Dover District Council’s cabinet is due to meet in private on 5 October to consider four affordable housing schemes and a heating contract for its housing stock. Anyone who believes the items should be heard in public has until 21 September to say so.
Dover District Council’s cabinet intends to exclude the press and public from part of its meeting on 5 October 2026 while it considers four affordable housing schemes and the award of a heating contract, under a notice the council published on 4 September.
What is being considered
The notice lists five exempt agenda items. Four relate to affordable housing: the purchase of new-build properties for use as affordable housing at Station Road, Walmer; an update on a development to provide eight flats for affordable housing at Military Road, Dover; approval to progress the development of council-owned land at Grove Road, Preston for affordable housing; and approval to purchase five new-build properties for use as affordable housing at the former Eastry Hospital site, Mill Lane.
The fifth item is the award of a contract for heating and Energy Performance Certificate management for the council’s housing stock.
The notice sets out only the titles of the items and the grounds for excluding the press and public. It gives no figures for any of the schemes, and the reports themselves have not been published.
Why the meeting is in private
The council says the reports will be considered in private because they contain information exempt under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 — information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person, including the authority holding that information.
Under the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, a decision-making body must give 28 clear days’ notice where it intends to hold all or part of a meeting in private. The council published its notice on 4 September, a month before the meeting.
How to make representations
Any person may make representations to the cabinet stating why the meeting, or part of it, should be held in public. They must be in writing and reach Democratic Services by Monday, 21 September 2026, at democraticservices@dover.gov.uk or Democratic Services, Council Offices, White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield, Dover, Kent CT16 3PJ.
The meeting has not yet taken place. No decision has been made on any of the five items, and the council has published no report or officer recommendation on them.
Sources
- Dover District Council — Notice of Exempt Cabinet Meetings, 4 September 2026 (agenda and papers)
- Notice of Intention to Hold a Cabinet Meeting (or parts of it) in Private, 5 October 2026 — Dover District Council
Top image: Mill Lane, Eastry, photographed in 2015 — the former hospital site where the cabinet will consider buying five new-build homes. Photo: John Baker / Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0.