Kent’s devolution disaster, KCC denied a combined authority

A recent application made by Kent County Council (KCC) and Medway Council to be considered in the government’s Devolution Priority Programme (DPP) has been rejected. 

Dartford civic offices

Who cares about devolution?

At a council level, devolution is when central government powers are transferred and distributed to local government. This often involves changes to local government structures so that their services can be delivered in the most efficient way to their area. 

In some areas responsibilities can be shared across borough, district or county boundaries to form a Combined authority. This is when 2+ councils work together and make collective decisions. 

 Councils are often in favour of this because they receive additional funding for the area they cover and are given greater powers. 

The DPP was launched with the aim to establish more combined authorities throughout the UK and further devolve the powers of the central government. 

As part of the programme in January 2025 the government welcomed applications from interested councils to join. 

Kent is left “bitterly disappointed”

On January 9 2025, KCC and Medway council made their formal application for a combined authority between them.

The proposal was made following a full county council meeting. Kent is the largest local authority by population and council leaders hoped that devolution would give Kent a stronger national voice.

As it stands KCC’s responsibilities include; roads & travel, the Kent 11+ test, rubbish & recycling, free school meals, community grants and planning permissions (among others). They are responsible for the delivery of these services across the entire county.

The DPP would give Kent and Medway a unitary status which means that all services and advice in the joint area would come from one source.  The responsibilities of the borough and parish councils would also be absorbed into this combined authority.

Councillors in Dartford Borough were told that if the application was successful then the Borough council would cease to exist. 

A little under a month later on February 5 Robert Gough, Leader of KCC was told that Kent and Medway had not been selected as part of the programme. 

Councillor Gough says that he was “astonished and bitterly disappointed ” by the news he received. 

KCC and Medway were seen to not have a big enough population between the two constituencies, said Jim McMahon OBE, the Minister of State for Local Government for English Devolution. 

The effects of the letdown 

Councillor Danny Nicklen of the Ebbsfleet ward said that he was originally very optimistic about the potential to form a combined authority.

Cllr Nicklen is standing for the county elections in May and so is particularly interested in the future of Kent’s local government. 

Nicklen says that he has always been in support of Dartford receiving a unitary status and when he heard about the DPP he was “excited to see what more Dartford could do for its residents”. 

He says that unitary councils “make it easier for residents and councillors to know who to contact when things need resolving because everything is dealt with by one council.”

He reveals that he was not sure why Kent was not included in the programme because Essex has two much smaller unitary councils and was included and yet Kent was not.

”The reasoning doesn’t seem to be valid but there isn’t much anyone can do about it.” 

He remains concerned as “a lot of the questions I had remained unanswered and still to this day I’m not sure that the fast track devolution programme has been thought through.”

The borough and parish councils 

Councillor Lucy Canham of Dartford borough and Stone parish council feels that the borough council were not kept very well informed about the county’s application. 

Photo taken in Stone parish

She says that the process felt “rushed and very last minute” because councillors were told that it looked very likely that the application would be successful but “within a week it wasn't happening.”

She also believes that the borough residents and councillors deserve a vote on this matter because it is something that would directly affect them. However it would be hard to get voters interested and Cllr Nicklen said “devolution isn’t going to resonate with the electorate”. 

There are also worries among the councillors that if the devolution process was too rushed they would lose their “identity and characteristics that have been traditions for years and years.”

The borough was told that the number of councils would be reduced slightly and boroughs like Dartford would no longer have a ceremonial mayor. If their application was successful Kent and Medway would instead have one mayor of the Combined authority who would be their directly elected leader. 

Overall, Cllr Canham believes that KCC rushed the process but she can only “comment from the outside” because she was not informed enough throughout the application.