Tens of thousands of foreign-registered lorries fail to pay the Dart Charge for the existing Dartford crossing
Failure to improve link roads will cause chaos in long term warn Kent Lib Dems as Highways England consults on Second Thames Crossing
More than 150,000 foreign-registered lorries failed to pay the Dart Charge in the past year according to a Freedom of Information request by Kent Liberal Democrats, who are calling for a new system to be introduced as soon as possible.
Period poverty is finally getting the publicity it deserves with several councils over the country offering free sanitary products to their local residents.
Kent County Council has a statutory duty to look after young women as they leave care and move into adulthood and has ultimate responsibility for the wellbeing of all residents.
Periods on average cost these young women £10 a month and many in Canterbury are having to resort to using toilet paper or newspaper, or take sick leave. And this is in the 21st century! In Canterbury you can access products from our excellent Food Bank, a service I'm pleased to support in a small way via my members grant.
So this week I asked Graham Gibbens, the County Council Cabinet Member who would take the relevant decision, what steps he is taking to sort out period poverty for women aged from 14-21. I'm delighted to report that Kent CC is working with schools, but not everyone is at school and everyone else's needs were completely ignored in his answer - unless you live in Thanet where providing protection will be part of a "trial". One trial for the whole of Kent!!!
I don't believe this is good enough - to end period poverty KCC should stand up to the mark and provide products without delay in libraries and community centres for local residents throughout the County and not rely on local charities doing the job for them.
Food supplies disrupted as safety testing becomes impossible
Schools, social care, transport and business will face severe disruption
County Council forced to spend over £20 million on reinforcing Kent's roads and hundreds of thousands of pounds to employ more staff to cope with chaos
The true impact of a catastrophic no deal Brexit has been laid bare in a report published on Wednesday detailing Kent County Council's emergency plans.
Wera Hobhouse's speech to the County Councils' Network on Tuesday 20th November
Wera Hobhouse is the Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government.
Good afternoon everybody. It is a pleasure to be here with you all at the County Councils' Network Conference.
The 12 months since you last came together in Marlow, have been a mixed bag for local government as a whole. One can argue it has been harsher on the counties than other local authorities. The events in Northamptonshire have been a stark warning to all.
On Monday the Chancellor announced that he was providing £420m extra to councils for pothole and other urgent highways repairs. Kent can expect to receive about £10 million. Kent Liberal Democrat Group are calling for at least half of this extra money to be spent on long overdue pavement repairs.
The backlog for pavement repairs in Kent has hit £84 million, leaving more than a third of paths and pavements across the county in a poor and potentially dangerous condition.
Liberal Democrats joined a cross-party group of 40 MPs and members of the House of Lords calling on the Chancellor to bring forward preferential tax rates for company electric cars in his forthcoming Budget. The letter to Philip Hammond comes shortly after the Government scrapped grants for new plug-in hybrids and slashed discounts on other electric vehicles.
