Reform of council 'unworkable', councillor says

Kent's councils are set to abolish themselves under government proposals and be replaced with unitary bodies

Council debts of £2.3bn could render proposed local government reforms in Kent "unworkable and unviable", a councillor has warned.

Official figures show the total borrowings by the county's first and second tier authorities amounts to £1,228 per resident.

Kent County Council's (KCC) former deputy finance cabinet member Harry Rayner said: "Councils may no longer be there but the debt stays."

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "While councils are responsible for managing their own budgets, we know that the current funding system is broken, which is why we are taking decisive action so local leaders can deliver the public services their communities rely on."

Kent's 14 councils are set to abolish themselves under government proposals and be replaced with three or four new, larger unitary bodies.

Councils reorganised into geographical areas could result in the east and north of Kent disproportionately carrying over more debt than the west, the Local Democracy Reporting Service says.

For instance, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells councils have no debt, but Dover, Gravesham and Canterbury have outstanding borrowings totalling £100m-200m each, while Ashford carries debts of £260m.

According to figures before KCC's devolution and local government reorganisation cabinet committee, the county council is the biggest borrower with debts of £732m, although recent pay-offs and maturities may see that reduce to about £650m by 2026.

'Set to pay'

Councillor Rayner, KCC's Conservative group leader, said: "I am very concerned that with devolution and local government reform, that far too little consideration is being given to the financial implications and, more precisely, the very substantial increase in the cost of council tax falling on most Kent households.

"That is the price that Kent residents are set to pay."

He said the least expensive option would be a single unitary council.

"The current proposals for local government reform are clearly financially unworkable and unviable," Rayner added.

KCC's Reform UK leader Linden Kemkaran has already made the case for a single unitary authority for Kent, believing multiple authorities would not be cost-effective.

Other councils have broadly agreed on three or four new bodies, although the government minister will have the final say.