Battle for Kent Territory Intensifies

The Conservative leader of Tonbridge and Malling Borough has accused Labour-run Medway Council of being "disrespectful" for its ideas on carving up Kent's existing councils.

The Medway council leadership wants Kent to be divided into four unitary authorities, while the consensus among other Kent councils up to now has appeared to be to propose three new unitary authorities.

The anger from Tonbridge coincided with a shift in the position from the Reform UK leadership of Kent County Council, which on Wednesday seemed to be shifting to wanting a single unitary authority for the whole of Kent.

The Conservative leader of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, Matt Boughton, (pictured below) told West Kent Radio: "It really is an appalling and disrespectful act from the Labour Party who run Medway Council to....seek to divide the existing Tonbridge and Malling Borough into two. Walderslade and Blue Bell Hill, which is the area that they want to split up from the rest of Tonbridge and Malling, are very valued parts of our Borough."

Matt Boughton continued: "What irks me.... is there was no consultation whatsoever ahead of them coming up with their preferred option....We need to keep this as easy as possible and the way you need to do that is by ensuring you are splitting up as few councils as possible...(to) keep the transition costs down."  

Listen to Matt Boughton's comments in full:

Matt Boughton pointed out that Medway Councils' proposed division involves breaking up 8 of the 12 districts, including splitting Cranbrook area from Tunbridge Wells.  Cranbrook would be with Maidstone in a mid-Kent authority and Tunbridge Wells would be the biggest town in a proposed West Kent authority.

The Labour leader of Medway’s authority, Cllr Vince Maple said: “Our vision is to create a model which best promotes partnership working and the opportunity of maintaining a deep understanding of the needs of our communities to ensure residents can continue to access high-quality services and support.

“Having carefully considered everything - and whilst I appreciate there are currently different options on the table - I wholeheartedly support the proposed model of creating four unitary authorities in the region of Kent and Medway.”

The changes in local government being imposed by central government, which wants to drive efficiency by removing the split of responsibilites between Borough councils (planning and housing) and county councils (roads, education, adult social care).  Medway is already a unitary authority.

Reform UK’s county council leader has called for Kent and Medway to be brought under the control of a single unitary authority.

At a meeting of all Kent’s council leaders on Wednesday, the leader of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaran (pictured below) and the deputy cabinet member for finance and cross-cabinet activity, Cllr Chris Hespe, outlined a new preferred option for local government reorganisation.

Reform UK now say they fear the potential cost and disruption of separating core county services, such as adult and children's social care and highways, to new authorities would result in additional fees having to be met by the county’s taxpayers.

Instead, KCC is set to propose a single-unitary option, with three “Area Assemblies” - the details of which are yet to be shared publicly.

Cllr Kemkaran said: “All the other options will cost an absolute fortune to implement, and no one has yet been able to explain to me how that will be paid for.

Cllr Kemkaran continued: “I am determined to do what’s best for Kent, rather than blindly following the government’s instructions and attempting to force a square peg into a round hole."

Cllr Hespe added: “We will always put residents first. Local government reorganisation has to ensure people in our communities across the county can get access to the best services, and maintain the proud and rich heritage of Kent and enhance the profile of the county. Our proposal for reorganisation does that.”

Reform UK's latest ideas differ from its earlier apparent position which was to propose three unitary authorities (see map below)

North Kent comprised Dartford, Gravesham, Medway and Swale;
West Kent comprised Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells;
and East Kent comprised  Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet.

Further comments from Matt Boughton came on Friday to Reform UK's proposal for one council for the whole county.  Matt Boughton wrote that the Reform UK run Kent County Council "announced its preference to abolish everyone other than itself".