Latest news with #KentCountyCouncil
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
The road closures in Dartford for two upcoming sporting events
Two sporting events will see road closures in Dartford this summer. The 16th Bridge Triathlon will take place on June 22, with closures in place from 4.30pm until 4.30am the following day. The affected roads are the A206 Bob Dunn Way, which will be closed eastbound, and Marsh Street North, which will be closed at the entrance to the estate. Alternative routes will be available via Burnham Road, Victoria Road, Hythe Street, Westgate Road, Home Gardens, East Hill, The Brent, London Road, St Clements Way, and Crossways Boulevard. Access to Marsh Street North will be maintained via Rennie Drive. The 1st Sprint Bike Tri Cross will be held on August 10, with closures in place from 6am to 10am. This event will affect the Fastrack network, known as Fastrack, The Bridge, and a section of Marsh Street North. No diversion route will be required for Fastrack, as the route is for Fastrack buses only. Access to Marsh Street North will be maintained via Rennie Drive. The orders will become effective on June 22 and August 10. The restrictions and prohibitions will apply only during the times specified and will be indicated by traffic signs. Exemptions will be in place for emergency vehicles, statutory undertaker vehicles in connection with emergency repairs, and any vehicle acting under the direction of event organisers or a police constable in uniform. The full public notice can be found on the Kent County Council website. Want to find out all the latest planning applications, alcohol licensing applications and planned road closures near you? Then search the Public Notice Portal. The Public Notice Portal is owned and operated by the News Media Association, the voice of UK national, regional, and local newspapers in all their print and digital forms. NMA members include nearly 900 local and regional news titles which reach 40 million people across the length and breadth of the country each month. Many of these publications have served their communities for centuries and remain the most reliable source of verified news and information. Created by local news publishers and supported by the Google News Initiative, the portal carries statutory public notices published in local newspapers and is the fastest and most effective way of finding out what is happening in YOUR neighbourhood.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nigel Farage to launch Elon Musk's 'DOGE' on Reform's local councils. Here's what that means
Reform UK is to send its Elon Musk-inspired Department of Government Efficiency-style unit to look at 'wasteful spending' in councils. Nigel Farage's populist party said the department would be led by an unnamed man described as one of the country's "leading tech entrepreneurs with a specialism in data analytics who has also been a turnaround CEO". Media reports later said this is 28-year-old tech entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried. A team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors will 'visit and analyse' local authorities, starting with Kent County Council on Monday, the party said. Reform says it is aiming to "eliminate wasteful spending" among the councils it won in May's local elections, with party chairman Zia Yusuf arguing that "for too long British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole". However, Reform is facing criticism over the cancellation of Kent County Council's first governance and audit committee meeting since the election, and a lack of transparency over who will lead its team of external auditors. The Local Government Association (LGA) has meanwhile said that councils are already going to great efforts to make efficiency savings, and that without "adequate investment" from Westminster, they could struggle to provide crucial public services. Reform gained control of 10 councils in May's local elections – giving the party a foothold in local government for the very first time with 677 newly elected councillors. Farage's party took Derbyshire, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, North Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, and West Northamptonshire from the Conservative Party. Reform also took Doncaster from Labour, and gained control of Durham, which previously had no overall majority. Reform has pledged to investigate and crackdown on wasteful spending within the councils under its control, starting with Kent County Council, which it says has total debt of £787 million, equivalent to £499 per person. This is undoubtedly high, the average debt per person across councils in the UK is £1,137 per person, according to BBC figures. Birmingham City Council has more debt than any other council in the country, owing more than £2.9bn as of the financial year of 2023-24, while Leeds faced a total debt of over £2.2bn. Looking at other county councils, Surrey is facing over £5bn in debt, including £2.6bn owed by Woking Borough Council and £1bn by Spelthorne, GetSurrey reports. Cornwall County Council, the fifth largest local authority in England, is now in over £1.3bn of debt, Cornwall Live reports, while Somerset Council is in a similar position to Kent with debts of around £760,000. Tesla and X owner Elon Musk was tasked with leading a new government efficiencies department for the Donald Trump administration and took inspiration from a internet meme when naming the new body. In a nod to the popular 2010s 'Doge' meme, which depicts a puzzled-looking Shiba Inu dog, Musk named his department... you guessed it, DOGE, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency. In practice, Musk's spending crackdown meant a purge of public sector jobs, with his department either firing or laying off 260,000 people, according to PBS, accounting for 12% of the workforce. The broadcaster adds that many of these job losses were challenged in court, while some people were re-hired, while in March, the Trump administration was reported to be re-hiring 25,000 workers. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of DOGE's campaign was its targeting of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, with Trump signing an executive order on his first day in office terminating federal jobs offices and programmes related to these hiring policies. Musk's department laid off people from a number of departments most people would consider important, including the Forest Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Education, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The Trump administration also drew criticism for attempting to shut down the US Agency for International Development, which funds humanitarian efforts around the world. With more than 70% of Kent's revenue budget coming from council tax, Reform has said it wants to "deliver real value for voters" by using "cutting edge technology" to aid the party in its spending blitz. Reform said that the unit will use artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis tools and forensic auditing techniques to 'identify wasteful spending and recommend actionable solutions'. 'For too long British people have been British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole," said party chairman Zia Yusuf. 'Their taxes keep going up, their bin collections keep getting less frequent, potholes remain unfixed, their local services keep getting cut. Reform won a historic victory on a mandate to change this. 'As promised, we have created a UK Doge to identify and cut wasteful spending of taxpayer money. Our team will use cutting-edge technology and deliver real value for voters.' However, the Local Government Association (LGA) has suggested there may not be much left for Farage's party to cut. In a statement, the association said councils "continue to embrace efficiency and innovation in a way that has not been replicated anywhere else in the public sector". "Between 2010/11 and 2022/23, councils made an estimated £24.5 billion in cuts and efficiencies in service spending in order to manage funding reductions, inflation, wage growth, demographic pressures and growing service demand," the LGA said. "Opportunities for savings in discretionary services - to fund growing demand for statutory services - have largely been exhausted and many of these services have effectively been halved in size." The LGA said that without "adequate investment now" from central government, "there is a risk that many will not be able to deliver crucial services that so many depend upon". Reform says its team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors will be working "for free" out of "patriotic duty", but the party has faced criticism over its decision to bring in external auditors. Antony Hook, Liberal Democrat opposition leader of Kent County Council, told BBC Kent: "We have at KCC a governance and audit committee, that was due to have its first meeting since the election next week. Reform have cancelled it. "Reform have cancelled most of the committee meetings for this week or next week, without any explanation. They haven't even named who their nominees to chair these important committees are. "If Reform were serious about making the council work well they would be getting their councillors to do this job, not bringing in unnamed anonymous people who haven't been elected." Will Scotland ride the 'Farage tsunami' at the Hamilton by-election like England has with Reform? (Sky News) Does the key to uniting against divisive politics lie in our personal lives? (The Conversation) Scottish Labour councillor defects to Reform (The Guardian)
Epoch Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Epoch Times
Reform UK to Send First ‘DOGE' Team to Look at Council Spending
Reform UK is set to send in its first Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) unit to look at 'wasteful spending' in councils. A team of software engineers, data analysts, and forensic auditors will 'visit and analyse' local authorities, starting with Kent County Council on Monday, the party said. It follows the U.S. DOGE, which was launched during Donald Trump's presidency to cut federal spending. Billionaire Musk was involved but has since left his position spearheading the unit. Reform says its UK version will be led by a yet-unnamed man described as one of the country's 'leading tech entrepreneurs with a specialism in data analytics who has also been a turnaround CEO.' The party said that the unit will use artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis tools, and forensic auditing techniques to 'identify wasteful spending and recommend actionable solutions.' A letter sent to Kent County Council, which Reform now controls after the May local elections, read: 'The scope of the review includes but is not limited to: Contractual arrangements with suppliers and consultants, all capital expenditure, use of framework agreements and direct awards, any off-book or contingent liabilities, use of reserves and financial resilience, any audit flags raised by internal or external auditors in the last three years. Related Stories 5/27/2025 5/30/2025 'We request that all relevant council officers provide the Doge team with full and prompt access to: Council-held documents, reports and records (electronic and paper), relevant finance, procurement, audit and contract data, meeting minutes and correspondence concerning major procurements, any internal investigations or whistleblowing reports relevant to financial matters, any additional documents that might be of assistance.' It added: 'Should you resist this request, we are ready to pass a council motion to compel the same and will consider any obstruction of our councillors' duties to be gross misconduct. We trust this will not be required.' It is signed by council leader Linden Kemkaran, party Chairman Zia Yusuf and party leader Nigel Farage. Yusuf said: 'For too long British people have been British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole. 'Their taxes keep going up, their bin collections keep getting less frequent, potholes remain unfixed, their local services keep getting cut. Reform won a historic victory on a mandate to change this. 'As promised, we have created a UK DOGE to identify and cut wasteful spending of taxpayer money. Our team will use cutting-edge technology and deliver real value for voters.' During a local election campaign launch in March, Farage told supporters: 'Frankly folks, what we need in this country to pay for the cuts that people deserve and need, we need a British form of DOGE, as Elon Musk has got in America. Let's have a British DOGE.' A Kent County Council spokesman declined to comment.
Belfast Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Reform UK to send first ‘Doge' team to look at council spending
A team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors will 'visit and analyse' local authorities, starting with Kent County Council on Monday, the party said. It follows the US Doge, which was launched during Donald Trump's presidency to cut federal spending. Billionaire Musk was involved but has since left his position spearheading the unit. Reform says its UK version will be led by a yet-unnamed man described as one of the country's 'leading tech entrepreneurs with a specialism in data analytics who has also been a turnaround CEO'. The party said that the unit will use artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis tools and forensic auditing techniques to 'identify wasteful spending and recommend actionable solutions'. A letter sent to Kent County Council, which Reform now controls after the May local elections, read: 'The scope of the review includes but is not limited to: Contractual arrangements with suppliers and consultants, all capital expenditure, use of framework agreements and direct awards, any off-book or contingent liabilities, use of reserves and financial resilience, any audit flags raised by internal or external auditors in the last three years. 'We request that all relevant council officers provide the Doge team with full and prompt access to: Council-held documents, reports and records (electronic and paper), relevant finance, procurement, audit and contract data, meeting minutes and correspondence concerning major procurements, any internal investigations or whistleblowing reports relevant to financial matters, any additional documents that might be of assistance.' It added: 'Should you resist this request, we are ready to pass a council motion to compel the same and will consider any obstruction of our councillors' duties to be gross misconduct. We trust this will not be required.' It is signed by council leader Linden Kemkaran, party chairman Zia Yusuf and party leader Nigel Farage. Mr Yusuf said: 'For too long British people have been British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole. 'Their taxes keep going up, their bin collections keep getting less frequent, potholes remain unfixed, their local services keep getting cut. Reform won a historic victory on a mandate to change this. 'As promised, we have created a UK Doge to identify and cut wasteful spending of taxpayer money. Our team will use cutting-edge technology and deliver real value for voters.' During a local election campaign launch in March, Mr Farage told supporters: 'Frankly folks, what we need in this country to pay for the cuts that people deserve and need, we need a British form of Doge, as Elon Musk has got in America. Let's have a British Doge.'
ITV News
3 days ago
- Business
- ITV News
Reform UK to send first ‘Doge' team to look at council spending
Reform UK is set to send in its first Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) unit to look at 'wasteful spending' in councils. A team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors will 'visit and analyse' local authorities, starting with Kent County Council on Monday, the party said. It follows the US Doge, which was launched during Donald Trump's presidency to cut federal spending. Billionaire Musk was involved but has since left his position spearheading the unit. Reform says its UK version will be led by a yet-unnamed man described as one of the country's 'leading tech entrepreneurs with a specialism in data analytics who has also been a turnaround CEO'. The party said that the unit will use artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis tools and forensic auditing techniques to 'identify wasteful spending and recommend actionable solutions'. A letter sent to Kent County Council, which Reform now controls after the May local elections, read: 'The scope of the review includes but is not limited to: Contractual arrangements with suppliers and consultants, all capital expenditure, use of framework agreements and direct awards, any off-book or contingent liabilities, use of reserves and financial resilience, any audit flags raised by internal or external auditors in the last three years. 'We request that all relevant council officers provide the Doge team with full and prompt access to: Council-held documents, reports and records (electronic and paper), relevant finance, procurement, audit and contract data, meeting minutes and correspondence concerning major procurements, any internal investigations or whistleblowing reports relevant to financial matters, any additional documents that might be of assistance.' It added: 'Should you resist this request, we are ready to pass a council motion to compel the same and will consider any obstruction of our councillors' duties to be gross misconduct. We trust this will not be required.' It is signed by council leader Linden Kemkaran, party chairman Zia Yusuf and party leader Nigel Farage. Mr Yusuf said: 'For too long British people have been British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole. 'Their taxes keep going up, their bin collections keep getting less frequent, potholes remain unfixed, their local services keep getting cut. Reform won a historic victory on a mandate to change this. 'As promised, we have created a UK Doge to identify and cut wasteful spending of taxpayer money. Our team will use cutting-edge technology and deliver real value for voters.' During a local election campaign launch in March, Mr Farage told supporters: 'Frankly folks, what we need in this country to pay for the cuts that people deserve and need, we need a British form of Doge, as Elon Musk has got in America. Let's have a British Doge.'
