Investigations
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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 -
Council Updates Kent’s housing targets: the demographic engine
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not hold data on how many of the homes that Kent councils are required to…
25 May 2026 - Council Updates
Kent’s statutory officers put on notice over pre-Royal-Assent reorganisation spending
A formal Notice of Post-Royal-Assent Candour and Personal Statutory Liability has placed the Section 151 Officers and Monitoring Officers…
22 May 2026 -
Investigations Westminster’s New Barons: Mayors will be granted new powers
On 29 April the Lord Privy Seal told Parliament on the King’s behalf that “Mayors have been granted new powers.” Notice the verb. Granted…
14 May 2026 - Council Updates
Kent’s housing-capacity gap: the documented numbers
South East Water has formally told Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council that of the 19,620 homes the council is mandated to deliver by 2040…
11 May 2026 -
Investigations Kent LGR 14 months of council spending lacked statutory authority
Sean Turner, Heritage Party Councillor, Kent Coordinator for Heritage Party UK, and one of three named co-signatories of February’s Kent…
11 May 2026 -
Council Updates Liberal Democrats hold Tunbridge Wells with 11-seat sweep — Reform UK’s first borough slate yields no councillors
Liberal Democrats retained outright control of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council on Friday, sweeping 11 of 15 seats. Reform UK contested…
8 May 2026 -
Council Updates What’s Really Happening to Kent’s Rivers, Beaches and Water Bills
Almost every monitored river in the Medway and the Stour now fails the legal environmental tests. Eleven Kent sewage treatment works are…
7 May 2026