The Conservative controlled Kent County Council has voted to ask the Labour government to cancel the county elections set to be held in May.
The decision was taken by the cabinet of the County Council on Thursday afternoon.
Kent Conservatives have also applied for a “fast track” path which would mean the abolition of Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge & Malling Borough Councils.
The Conservatives argue that faster cooperation with Labour’s scheme will unlock desperately needed cash for the county more quickly.
The Conservatives say voting for a new County Council this May would be a waste of resources (given that it will be abolished under the Labour plans) as well as leading to delays while new people get into post.
But there were demonstators outside County Hall on Thursday (shown below) who called the Kent Conservatives’ decision the “death of democracy.”
Some opposition politicians believe the biggest overhaul of local government for 50 years is being rushed.
Cancelling the May elections would also mean the Conservative reign at County Hall could be extended from 4 years to 6 years – the party had been expected to lose control of the county at the vote.
The final decision on cancelling the elections will rest with the Labour government.
The Labour scheme involves an elected mayor for Kent. The existing 12 lower tier Borough councils, Medway unitary council and KCC would be all probably be replaced by just 3 “unitary” councils covering much larger areas than the existing Borough Councils.
Southborough Town Council and parish councils like Bidborough would not be affected, although it is possible that new town councils for Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells (probably with very few powers) will be set up.
Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Malling, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Borough Councils are likely to be merged into one authority. That would meet the government’s threshold for having a population of at least 500,000 for a unitary authority. The four boroughs add up to 557,000 people on the 2023 population estimates.
(Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Malling and Tunbridge Wells only add up to 373,000 people, so would be too small for one of the new local authorities, making the inclusion of Maidstone a near certainty. Even assuming a 4% population rise by 2027 would still only take the population covered without Maidstone to 388,000.)
Many opposition parties, smaller parties and independents fear that the planned bigger authorities will make voters feel alienated from decision makers based many miles away and work to the benefit of national parties.
Merging Dartford, Gravesham, Medway and Swale into a “North Kent” authority would serve a 672,000 population. And merging Ashford, Canterbury, Thanet, Dover and Folkestone & Hythe into “East Kent” would serve a 668,000 population. The total population of the Kent geographical county is around 1.9 million.
Currently the “upper tier” Kent county authority looks after social care, education and transport. The Borough Councils look after planning and bin collections.
Labour say a “unitary” structure will cut costs and make things simpler for voters to understand. But some politicians fear Labour’s move is designed to make the government’s new house building schemes go faster with fewer planning delays.
For more details of what politicians are saying, click here:
https://westkentradio.co.uk/news/west-kent-news/protests-at-council-changes/
