More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Take the money and run: Most councils have in recent years learned to live hand-to-mouth when it comes to funding and providing key services.
The government has squeezed local government finances for several years. What ministers give on the one hand, they take with the other; or in many cases what they take on the one hand, they take with the other.
So to be invited to bid for schemes that could help in the government’s “levelling up” agenda ought to have stirred some authorities into action.
After all, it’s not that often the government invites councils to access government cash in the vaults.
But it seems some councils are treading warily and have opted not to apply for a share of the fund this year. Despite being classed as among “priority” authorities, both Swale and Folkestone and Hythe have passed on making bids for up to £20 million to pay for projects that would help those “left behind” communities the government is so keen on.
Swale says it has done so as it felt the bidding process was complex and it did not want to rush into a proposal which might then be judged to be inconsistent with what the government was trying to achieve.
As for Folkestone and Hythe, it offered a terse statement which failed to shed much light on its motives for delaying an application, saying only that it intended to do so when the second wave of applications are open next year.
DESPITE its many flaws, the government has rebuffed a call by Kent County Council for the council tax to be reformed.
The council leader Roger Gough wrote to the local government minister Robert Jenrick in April after a vote in which all parties at KCC agreed the system was in dire need of a shake up.
The minister has unsurprisingly replied to the leader’s letter saying that it has no intention of either scrapping or reforming the council tax.
In correspondence released after a Freedom of Information request made by KentOnline, the minister says the system is working well.
As to the suggestion that there should be flexibility permitting additional property tax bands, the minister politely rubbishes the idea, writing: “The introduction of new higher bands would potentially raise questions of fairness regarding the ability of those liable to pay the tax.
"Many people living in higher-value homes may be on fixed incomes and may have lived in them for some time. It would risk penalising those people on low incomes, including pensioners, who have seen their homes appreciate in value, and who might face substantial increases in taxes without having the income to pay it.”
And the government clearly has no intention of taking up the idea of a revaluation exercise, with the minister writing: “Changes to the council tax system would require a revaluation in order to implement effectively, which would be expensive to undertake, and could result in increases in bills for many households.”
This is not the first time a government has argued that the costs of revaluation of properties would be expensive.
Labour resisted the idea when it was in power for three successive terms. But you have to wonder if the government can find £4.8bn for a levelling up fund to help poorer communities why it can’t for a system of finance that many households are finding it a struggle to meet and is based on property values from 1991 - three decades ago.
THERE will be some relief among schools that the arrangements for this year’s 11 Plus in Kent look set to revert to normal after Covid forced the authority to delay the test last year.
KCC says this year’s test will take place in September as planned and that the results will be known in time for applications to schools to be made.
Interestingly, schools are being encouraged to do what they can to help academically able children from poorer backgrounds take the test.
In a message to schools, the county council states: “We have all been reminded particularly to focus on the interests of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, whose learning is likely to have suffered most during lockdown periods. If you have academically able pupils within this group who might be thinking about grammar school, please support their parents in applying.”
AFTER pulling off a by-election victory in Chesham and Amersham, the Lib Dems have reminded us that they can still be a force to be reckoned with. Can the party in Kent take any lessons from the KCC by-election in Elham Valley? Er, no. It didn't put up a candidate.
KENT county council has often drawn criticism over its perceived preferential treatment to the motorists' lobby but has been trying to prove its green credentials.
This week it made great play of taking a hydrogen fuelled bus to Sevenoaks - a good thing except that you won't see one becoming a regular time-tabled service. The prototype costs a modest £500,000.
