Decision due on whether to push for super council

East Kent will learn next week whether its four local authorities will begin the process to merge into a single super council.

Councillors in Canterbury, Thanet, Dover and Shepway are due to decide whether to hold a public consultation ahead of a formal merger timed to coincide with the 2019 local elections.

But many scrutinising the proposals complain there are too many unanswered questions and uncertainties about how an authority which stretches from Whitstable in the north to Romney Marsh in the south will function.

There are also fears that the council would become remote from its population and would reduce democratic representation.

Canterbury City Council’s three-member Lib Dem group has blasted the proposals as a cost-cutting exercise, calling for a formal referendum ahead of any merger.

Few concrete details about the way the super council would function have emerged. One idea to ensure people are properly represented is to have town and parish councils operating below the main authority.

Cllr David Hirst, one of Canterbury City Council’s two Ukip members, said: “The proposed council merger removes all individuality from each district and will no doubt spread grey and drab repetition, a form of dreariness draped evenly over each and every district.

“Will the council merger bring more money into Kent? It will not. Will the council merger produce better management and budgeting, enhancing each district? It will not. Will the council merger improve services for the old and frail? It will not.”

At present, the super council proposal poses no threat to Kent’s two-tier local authority system of district councils oper- ating alongside the county council

But Cllr Neil Baker, a senior member of Canterbury’s ruling Conservative group, and Gazette columnist and business expert Richard Scase are among those who believe a single unitary authority would better serve east Kent.

Prof Scase said: “We need a structure of local government in Kent that is fit for purpose. This means the break-up of Kent County Council and the creation of three or four unitary authorities. “They would be responsible for everything from refuse collection to roads and highways through to planning and housing development.”

The four councils meet separately on Wednesday, March 22, to decide whether to move towards the public consultation phase, which would run from March 24 to May 19.