Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Is this the most
Having been branded a ‘dictator’ and accused of losing the plot by members of his own party, headline-grabbing Canterbury City Council leader Ben Fitter-harding is no stranger to controversy. But in a sit-down interview with reporter Rhys Griffiths he ins
He’s attracted criticism from the likes of Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-mogg and Rod Liddle, having established himself – probably by accident – as one of the most controversial figures in Kent politics.
But Ben Fitter-harding, who leads Canterbury City Council, insists his leadership style and the contentious policies he has put his name to are misunderstood.
The Conservative councillor is embattled, in control of a slim majority in the local authority – following public rows with two former party members – and is expected to suffer heavy losses in May’s local elections. Despite being portrayed as a heavy-handed leader, his boyish features still betray a slight air of hurt at some of the harsher criticisms thrown his way since taking the helm three years ago. “I’m a very inclusive leader,” he says. “My leadership style is a lot softer than a lot of people would think. I like to work with a group where everyone has the ability to have their say and then we come together and we form majority positions on things.
“We debate, we discuss, sometimes we disagree, but ultimately we form that position and then my job is to go out there and make it happen.” Sat inside the Canterbury office of his design and tech firm, Dodgems and Floss, the Tory boss states his controversial leadership is far from “dictatorial”.
But he has proved to be ruthless when asserting party discipline, having recently suspended former Lord Mayor Colin Spooner for accusing him of “losing the plot” in The Telegraph.
The comments were included in a story about the leader’s hugely controversial Canterbury “circulation plan”. The proposal – which Cllr Fitter-harding previously argued will solve the area’s long-standing congestion woes – would see the city divided into five ‘neighbourhoods’. Direct journeys between the zones would be prohibited, with drivers forced to instead travel along a brandnew bypass before entering another ‘neighbourhood’. Papers show ANPR cameras will be installed along each of the borders to catch anyone making illicit direct trips. Consequently the scheme has become a lightning rod issue, having been labelled “Stasi-like” and even compared to
the Berlin Wall.
Farage, Rees-mogg, Liddle and Jeremy Corbyn’s conspiracist brother Piers have added their voices to the chorus of criticism the plan has received.
Cllr Fitter-harding has steadfastly railed against such opposition – but now he hints a U-turn could be in the offing. “There are really important things that have come out of having this bigger conversation about the plan, and actually I don’t believe we’ll ever need zones in Canterbury,” he says. “I think if we put a bypass in with all the junctions that go with it, people are smart, they’re going to use it to get to the part of the city they need to get to without any kind of penalty to make them make that shift. “So I think we put the road in and it gives us the infrastructure that Canterbury has been needing for many, many years now, and people will be able to make it the right choice for them in terms of how they get around.”
However, Cllr Fitter-harding believes tough decisions on congestion cannot be ducked. “You don’t take everyone with you overnight, and people within my own group, my own party, are rightfully entitled to be able to voice their opinion and have an impact,” he says. “Now, my party and I believe that at no point should there be a restriction on people being able to do a journey in their car.
This has never been about that. “People have to be able to drive their cars – cars are a vital part of the transport mix and they will be for a very, very long time to come.
“But we have to be talking about what’s going to happen with congestion in Canterbury. Sometimes that means talking about really controversial topics, and I’m going to keep doing that and I’ll keep listening.” At no point in our wide-ranging conversation is there ever any sense this is a man who actively seeks to court controversy – but neither will he shy away from the big calls.
His mantra for local government is “do the basics, brilliantly” – but he also sees his role as one that must embrace long-term transformation. “I haven’t been expecting to make the kind of headlines that I have been,” he says of some of the more hysterical reactions to his plans.
“It certainly hasn’t been intentional. But if you have a leader who is prepared to stick their head above the parapet then sometimes that does attract attention.
“I’m not an extroverted person – it’s taken me years to become confident enough to do this. “And some days you just get absolutely destroyed and knocked back and that can be for any reason. It could be something that you read, it could be a comment, it could be a deci
sion. You can feel really, really crushed.”
Originally from Solihull in the West Midlands, Cllr Fitter-harding first came to Canterbury 20 years ago to study multimedia, technology and design at the University of Kent.
After graduating in 2006, it was a simple decision to stay in the city to forge a path as a tech entrepreneur, eventually founding the Dodgems and Floss agency, which is based in St Peter’s Street.
As the local authority’s first openly gay leader, he says the community has always felt like a safe and welcoming place to build a personal and professional life.
He met his partner Jonathan through a mutual friend and they were married in 2015 – the same year he founded his firm. The couple have two adopted sons, who are four and six years old.
“We’re confident enough to be able to go out with our children here and never worry,” he says “But there will always be a very, very small number of people who, for whatever reason, like to fight against things that have just become so normal, and that is really sad.”
Our conversation is taking place in the immediate aftermath of the vandalism of a city centre display promoting Canterbury Pride – the biggest in Kent – on whose board Jonathan sits.
Being a member of a party which has not always enjoyed a comfortable relationship with the gay community invites the question of how it feels to represent the Conservatives at events like the annual Pride celebrations.
But he thinks he is showing “a new generation of young people entering the LGBTQ+ community” a different political option
is available.
“You know, it’s not like they have to think, ‘I’m gay so I’m a Labour voter because there’s nowhere else for me to go’,” he adds.
“Your politics don’t have to be governed by your sexuality. “Not everyone’s on the same page, not everyone understands, and there’s still a big debate to be had around sexuality and gender and that shouldn’t be stifled because that’s how progress is made.”
The point regarding gender lands as a reference, implicit rather than explicit, to Canterbury’s sitting Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who has been swept up in arguments over trans rights issues.
Although the council leader doesn’t go after Ms Duffield directly, he is happy to make veiled criticisms of the area’s representation in the halls of Westminster.
He also declares his intention to seek selection as the Conservative candidate for the next general election.
“We haven’t got a voice in government,” he laments. “Our voice in government feels like it’s non-existent. If that was me, if I had that opportunity to be in Parliament, I’d be Canterbury’s megaphone. “It feels like there’s a whisper occasionally and there’s nothing really happening. If that was me, if I had that opportunity to be in Parliament, I’d be Canterbury’s megaphone...”
“It’s really opened my eyes to just how poor I think our representation is in government. “And yeah, that makes me want to stand, and that makes me want to put myself forward as a candidate for the next general election.
“I think I’ve already been pretty shouty from Canterbury’s perspective.
“I’m not afraid to have the difficult discussions, the difficult debates, that’s something that I think we need.
“We don’t have that at the moment and that I can’t abide – I think the residents of Canterbury and Whitstable can do better.”
A desire to step on to the national stage suggests the experience of putting his head above the parapet locally has done nothing to dent his political ambitions.
But the current fight is preparing for the local elections in May. If national polling is to be believed, it could be a bruising battle for the incumbent administration.
“I hope our residents can see the benefits of stable Conservative leadership over the last couple of years in turning the basic services around,” he states, alluding to the recent launch of the council’s in-house bin
collection company, Canenco. “If they see that and they can see that things are better then I think they’ll return a good Conservative majority. I think our majority might even increase. “I don’t think you’ll find any member of the opposition who would think that, but they don’t see what I see when I talk to people about the basics a district council is supposed to do.” Cllr Fitter-harding’s current ambitions hinge on May’s election. Four years ago, he was ousted from his seat in one of the poll’s biggest shocks. Labour and Lib Dem members are already confident of making significant gains across Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay.
And despite his hopes of a better-than-expected result, Cllr Fitter-harding will be aware much of his vision for the district could go up in smoke in just a couple of months’ time.