A shotgun marriage? Councils ponder who to get hitched to in Kent

Jittery councils get anxious in unitary turf war

If you were worried that the single biggest shake-up of local government was being pushed to the political sidelines, worry no more.

The mother lode has landed and landed heavily - as you might expect, dealing with such a complicated and far-reaching re-organisation of the local government apparatus.

Across 240 pages, the local government version of “War And Peace” sees the county council spelling out the options facing the 12 local district councils, Medway council and Kent County Council. You want detail? Stand well back.

It’s a smorgasboard of suggestions and solutions that many will find not to their taste but we now have something on paper which - like it or not - sets out a rationale for a re-organisation that would see Kent split into unitary authorities.

This is, we are told, not necessarily what Kent will end up with but is closest to what the government has said should be the key considerations and aligns with its agenda for a wholesale re-jig.

That is of course a giant simplification. As the report strains every sinew to emphasise “a recommendation is not given…the options have been scored but there is no recommended option. The evidence and options appraisal are presented objectively to support members to form their policy position.”

The report is littered with such caveats; the council has not yet engaged with the public; policy may change; scoring is based on current information; it is impossible to predict future policy; Government criteria are open to interpretation and so forth.

So, treat with caution should be the mantra but we are at least making headway - of a kind. And as countless politicians will tell us over the coming months, this is a marathon not a sprint.

Oh, and as to that preferred option? It says the closest model to what the government wants is one in which Kent would be split into three do-it-all councils: one for west Kent; one for east Kent and one for north Kent.

So far as north Kent is concerned, that is notable for the inclusion of what is already a unitary in the form of Medway; the option places it with Swale council, Gravesham and Dartford.

West Kent would be created via unitaries for Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks; and finally, east Kent, which would be made up of Ashford, Dover, Canterbury, Thanet and Folkestone.

As to why, it seems that the premier option scores highest because it aligns with the government’s priorities, although some of these are fairly under-whelming. It emphasises that it would create fairly equal authorities with ‘least disparity’ in some key areas - not exactly a call to arms - while KCC says it “balances moderate financial sustainability with proximity to local communities.” Not exactly what you would call a game changer.

In total, the report sets out potentially six options, four of which have been endorsed by council leaders.

Perhaps a more intriguing aspect of the inaugural debate on local government reorganisation was the claim that KCC was missing a trick and needed to be bolder.

The encouragement was led by the Reform party county councillor Chrispe Hespe, who was previously the authority’s sports development officer before throwing his weight behind Nigel Farage’s party.

He told colleagues that an alternative option would be for KCC to simply have a single unitary body to run services.

“We are trying to put a square peg into a round hole. None of the options appear to be ideal for Kent. Even our best option only scores 21 out of 30; Kent has unique characteristics, such as a long coastal line….one unitary east, west, north..like a shamrock. Benefits? A unitary hybrid, economies of scale; we’d easily outscore the others.”

Council leader Linden Kemkaran was quick to respond when pressed on whether KCC should examine in detail what looks like a seventh option. But she also expressed concerns that the general public were disinterested and did not know what was happening.

“The whole thing is a muddle; will people want to get down in the weeds with us or simply let us get on with that?”

It’s Hobson’s Choice…and not many winners.