Your councils – change is coming
Government ministers want councils like yours in Kent and Medway to deliver the services they provide in a different way.
In the biggest shake up of local government in almost 50 years, they want to merge councils across the historic county of Kent to create a number of unitary councils serving roughly 500,000 people each. We explain what a unitary council is below.
This is known as Local Government Reorganisation or LGR for short.
How will councils change?
Under the current system Kent County Council (KCC) delivers some services like education, social services and roads, and district or borough councils deliver others like emptying your bins and providing council housing.
In the proposed new system unitary councils would deliver all council services in one area. Medway Council operates in that way today.
Ministers think the changes will make it simpler for residents to understand how things work and the new councils will be more efficient.
KCC, Medway and the 12 district and borough councils would no longer exist and would be replaced by a number of unitary councils.
The existing councils are in the process of working out the best way to organise themselves including how many unitary councils there should be and what areas they should cover.
They were helped by experienced advisors KPMG to make sure their plans meet the government’s key criteria and to gather the data and evidence needed to make a final decision.
What happens next?
The government set a deadline of Friday 21 March 2025 for Kent’s initial plans. You can see those plans below.
Kent’s full proposals and business plan need to be with ministers by Friday 28 November 2025.
The government will then take the decision about how many unitary councils there are and which areas they cover.
When we get a decision, work will start in earnest on combining existing councils to create the new unitaries.
Those new unitary councils could start delivering services from April 2028.
Devolution
Eventually, the government wants something called devolution, which involves the creation of a strategic mayoral authority for the whole of Kent headed by a directly-elected mayor.
There are lots of examples of directly-elected mayors across the country.
They include Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham (Lab), Mayor of Tees Valley Ben Houchen (Con) and Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Andrea Jenkyns (Reform).
The strategic mayoral authority and the directly-elected mayor would then be handed powers and the ability to spend money normally reserved for ministers and civil servants working in central government.
Directly-elected mayors and strategic mayoral authorities usually look after things like transport, strategic planning and infrastructure, promoting health and wellbeing across the public sector and countywide environmental issues.
At this stage, we don’t know when devolution could be possible for Kent.
What do these possible changes mean for me?
At this stage, nothing will change and the services you use will continue to be delivered just as they are now.
We’ll let you know if that changes.
What councils are included?
- Ashford Borough Council
- Canterbury City Council
- Dartford Borough Council
- Dover District Council
- Folkestone & Hythe District Council
- Gravesham Borough Council
- Kent County Council
- Maidstone Borough Council
- Medway Council
- Sevenoaks District Council
- Swale Borough Council
- Thanet District Council
- Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council
- Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Timeline so far
16 December 2024 – the government publishes its English Devolution White Paper outlining how they want councils to change
16 December 2024 – the government writes to councils in Kent outlining the white paper’s key points and invites them to be part of the government’s Devolution Priority Programme
10 January 2025 – councils in Kent and Medway request to be part of the government’s Devolution Priority Programme
5 February 2025 – the government announces which areas will be taken forward into the Devolution Priority Programme. Kent and Medway are not included
5 February 2025 – Minister Jim McMahon formally asks councils in Kent and Medway to work together to formulate an interim plan for local government reorganisation
21 March 2025 – Kent and Medway send a covering letter and their interim plan to ministers
15 May 2025 – the government gives its feedback on the interim plan
10 July 2025 – the government publishes its English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill which is designed to turn the proposals in its white paper into law
25 July 2025 – the government summarises the local government reorganisation process
3 September 2025 – councils in Kent and Medway confirm options to be developed for full business cases
29 October – public survey report is published, following councils seeking views from residents and stakeholders
5 November 2025 – councils in Kent and Medway publish draft business cases for new councils
28 November 2025 – councils in Kent and Medway submit proposals for new councils to government