A cut that’s intelligently designed is still a cut

As councils wrestle with the consequences of dwindling government grants and rising demand for services, much effort is being expended on how best to describe what we all know are cuts.

Kent County Council has a bit of form in this area. But it seems even the creative brains at County Hall are struggling.

A report on plans to cut the budget for rural bus services describes how £400,00 saving is “intelligently designed”.

Heaven forbid that we have savings that are “unintelligently designed.”

Will councils in east Kent get their way and be able to persuade the government it is time for “home rule” and a definitive break with the two-tier system?

It remains to be seen but there is a political momentum behind the latest push to create some kind of “super” council by merging.

The five are not the only ones attempting to bite the devolution bullet.

Other councils are also in talks about going their own way, leaving KCC to circle the wagons and fend off any break aways. Its proposal seems to be coming down to the creation of a super- sized unitary, but we suspect that won’t cut much ice with the districts and boroughs.

Herne Bay MP Sir Roger Gale is a big cheerleader for the idea that KCC should be scrapped. It is fair to say the two have not always seen eye to eye and that is putting it mildly.

In outlining his support for a shake-up of local government, he paid a rather back-handed compliment to the county’s only unitary authority, Medway. “If Medway can make a go of it, then so can we,” he wrote in his regular column for the our sister paper the Thanet Extra. We know what he means. We think.

There hasn’t been much good news for Ukip in its nominal stronghold of Kent recently.

But it can take comfort from a recent defection. Or rather a re-defection.

One of the four councillors in Thanet that left the party last year to set up an independent group has rejoined the party.

The return to the fold of Beverly Martin has been warmly welcomed by the party. But as one wag put it, could this be a case of a rat climbing back on board a sinking ship? No comment...

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