling for the creation of a memorial to six ‘witches’ who were persecuted and executed in 1652.
🍓 A Kent farm is trying to improve strawberry production using AI and robotics.
🎢 A new log flume ride has opened at Dreamland in Margate, the first the park has had in a decade.
🚄 Southeastern is holding an open day at their Ashford depot, and it’ll only cost you £25 to get in.
🌊 Cliftonville Lido is up for sale.
📰 The Telegraph has once again discovered Margate, calling it a ‘magnet for priced-out Londoners.’ Meanwhile, the Guardian has described Folkestone as one of the UK’s ‘best revitalised resorts.’
🗣️ ‘cene has interviewed Led by Donkeys about their protests in Kent and elsewhere.
Footnotes
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Excellent reporting. Thank you. Edit required - the piece says the full annual KCC budget is £2.6 million. As you know the figure is £2.6 billion.