Turner Contemporary funding becomes the next Reform fight
Plus a Sevenoaks by-election, more water disruption and fallout from the Canterbury Odeon fire
This week’s Monday briefing leads with a fresh Reform row at County Hall after a cabinet member hinted online that funding for Margate’s Turner Contemporary could be pulled in response to criticism from East Thanet MP Polly Billington. We break down what was said and why the episode matters beyond the immediate argument. Elsewhere in the briefing, there’s a by-election in Hextable, more water disruption in Kings Hill, fallout from the Canterbury Odeon fire, and the usual spread of local politics, planning and community stories from across the county...
KCC cabinet member floats pulling Turner funding in a dispute with Thanet’s MP
Reform has found a new way to handle criticism, and it involves hinting that other people might lose their funding.
After ITV reported on East Thanet MP Polly Billington’s claim that Kent County Council’s £39.5m 'savings' boast was built on what she called “fantasy economics,” one of Reform’s own cabinet members decided the correct reply was not to publish the paperwork, clarify the language, or do any of the boring local government things a council is meant to do. Instead, David Wimble, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Special Projects, replied on X by suggesting the council could “pull funding” for Margate’s Turner Contemporary, adding: “Polly suck it up. We are achieving what you have not managed!”
This was not posted into the ether. Wimble’s comment was a direct reply to ITV Meridian political editor Kit Bradshaw’s thread about Billington’s FOI-driven challenge and the council’s defence of its own press release. The sequence is simple. An MP questions a headline number used in official council comms, and a cabinet member floats cutting a cultural institution in her patch.
The £39.5m row itself is fairly straightforward. Reform claimed that KCC was 'on course' to deliver £100m savings, had 'reprofiled £39.5m of potential future spend' and reduced debt by £67m. Billington told ITV the claim was false because the £39.5m related to unfunded and unapproved projects with no money allocated in the first place, and she wrote to chief executive Amanda Beer saying there was “nothing to support the assertion” that Reform had saved £39.5m.
This sort of argument is part of the usual cut and thrust of local politics. But if your instinct when challenged is to start gesturing at the Turner’s budget line, you are no longer having a dispute about wording. You are doing something else.
When challenged on that too, Wimble did not exactly tidy it up. Recent Kent Current interviewee Sunder Katwala asked whether pulling Turner funding was a serious proposal, whether it was already the council’s intention, or whether it was simply about annoying Billington. Wimble replied: “Well the mp blames reform for everything,” followed by: “KCC own the building and put hundreds of thousands of tax payers money into it, perhaps she should be a little more grateful.” Another commenter invoked the Nolan Principles. Wimble’s response was, broadly, that after hearing opposition councillors at the budget meeting, you would ask why bother.
No 'I was joking.' No 'that’s not how funding decisions work.' Just grievance politics, plus the suggestion that public money should buy gratitude.
There are two practical issues underneath the posting.
First, the money is real. KCC’s own published grants data lists an funding to the Turner Contemporary of £717,500 for 2023/24. Whatever you think of the Turner, that is a serious public subsidy. It is also the sort of thing you normally debate through papers, committees and votes, rather than as a flourish under a social media thread about an MP annoying you. If Reform wants to review cultural funding, there is a route for that. Put it in the budget, and let people argue about it properly. Don’t improvise it in the replies.
It is also easy to see why this is landing poorly. Last October, we reported on Wimble calling a resident a “f@?kwit” beneath an official Kent County Council Facebook post, with the comment remaining visible and no apparent action taken. The point is not the swear word. The point is the pattern. A cabinet member posts like the rules are optional, and nothing much happens.
Ed Jennings
There is a national echo here too. Earlier this week, Reform’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, threatened Bangor University’s public funding after a student debating society declined to host a Q&A involving Reform-linked figures, despite the decision coming from the society rather than the university itself. Different institution, different row, same instinct. If you don’t give us what we want, we start talking about your funding.
If KCC wants to cut or change Turner funding, it can propose that openly, justify it, and own it. If a cabinet member wants to pick fights online, he can do that too. But if the message is that public funding is conditional on political obedience, that is not a budget argument. That is a warning.
Two big reads
1️⃣ The Guardian has interviewed Margate artist Tracey Emin, who has some very strong views on Reform.
2️⃣ Searchlight Magazine reports on the far-right, anti-migrant Kent Women First Pink Ladies, who are organising events conflating immigration to risks to women's safety.
Council matters
Meetings this week:
- Thanet: Cabinet holds an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss the coming budget and leasing part of the Port of Ramsgate for a fish processing and canning plant.
- Swale: Council gathers on Wednesday to debate local government reorganisation and the new budget.
- Tonbridge & Malling: Area 2 Planning Committee will decide on an application for 66 new homes in Wateringbury.
- Dartford: Cabinet meets on Thursday to discuss the budget for the coming year, and to use Community Infrastructure Levy money for new sports facilities in Swanscombe.
New planning applications:
- Dartford: Outline planning permission for 277 homes and commercial floorspace on land north of Maidstone Road in Swanley.
- Tonbridge & Malling: Outline planning permission for 101 homes north of Hadlow.
- Tunbridge Wells: Environment screening opinion for 87 homes north and south of the A21 at Pembury.
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In brief
🗳️ Voters in Hextable will vote in a by-election for Sevenoaks District Council on 5 March, with Conservative, Lib Dem, Green, Reform, and independent candidates on the ballot.
🟥 Faversham Town FC have dismissed a youth player after he filmed himself racially abusing a woman on a TikTok livestream.
⚽ Tonbridge Angels FC claim they are being threatened by the council to give up some of their land for a new footpath or risk losing their lease when it next comes up for renewal.
👩 Wells Angels WI, a 125 member Women's Institute group in Tunbridge Wells, is set to close after the national organisation chose to ban transgender members from the organisation.
🚒 Fire swept through the former Odeon in Canterbury over the weekend.
🥩 Nearly 34 tonnes of illegal meat was discovered at the Port of Dover in January, the highest ever monthly total.
🚱 The repeated water supply issues in Tunbridge Wells are set to cost South East Water £30m, which they definitely won't pass back on to customers via their bills.
🚰 More water issues hit Kent this week, with residents in Kings Hill losing supply for around 24 hours.
💷 Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council has increased its precept by 42%, claiming it could run out of money in months.
🏫 Kent County Council has welcomed the government's announcement that it will write off 90% of historic Special Educational Needs and Disabilities deficits built up by local councils.
🏗️ Margate Winter Gardens could be restored and reopened.
💸 £125,000 had to be handed back after no agreement could be found to replace a bridge in Faversham.
🛗 Thanet District Council has earmarked £120,000 to restore Eastcliff lift in Ramsgate.
🧰 Residents of Arlington House in Margate have been told they could face repair bills of up to £40,000 each.
🏖️ New beach huts in Herne Bay have been slashed in price after struggling to sell.
🏊 Preliminary work has begun on Gravesend's new Cascades Leisure Centre.
🏅 One man from Tunbridge Wells is responsible for two-thirds of Britain's Winter Olympic medals so far.
⛷️ The Winter Olympics have also led to a surge in bookings at Chatham Snowsports Centre.
🎬 Two recent films featured scenes shot in Kent. Wuthering Heights filmed in Knole Park in Sevenoaks, while Hamlet filmed on the A249 at Queenborough.
☎️ Traditional red phoneboxes around Canterbury city centre are up for sale, but you aren't allowed to move them.
👷 A lovely transformation of a Grade II-listed building in East Farleigh.
💩 Shoppers in Folkestone are upset about the level of dog poo in The Range.
Property of the week
This week’s Property of the Week is a two-bedroom Grade II-listed terraced cottage on Aylesford High Street, which is basically the Kent property market doing what it does best: taking somewhere genuinely pretty, adding a few centuries of history, and putting it right in the middle of the village so you can walk to the river in about a minute. Inside, it leans heavily into the period charm, with original details, a cosy living room, a compact kitchen with access to the outside, and two bedrooms upstairs, plus a slightly unusual lobby space that feels like it belongs in a house that’s been evolving for a long time. It’s close to the cafés, pubs and shops in the village, with Aylesford station and the M20 not far away for anyone trying to make 'idyllic' compatible with 'commute,' and it’s on for £425,000.
Events this week
🎤 17 - 18 Feb - Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf // Lee shares the stage with the tough-talking werewolf of his subconscious. Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. Tickets £31. Also at Central Theatre, Chatham on 19-20 Sep
📖 Fri 20 Feb - Garth Marenghi's The Bursted Earth book tour // Cult author performs from his upcoming horror collection. Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone. Tickets £22.50.
📖 20 Feb - 1 Mar - Faversham Literary Festival // 80 events featuring some renowned literary figures. Various venues, Faversham. Various ticket prices.
🚂 Sun 22 Feb - Michael Portillo: A Life of Two Halves // Former Secretary of State and current railway enthusiast talks about both parts of his life. Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. Tickets from £32. Also at Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells on 27 Feb
Footnotes
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