Off the Record

There is a lot of interest in the background to the government’s decision to locate an emergency lorry park at Manston Airport.

But it seems we may not find out what went on behind the scenes in the run-up to the announcement.

Or the reasons why they ditched other locations, like the Detling showground and Folkestone racecourse.

A Freedom of Information request we made to see various papers and documents is in limbo after the Department for Transport said it was weighing up whether it would be in the public interest to release them.

Its response cites seven grounds on which it could rely on any decision to withhold the information, roughly a third of the public exemptions it is permitted to use.

Will the interests of transparency and openness win the day? We will have to wait and see, but we are not optimistic.

Over at County Hall, there are some furrowed brows among councillors, who have received a note about their travel expenses.

KCC wrote off a tax bill of £179,000 after it emerged councillors should have been paying tax on car journeys to and from County Hall.

Now they are being asked if they would like to make a voluntary contribution to meet some of these costs, which some consider a personal liability. Cue anxious faces and huddles in the corridor as they consider how best to respond.

We like the latest way a council has chosen to describe a budget overspend and how to address it. The fashionable way appears to be to refer to a “re-alignment of finances”. And if a project has overspent, it is often because of the “elongation of the project timeline.” Thank you, Thanet council. Follow Paul on Twitter @ PaulOnPolitics