‘I’d go a step further and

Wheelie bins across the district could be emptied just once a month if Canterbury City Council does not merge with three other local authorities, a leading Tory has warned.

Cllr Neil Baker says “massive and dire” funding cuts could also spell the end of park and ride, force the closure of museums and play parks and result in less street cleaning.

The chairman of the Canterbury Conservative group claims the drastic effects of not joining forces with Thanet, Dover and Shepway are not being exaggerated.

He was speaking as the leaders of each authority last week announced plans to push forward with the merger.

He said: “Given the reduction in income from central government it is apparent individual district councils will either have to merge or slash services to a bare-bone level people can’t even picture. That’s not me scaremongering, but rather being realistic.

“If Canterbury doesn’t merge, the cuts needed to even exist would be massive and dire. Probably closing parks, scrapping park and ride, ending all museums, curtailing street cleaning and perhaps only collecting rubbish once a month.

“The list could go on, but I hope that’s enough to explain how awful it would be.”

Under the proposals, Canterbury would merge with the three other councils under one management team, streamlining services to save money.

But despite highlighting the benefits of a merge, Cllr Baker says the move should be taken one step further and has called for a “bloated” Kent County Council to be abolished. He says it should be replaced with three or four unitary authorities with total control over local government functions – something that has been ruled out at this stage.

It would mean an east Kent council also managing services like education, highways and social care. “A merged council isn’t a silver bullet,” Cllr Baker said. “It would – I hope – mean service levels could be maintained. But while I would probably vote to merge, the one option I would want to explore to ensure residents get the best isn’t even on the table. And that is wrong.

“A merged council would still sit under Kent County Council – a body I see as bloated, unable to set policies for a county as big as Kent and unable to work properly with district councils to bestserve residents.

“Therefore, I would hope residents would go for a different approach.

“Abolish KCC and create three or four unitary councils across Kent which provide everything two-tier councils currently do. I have a huge amount of respect

The merger could affect rubbish collection and museums like the Beaney, right, warns Cllr Neil Baker

Cllr Baker is worried about the impact on street cleaning and play parks

Cllr Neil Baker