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…