Key questions about Kent’s new council

The councils of Canterbury, Thanet, Dover and Shepway, serving as many as 500,000 residents. In one way, not at all. The merged council would provide all the same services as the individual councils do now. So, your rubbish collection will still be the same, for example. However, a merged council would be able to negotiate contracts that could bring down contractors’ costs.

Some, with 7% savings expected to made on staffing costs. But council leaders insist cuts will be more severe among senior managers, as the proposal will involve a single management team running the new authority.

The theory is that the merger – by cutting costs – may mean council tax bills could be reduced. But don’t forget this is still only one part of the bill. The amount you have to pay for county council services would still be decided by KCC and that accounts for the largest part of the bill. In one scenario, council tax levels in Canterbury are projected to increase by 7% – but would fall in Shepway by 9.8% and in Thanet by 2.8%. They would go up by 19% in Dover. Yes – there are likely to be moves to cut the number. About 70 to 100 could be scrapped. He said: “It is incredibly ambitious. This is the first time that four councils in the country have come together to form one single council. It will be a complicated task but it is definitely one worth considering. There are some real great opportunities for us. East Kent is an economy in itself and fitting one council across the economy could work fantastically well. We would have one strong voice.”

Cllr Simon Cook, leader of Canterbury City Council