Daniel Dabin
Founder, Editor & Investigative Journalist, Kent Local News
Daniel Dabin is an investigative journalist and the founder and editor of Kent Local News, and a Director of the publisher, NHNN Ltd. He leads the title’s public-interest investigations — including the multi-part Kent local government reorganisation series, the Kent water and sewage investigation, the four-part Britain’s energy future editorial, and the Medway safeguarding investigation — working from primary sources, FOI responses, and statutory filings rather than press releases. Daniel is also a qualified independent financial adviser (CeFA, CeMAP, Cert PFS, DipFA, IMC) with two decades of UK regulated experience; the two roles are kept editorially separate and KLN’s story list is independent of any client interest. He writes about Kent because he lives here.
Professional credentials
- CeFA
- CeMAP
- Cert PFS
- DipFA
- IMC
Reporting expertise
- Kent local news
- Kent local government
- Local government reorganisation
- Public-interest investigations
- Freedom of information journalism
- UK political reporting
- UK energy policy
- UK financial services
- Kent business and economy
- Medway public services
Elsewhere
Reporting published under NHNN Ltd and regulated by IMPRESS (membership NHNN67893). See our editorial policy, corrections policy, and complaints procedure.
Recent stories
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Council Updates Two laws, two court cases: Kent’s council shake-up explained
Kent County Council has named the two laws it says it spent under to prepare for reorganisation. The Government has paused the programme to…
30 October 2026 -
Local News Greenhithe’s old red phone box reopens as a free community book exchange
A historic telephone kiosk on Pier Road, Greenhithe, has been restored as a free book exchange. A police officer who used it as a call…
29 October 2026 -
Business & Economy Budget 2026: a £100 energy payment, cheaper electricity and fuel duty frozen. What it means for you in Kent
No rise in income tax, National Insurance or VAT rates, a £100 energy payment for many households, cheaper electricity and fuel duty…
28 October 2026 -
Business Read Budget 2026: energy help, a savings tax rise and a new authority for Kent and Medway as Healey meets his rules with less room
Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget absorbs £14 billion a year of extra debt interest without broad tax rises, adds energy help, raises…
28 October 2026 -
Council Updates Maidstone community groups share council grants for loneliness, safety and digital help
Eighteen Maidstone community groups have been awarded grants of between £500 and £4,999 in the first round of the council’s Community Grant…
28 October 2026 -
Council Updates Kent County Council named the law it spent under. Now it is in court to make ministers explain theirs.
Since April this investigation has asked one question: under what legal power was public money committed to reorganising Kent before the…
28 October 2026 -
Business & Economy Budget day: what is already decided for your pay, fuel and home, and what to watch
Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget is on Wednesday. What is already settled for your tax, fuel and home, what the government has…
27 October 2026 -
Business Read Budget 2026: the numbers waiting for Chancellor John Healey on Wednesday
Borrowing is running £6 billion above forecast, gilt yields hit their highest since 2007 this month and inflation has climbed to 3.5%. The…
27 October 2026 -
Business & Economy North Sea oil, Part 2: who pays? Tax, bills, climate and Kent
Ministers say new North Sea licences would not cut bills; critics say Britain is giving away jobs, tax and security while importing more…
27 October 2026 -
Investigations Herne Bay’s peaceful nationalist march, as France blames the ultra-left for a week of riots
Herne Bay’s nationalist march and counter-protest passed off peacefully, with no disorder or arrests. In France, nearly 1,000 were arrested…
25 October 2026 -
Business & Economy North Sea oil, Part 1: can Britain turn the taps back on?
UK North Sea output is 75% below its 1999 peak. In the first of two parts, Kent Local News sets out what has closed, what is left, what the…
23 October 2026 -
Council Updates Kent County Council says it has gone to court over the council shake-up. No public meeting considered it.
The three-month window to challenge the four-council decision closed on 16 October. KCC says it is proceeding with a legal challenge, but…
22 October 2026 -
Local News Kent Health, Hair & Beauty Awards 2026: every gold, silver and bronze winner
The full results from the 2026 Kent Health, Hair & Beauty Awards, announced at the Ashford International Hotel on 16 October
21 October 2026 -
Council Updates £1,000 fixed penalty paid over Ashford town centre fly-tip
A £1,000 fixed penalty notice issued after waste was dumped in Ashford town centre on 6 July 2026 has been paid, Ashford Borough Council…
21 October 2026 -
Local News Two Dover gymnasts selected for Bronze national team after South East regional success
Freya Geering, 14, and Iris Shrubsole, 11, have been selected for the Bronze national team after Dover Gymnastics Club won the South East…
20 October 2026 -
Council Updates The deadline to sue the Government over Kent’s council shake-up falls this week. No public meeting is scheduled before it.
Kent County Council says it is considering taking the Government to court over the decision to abolish the county’s fourteen councils. The…
13 October 2026 -
Business & Economy Can America grow its way out of $40 trillion of debt? Why Washington’s bet is already reaching Kent
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says 3% growth will “bend the curve” on a $40 trillion debt and wants the rest of the world to follow…
12 October 2026 -
Business & Economy UK mortgage approvals fall to lowest level since 2023 as borrowing costs climb
Bank of England figures show 54,918 mortgages approved for house purchases in August, the fewest since December 2023, as rates on new loans…
10 October 2026 -
Local News MI5 alert tells universities to cut ties with Chinese spy-linked funder: what it means for Kent
More than 100 UK-based academics worked on projects paid for by an organisation MI5 says serves China’s intelligence service. No Kent…
2 October 2026 -
Investigations Have Britons given up on voting? A century of turnout, and what the people who stay at home say
In 1950, 84 in every 100 registered voters cast a ballot. In July 2024 it was fewer than 60, and in Sittingbourne and Sheppey barely half…
26 September 2026 -
Investigations Kent’s water, Part B: why fixing the leaks will not be enough, and what nobody has planned for
South East Water loses 105 million litres a day and is, by the numbers, an average English water company. This part shows why even…
22 September 2026 -
Council Updates Maidstone cabinet declines scrutiny recommendations and approves Lockmeadow improvements
Cabinet noted but did not agree the scrutiny committee’s call to keep the Tuesday and Saturday market trading separately from the market…
19 September 2026 -
Investigations Kent’s water, Part A: the demand nobody in Whitstable voted for
South East Water plans for 550,000 more people by 2050. Per-person use is falling, leakage is meant to halve and business use is flat, so…
13 September 2026 -
Council Updates Kent’s 14 councils, scored: Kent Local News publishes its first full Council Scorecard
Bins, complaints, money, openness and planning, scored from the councils’ own published data and the regulators’ reports. Every council was…
12 September 2026 -
Crime & Justice Kent Police arrested 2,063 people over messages and online posts in five years
Kent Police arrested 2,063 people over the content of messages, posts and calls in five years. In the same period the force brought 261…
11 September 2026 -
Investigations South East Water has failed. But who decided how many people it must supply?
Analysis: John Halsall’s apology in Whitstable was overdue and Ofwat’s findings against his company are damning. But the number of people…
10 September 2026 -
Local News Air traffic control failure grounds Gatwick departures – what Kent passengers are owed
More than 1,300 flights were cancelled after a fault in the flight processing system at NATS Swanwick, with disruption running into…
9 September 2026 -
Council Updates Government U-turns on the cross-party devolution plan — the story KLN broke in April
Ministers have halted the biggest reshaping of local government in fifty years because they need to satisfy themselves the process…
9 September 2026 -
Council Updates Five months of asking under what law. Then the Government stopped to check.
The Government has paused local government reorganisation across England, including Kent and Medway, saying it must satisfy itself that the…
8 September 2026 -
Local News Anti-mass-immigration protesters shut the roads into the Port of Dover for the whole of Saturday morning.
Kent Police called it a spontaneous protest. Protesters say they wore face coverings to protect their identity. The protest passed off…
6 September 2026 -
Council Updates Told it was mandatory. Told it was not. Kent’s councils and the Government gave residents opposite answers
A Kent resident asked her district council whether reorganisation was mandatory. Dover District Council answered in one word: “Yes.” The…
5 September 2026 -
Economy The Rochester firm taking the paperwork out of financial advice
Sponsored: Aegis AI Systems builds back-office automation for regulated firms. Its adviser tools capture a client meeting end to end and…
3 September 2026 -
Council Updates Kent’s council shake-up is going to court: what the case is actually about
Residents have gone to court over Kent’s council reorganisation. Nobody has won or lost anything yet. Here is what has actually happened…
31 August 2026 -
Council Updates 127 days. Twelve articles. One question. Still no answer.
Four months ago Kent Local News reported that the Government held no legal rationale, no consultation records and no impact assessments…
30 August 2026 -
Council Updates Kent’s reorganisation reaches the High Court: residents file judicial review over the missing lawful authority
A resident-led group has filed a judicial review claim challenging the legal basis for work done on Kent’s local government reorganisation…
29 August 2026 -
Council Updates Betteshanger Country Park sale triggers community protections running to December 2027
Dover District Council’s register records a disposal notice for the former colliery site on 24 June 2026, opening a protected period to…
26 August 2026 -
Local News The wolf in the window: what the record shows about the Fabian Society, eugenics and the dictators
A companion to GB Freedom Party’s ‘anti-fascist fascists’ broadside: the documented record of the society that helped found Labour — its…
22 August 2026 -
Council Updates Voter photo ID: what Dartford’s 2023 election figures show
Dartford Borough Council has published data showing that 94 voters were turned away at polling stations during the 4 May 2023 local…
18 August 2026 -
Council Updates Who picked Kent’s four new councils? The question the county council is now asking itself — explained
Kent is getting four new councils. The chairman of the county council has put in writing that the winning map came from three Labour-led…
6 August 2026 -
Council Updates Who chose Kent’s new map? The county council’s own chairman is asking whether party politics played a part
The Government’s four-council map for Kent was chosen from a proposal put forward by three councils the county council’s chairman describes…
5 August 2026 -
Council Updates Asked at every level, answered at none: the Kent reorganisation question still without a reply
A resident asked her county council five questions about the reorganisation that will abolish it. A year on, the same question – by what…
29 July 2026 -
Investigations We asked Kent’s 18 MPs to explain their grooming-inquiry vote. One did.
After Kent Local News published how each of Kent’s 18 MPs voted on a national grooming-gangs inquiry, we invited every one of them to…
22 July 2026 -
Investigations How Kent’s MPs voted on a national grooming-gangs inquiry
When the Commons voted on a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs on 8 January 2025, ten of Kent’s eighteen MPs voted against and…
10 July 2026 -
Investigations Who controls the internet — and who decides what you’re allowed to see?
Three American companies control the machinery almost every person in Kent uses to reach the internet. At the same time, Westminster and…
9 July 2026 -
Investigations Erased from search: how Kent Local News became almost invisible on Google and Bing
Our website is technically sound and crawled every day by both Google and Bing, yet Google indexes a single page of it and Bing almost…
7 July 2026 -
Council Updates Voting on the unanswered: Kent approaches its 2027 reorganisation elections with the lawful-authority question still open
A resident asked five questions; fourteen councils and the Government were asked one. Kent heads for its 2027 reorganisation elections with…
30 June 2026 -
Council Updates Royal Assent didn’t settle it: the Kent reorganisation legal challenge, explained
When the Devolution Bill cleared Parliament in April, it handed the Government new powers to reshape Kent’s councils. But it did not draw a…
11 June 2026 -
Council Updates Kent’s water and the path to capacity: what the parties propose
To close a five-part investigation into the gap between the growth planned for Kent and the water the county can actually supply, Kent…
8 June 2026 -
Council Updates Kent’s water and the bigger picture: how growth compounds across five systems
For three parts this investigation has examined Kent’s water and sewage networks one pressure at a time — the failing rivers, the…
1 June 2026 -
Council Updates Name the lawful authority: fourteen Kent councils asked to justify LGR spending
Two days after this newspaper put a single legal question to the senior officers of every council in Kent, only two automated replies have…
26 May 2026