Dover District Council Conservative Group

South London council may send homeless to Dover and Luton to lower hotel spend Homeless South London families could be sent to Dover and Luton under a council’s plan to reduce its spend on hotels.

Council Meeting 17th July 2024 (a) Where a meeting has been broadcast via the Council’s website a recording of that broadcast will generally be available for viewing on-line for a period o...

Out in Walmer this afternoon! Great to meet and talk to so many residents about the issues facing our area.

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‘FAILURE’ DDC Labour Leaders slammed over Housing Record.

My quote in full;

The current pace of council housing progress by the Labour-led DDC is, in my view, far from satisfactory.

Their election pledge was to build 200 environmentally sound council houses per year.( https://www.ddclabourgroup.com/campaigns/ ) However, their record shows they have managed to build just 3 in the last twelve months, two of which were initiated under the Conservative administration.( https://moderngov.dover.gov.uk/documents/g4889/Public%20reports%20pack%2010th-Jun-2024%2018.00%20Overview%20and%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10 ). This stark discrepancy between promise and delivery is a disservice to our community and a complete failure against their promises to residents.

The Labour administration’s claim of having 168 homes approved and underway, with hundreds more in the works, is yet to be substantiated by tangible results. Their target of an average of 200 per year seems increasingly unlikely given their current performance. In fact, when I asked whether they would be producing a plan of how they intend to deliver the 200 homes per year, I had a short answer - No.

Their assertion that the Conservative administration did not value council housing is unfounded and just doesn't wash. Our election pledge was to build 500 Council Houses, Temporary Accommodation and Shared Ownership properties over four years. This was an honest, deliverable pledge, and our track record of delivering speaks for itself compared to the current abysmal delivery rates.

As Conservatives, we believe in practical, achievable goals. We proposed a realistic target for building and acquiring new council homes, backed by a concrete plan of action. This would include a mix of Council Houses, Temporary Accommodation and Shared Ownership properties, catering to the diverse needs of our community.

In short, actions indeed speak louder than words. The Conservative administration has a proven track record of delivering, while the Labour administration’s record over the last year, since taking control of Dover District Council, shows a failure to meet their manifesto pledge of 200 council houses per year - combined with 12.5% Parking Charge Increases, 8% Increases to Council Tax Rents, 3% Council Tax Increase, changes to green waste services resulting in a 2/3 capacity reduction and 8% Price Increase. It is no surprise that residents are becoming increasingly frustrated by the actions and delivery by the new Labour Administration.

Cllr Trevor Bartlett - Leader of DDC Conservatives Cllr. Chris Vinson Dover and Deal Conservatives Dover District Council Conservative Group Sandwich and The Villages Conservatives Stephen James

𝐃𝐃𝐂 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥’𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤

Dover District Council’s Conservative Group has discovered that the new Labour administration has slashed the district’s roadside litter cleansing programme in half, in a behind-closed-doors decision with no public announcement or discussion.

The A2, A20 and A256 are already blighted by litter discarded by irresponsible car and lorry drivers, and the decision to reduce the district council’s high speed road cleansing programme to only once a year will make an often disgusting problem far worse.

The decision was made behind closed doors without discussion by DDC’s Cabinet or Full Council, and was only uncovered by a brief reference in the Council’s latest quarterly performance report - due to be discussed by the DDC Overview and Scrutiny Committee next Monday (11th December).

It is another example of the new Labour administration at Whitfield failing to listen to the views of the public, after in September it cancelled a public consultation on plans to replace the district’s garden waste sack collections with wheelie bins.

One of the 5 strategic ambitions in the new Council’s recently published Corporate Plan is “Protecting our environment” with a specific objective to “work with communities, visitors, and residents to ensure our […] open spaces are clean”. This latest decision makes a total mockery of that aim.

Dover Conservatives would reinstate the previous road cleansing programme and maintain the focus on litter clearance and prevention that residents rightly expect from the district council.