A list of high-priority road improvement schemes has been submitted to government as part of a £3.5 billion investment programme. The schemes were agreed by Transport for the South East, a new regional body which brings together local authorities, business groups and the transport industry. As part of the list, Kent County Council put forward…
Plans to remove the need for planning permission to explore for shale gas and to make production proposals for government to determine have been rejected by Kent County Council. KCC has this week responded to two government consultations into whether to allow non-hydraulic fracturing exploration under Permitted Development rights and to allow plans for the…
The Leader of Kent County Council Paul Carter has welcomed the extra funding for local government announced by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid. The final settlement has seen £150 million of additional resources allocated to local authorities across the UK, of which £3.9m will go to social care in Kent. Mr Carter said: “This funding, secured…
Kent County Council is calling on the government to make changes to road maintenance budgets warning the current system could lead to a “rapid spiral of asset deterioration”. KCC is on course to secure its highways maintenance budget in the face of diminishing government funding by receiving a ‘band three’ in funding. The rating, from…
KCC has urged the government to provide more carriages on trains during peak periods, address overcrowding and improve connectivity in its response to a consultation on rail services in Kent. The Department for Transport is consulting on rail services in the county ahead of a new franchise to run services coming into effect in December…
The government has announced the final Local Government Finance Settlement, giving Kent County Council an extra £5.7 million to its budget. It has made the 2016/17 budget “slightly more bearable” in the face of making savings of £126 million. The announcement was made yesterday by Secretary of State Greg Clark. The draft budget proposals will go before…
Kent County Council Leader Paul Carter has responded to today’s Autumn Statement and Spending Review. He said: “As always the devil is in the detail. I’m cautiously optimistic that it’s better than we’ve been anticipating. “Until we get the final settlement on December 17 we really don’t know what situation we’re in. “We’ll be lobbying hard…
Manston Airfield to be temporarily used to provide additional capacity for cross-Channel freight when Operation Stack is in place. New arrangements to prioritise certain goods across the Channel, including quick to market goods. Manston Airfield will be temporarily used as an alternative for freight traffic while there are ongoing issues with disruption to cross-Channel services,…
The government needs to carefully consider the impact of further spending cuts, KCC has warned, ahead of this week’s budget. Kent County Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for finance John Simmonds is urging the new government to consider his plea, warning services will be affected. He said: “During the last parliament, local government bore…
Kent County Council is set to lobby Government to devolve power and funding to local government. Members voted in favour of a motion calling on central government to “devolve more powers and money, not just to Scotland but to existing levels of local government at county, district and parish level”. It was passed with 77…