Maidstone reformed

The party sweeps by-election to take three seats in the borough. Plus anti-immigration protests expand to more towns, covid is back, news in brief, and more

Reform’s march through Kent continued last night as the party claimed three Maidstone Borough Council seats, erasing the Green-led alliance’s majority in the process. We’ve got the full breakdown below, plus the latest on far-right protests across the county, covid’s return, news in brief, and more.

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Maidstone reformed

By the time the returning officer finished announcing results in Lenham just after 1am, something had shifted. Reform, the insurgent party that took control of Kent County Council earlier this year, continued its march on local politics by breaking into Maidstone Borough Council.

Chris Houlihan, Mariela Nedelcheva and Steve Povey all won in the Harrietsham, Lenham and North Downs by-election last night, each securing well over 1,000 votes. Their nearest challengers were left far behind, with the Greens, Conservatives and Lib Dems unable to mount a serious challenge. Labour didn’t even bother to field any candidates.

The contest came about after three councillors resigned over the proposed Heathlands development, a garden village of 5,000 homes on farmland outside Lenham. That created the unusual situation of three borough seats being contested in a by-election at once, with Reform sweeping them all.

Full results:

➡️ Chris Houlihan (Ref): 1228
➡️ Steve Povey (Ref): 1226
➡️ Mariela Nedelcheva (Ref): 1153
🟩 Callum Sweetman (Grn): 459
🟩 James Snyder (Grn): 452
🟩 Reshmi Kalam (Grn): 430
🌳 Isobelle Horne (Con): 342
🌳 Darcy Rotherham (Con): 285
🔶 Jennifer Horwood (LDem): 236
🌳 Onyekachukwu Chukwuma (Con): 234
🔶 Sam Burrows (LDem): 156
🔶 Andrew Cockersole (LDem): 123
🔵 Sean Turner (Her): 97
⚪ Gary Butler (Ind): 74
⚪ Sam Lawrence-Rose (Ind): 69

Up until now, the council was run by a fragile alliance of Greens, Lib Dems and independents with the narrowest of majorities. With Reform now holding three seats, that majority has disappeared. The alliance is expected to continue as a minority administration, as no other grouping has the numbers to take over, but every close vote will become more difficult.

This fits a wider pattern across the county. Reform took control at County Hall earlier in the year, going from one to 57 seats to form the administration. Now it has secured its first borough councillors in Maidstone. To its opponents, this looks like momentum building. For Reform activists, it is proof that their strategy is working.

Houlihan, semi-retired after four decades in banking, told the Kent Current the message was clear. “We listened to the local community, especially around Heathlands, and that made the difference. People want change, and they have sent a message.”

Povey, who has lived in Harrietsham for 25 years, only joined Reform four weeks ago. “I was advised to listen to the people I represent and vote in their interests. That is what I will do.” He also questioned Maidstone’s finances, pointing to a 44% rise in council debt in the past year.

Reform now faces the challenge of turning electoral anger into day-to-day council work. One of the winning candidates, Mariela Nedelcheva, did not attend the count. Outside afterwards, activists were overheard fretting about what happens next. Noting an upcoming council meeting on 13 October, one told another, “All three of them need to be at that. It’s embarrassing if not.” Another added, “Project number one: We cannot fail.”

For the losing candidates, the campaign was bruising. Callum Sweetman, a Green candidate, said he encountered anger on the doorstep. “People are frustrated with the whole situation. Heathlands feels like it is in the wrong place, but unless central government changes its mind, there is no way to reverse it.”

Darcy Rotherham, a Conservative candidate on a gap year after A-levels, admitted the housing debate was complex. “I agree new housing is important. But not in villages known for their character, and if it is built, then we need the infrastructure to support it.” The Conservative vote held up consistently to the last election in the ward in 2024, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Reform surge.

One election agent for an opposition party said the tone of the campaign had changed, describing abuse on the doorstep and fewer opportunities for rational discussion compared to only two years ago.

The outcome means Reform now has a presence in Maidstone politics. The Green-led alliance still runs the council, but without a majority, and Reform will be present on every contentious decision from housing and planning to the looming debate on local government reorganisation in Kent.

Houlihan said he wanted to work constructively. “We may have different approaches, but representing the community is in everyone’s interests.” Povey said he had already spoken with Stuart Jeffrey, the Green leader of the council. “We can disagree politically but still be respectful.”

Whether that spirit lasts is uncertain. What is clear is that Reform’s surge has now reached one of Kent’s largest borough councils. The villages around Lenham have delivered a result that reinforces the party’s grip on County Hall and signals that Kent’s political map is shifting again.

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Anti immigration protests expand to more Kent towns

Far-right groups continue to test the ground in Kent, staging a series of anti-immigration protests that have drawn varying turnouts and solid counter-demonstrations. Here’s where things stand this week:

Folkestone: Around 30 far-right protesters gathered last weekend, including one carrying a neo-Nazi British Movement flag. More than 100 counter-protesters met them. The Folkestone Dispatch reports from the ground and talks to a local mosque about the rise in Islamophobia.

Margate: UKIP’s attempted comeback flopped. Only nine people attended a rally led by county councillor Amelia Randall, who recently defected from Reform. The Isle of Thanet News reported they were drowned out by a much larger, noisier counter-protest featuring drums, whistles and flags.

Upcoming protests: Faversham this Sunday, Rochester on 18 October, Canterbury on 25 October, Chatham on 1 November.

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Covid is back on the field

For a while, it felt like covid had shuffled off into the background, only reappearing when an old lateral flow test tumbled out of a drawer or someone started coughing a little too violently on the bus. But the numbers are rising again in Kent, at a time when government policy seems to be to leave more vulnerable people exposed to the virus.

Admissions have been climbing steadily across the county’s hospitals since the summer. At the start of July, there were 11 covid patients in Kent and Medway wards. By the end of August, that had risen to 43. It is not the tidal wave of 2020, but it is enough to stretch services already creaking with staff shortages and autumn illnesses. Wards that had inched their way back to normality are once again finding space for covid bays.

The national picture backs this up. The UK Health Security Agency has warned of a steady rise in admissions linked to new variants, with positivity rates among patients with respiratory symptoms climbing in recent weeks. Hospital figures have become the most precise measure of what is happening now that mass testing has gone, and the warning lights are beginning to flicker.

The impact is spilling beyond hospitals. Ebbsfleet United had to shut the club down for two days last week when the virus tore through the squad. Assistant manager David Kerslake told KentOnline that players were “going down left, right and centre,” which is not the kind of squad rotation the team would have wanted.

All of this makes the government’s vaccination policy harder to understand. This autumn’s covid booster is no longer available to those aged 65 to 74 or to many with chronic conditions such as respiratory disease, unless they are also immunosuppressed. Over 75s still qualify, as do care home residents, but someone in their late sixties with COPD is no longer on the list.

What jars is that the same groups remain eligible for the flu jab. Ministers consider them vulnerable enough for one vaccine but not the other. That might make sense on paper in Whitehall, but it looks much stranger when cases are rising in hospitals and football clubs are suspending training.

Officials say there is no cause for alarm and certainly no appetite for restrictions. The advice is familiar: Take a jab if you can and stay at home if you feel unwell. But with eligibility pared back, Kent is heading into another winter with fewer defences than before.

Covid has not returned with the drama of the first waves, but the steady rise in admissions and the disruption at Ebbsfleet show it is still capable of causing trouble. It may not be the apocalypse, yet it is not nothing either. Kent will once again be left to get on with it while ministers insist everything is under control.

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In brief

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 A curious note from a Kent County Council Freedom of Information response on flags. A Faversham resident asked about England flags not being removed and whether other flags could also be erected on the public highway. The somewhat vague response from KCC says they will only remove flags causing an obstruction or risk, and that ‘this applies broadly and is not limited to the St. George’s flags,’ which sounds like a green light for residents to start erecting other flags.

💷 Debts of £2.3bn across Kent councils could leave plans for local government organisation unworkable, with concerns about the viability of potential north and east councils starting with significant debt levels.

🏫 Kent County Council are pushing the government for answers after two new SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) schools that were supposed to open in 2026 were delayed until at least 2028. The two sites in Swanley and Whitstable would create 370 new places.

🗄️ Quinn Estates have submitted a planning application for over 800 new homes, a care home, a primary school, a local centre, and a country park on a former golf course next to a railway station in Halstead. Naturally, local residents are furious.

💰 The Duchy of Cornwall could be asked to pay nearly £35m to get its plans for a 2,500 new town on the edge of Faversham off the ground.

🧑‍⚕️ 73% of Kent GPs say they are suffering ‘significant stress,’ with 13% reporting it as ‘unmanageable.’ Sounds bad.

🚛 Residents near the Sevington Inland Border Facility near Ashford are very unhappy about light pollution from the site.

🏁 Drivers waiting to cross the Channel could be held at Lydden Hill racetrack if the new EU Entry/Exit System goes badly.

🚨 Part of Rochester town centre was evacuated on Monday after someone mistook an e-bike battery for a bomb.

🪦 The Daily Express have visited Ashford, declaring the town ‘dead’ since Eurostar abandoned it.

⛪ Sarah Mullally has been named the next Archbishop of Canterbury, becoming the first woman to fill the role.

🌲 The Forestry Commission is consulting on designs for a new woodland on land they have purchased near Smarden.

🐦 Elmley Nature Reserve on Sheppey has seen a bumper breeding year for wild bird species.

🌊 Remembering Kent’s hovercrafts.

🏗️ Architecture Today has been talking to the designers of the Folkestone Harbour regeneration scheme.

🏢 Inside Arlington House, Margate’s brutalist icon.

🫖 If you’re interested in purchasing 8,000 novelty teapots, click here.

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More Currents

Kent boasts two international rail stations, neither of which has any international services. As the campaign to return direct connections between Kent and the continent gains momentum, how likely are trains bound for Europe to stop in our county again?

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Footnotes

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