Latest news with #oppositioncouncillors
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Kent County Council asks residents for ideas over £50m shortfall
A council is asking residents for suggestions for how funds could be spent in the next financial appeal comes after Kent County Council (KCC) announced it was facing a shortfall of £50m for the 2026-27 Reform UK-led authority said that "difficult money-saving decisions will be necessary".But opposition councillors believe that the figure could be much higher. The council, which according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service is in financial peril due to years of squeezed funding and soaring costs, must set a balanced budget by wants to hear about which services residents wish to protect, how savings could be made and suggestions for how it could generate more income as part of its consultation the country's largest local authority with a population of 1.6m, excluding Medway, it receives about £2.6bn, with a net income of £ council has been trying to find ways of reducing high-spend areas, such as the near £100m bill for special needs pupils' home-to-school transport, to drive down overall previous Conservative administration warned that the income did not match its outgoings, especially since adult social care bills continue to rise each year. 'On the low side' Deputy leader, Brian Collins (Reform UK), said its priority was "to achieve financial stability"."Our Department for Local Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been working since day one in May, and is working to identify areas of waste," he said."So far we have seen a new approach to potholes and a review of home-to-school transport bills. This work continues at pace."Conservative former deputy finance cabinet member Harry Rayner said: "I suspect the £50m shortfall mentioned by the new administration would appear, to me, to be on the low side."It will face the same difficulties we faced and that councils are facing all over the country."
The Independent
06-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Reform-led councils in ‘paralysis' as dozens of meetings cancelled in first weeks
Councils taken over by Reform UK have been left in a state of 'paralysis' as dozens of key meetings are cancelled and newly elected councillors fail to show up. Nigel Farage's party won huge victories in May's local council elections, gaining control of nine councils and minority control in a further three. However, opposition councillors have claimed organisation and productivity have been a 'shambles' since the election, with some claiming the Reform representatives 'do not know what they're doing'. Across the 12 Reform-controlled councils, 33 meetings have been cancelled or postponed within the first nine weeks since the election. Additionally, at least 21 Reform councillors have missed their first meetings, despite the majority of these only having had one meeting to attend in their first month. The worst-affected councils are Kent and Nottinghamshire, where Reform holds 57 and 39 seats respectively. In Kent, nine out of the 22 meetings - 40 per cent - scheduled have been cancelled since the election up to July 4. That compares to just 15 per cent in 2024. These include legally required meetings such as the governance and audit committee, a crucial part of local government structures, ensuring accountability and transparency of the council's finances. Other meetings, such as the police and crime panel, were cancelled as membership of the committee was yet to be confirmed - something opposition councillors say suggests their Reform counterparts 'are not ready or prepared' for their roles. In Nottinghamshire, four of the 10 meetings scheduled had been cancelled in the first nine weeks. These include the governance and ethics committee and the overview committee, which is responsible for scrutinising the operation of the chief executive's department. Opposition councillor in Kent, Rich Lehmann, said the cancellations were 'shocking' and made him question whether Reform was capable of leading the council. 'Reform did better than anyone expected, and clearly better than they expected as well,' he told The Independent. 'There's a general feeling among opposition councillors that a number of elected councillors are not ready or able to attend committee meetings that take place during the day. 'The fact they've not even named who is sitting on committees suggests they are having trouble filling committee places and that's why they're being cancelled. 'No one knows what's going on. There's a lot of confusion.' Kent is the home of Reform UK's first Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) unit, which has been set up to look at 'wasteful spending' in councils. The announcement on Sunday evening came as a surprise to many councillors, Mr Lehmann said, who claimed the move was a 'barrage of distraction' from the 'paralysis' the council is in. It is understood that Reform UK councillors have chosen to cancel meetings with the intention of rescheduling them once they are more prepared. It is also understood that as the meetings were scheduled by the previous administration, they were not scheduled to the new Reform council's timetable. In Nottinghamshire, the opposition Conservative group said the cancellations had sparked 'serious concerns about leadership, accountability, and the future of local service'. 'This is a shambolic start from Reform,' said Sam Smith, leader of the Conservatives. 'Scrapping every key meeting in their first full month in charge is not only reckless—it's dangerous. This puts public services at risk and shows just how unprepared Reform really are.' He added: 'There's no excuse for this. They should be in their offices, speaking to officers, and getting to grips with their jobs. Instead, the car park is empty, and the council is effectively leaderless. This is what happens when you elect people who had no plan and no idea what the job involved.' While local councils are independent bodies responsible for their own decisions, it is understood that the government expects them to operate within the law and to hold meetings in order to deliver for residents. Kent County Council said some meetings, such as planning committees, were scheduled on an 'if required' basis, and were cancelled because there were no applications requiring an immediate decision. A spokesperson said: 'Regarding the changes to the meeting calendar, a number of meetings were squeezed into June due to the election and induction period preventing them from being held in May as would be the case in a non-election year. Because there are no time-sensitive issues due at these June meetings, consideration is being given to deferring business to relevant July meetings to make best use of member and officer time.' The Independent contacted Nottinghamshire Council's new Reform leader Mick Barton for comment. He did not respond but told Local Democracy Reporters the comments are 'political rhetoric from the opposition'. He said: "That's absolute nonsense. We've only been here three weeks. We're still setting policies, we're having weekly cabinet meetings with officers to find out what we're going to be doing going forward."
