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Boss denies move towards east Kent supercouncil

Canterbury chief executive Colin Carmichael said the plans were nothing to do with the formation of

Political rivals have lined up against plans to merge services across four east Kent districts.

The East Kent Joint Arrangements Committee has been set up to look at integrating services such as waste management and benefits across Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Thanet councils.

Liberal democrat leader Alex Perkins has argued that Canterbury has little to gain from allying with the other three councils, claiming they are badly run and will drag the district down.

Cllr Perkins said: “If you look at Dover, Folkestone and Thanet, they are run absolutely disastrously. They’ve sold off all their assets, they’ve got no money, so now they want to join up and spend ours.

“Canterbury is excellently run, it is the only council rated excellent in east Kent. What do we want with the rest of them?”

“We’ve shown we can run our harbour better than they can run their ports, we’ve shown we can run our waste collection more efficiently and run our car parking better. Why would we want to join up with them?”

The Labour shadow cabinet at Kent County Council has suggested the merger is an attempt to form a unitary authority by the back door.

Liz Green, shadow member for children’s services, said: “If it is a move to a unitary council the Conservatives should be upfront about it.

“What it does mean is increased centralisation and decisions that get very little local input.”

But cllr Perkins supported a move towards a unitary authority, looking towards mid Kent instead of the east coast.

He said: “A unitary authority for would be a great idea. Getting rid of KCC would be no bad thing, it would be hard to find an authority more badly run, out of touch or which failed to consult to the same extent.”

“But people need to think outside the existing boundaries. I would like to see a coastal authority with Folkestone, Dover and Thanet, and a mid Kent authority consisting of Canterbury, Ashford and Maidstone. I’d take Faversham in the mid Kent area, and Sittingbourne could stay with the rest of Medway.”

But Canterbury chief executive Colin Carmichael said the plans were nothing to do with the formation of a unitary authority of any sort.

He said: “It's not such a move. In fact, all this is being done so as to be an alternative to a unitary, which the Kent councils have agreed would be very costly to set up, with redundancies and reductions in service levels while a complete restructure of councils went ahead.

“This joint committee arrangement should achieve savings and efficiencies without the disruption.”

The East Kent Joint Arrangements Committee will meet for the first time this week.