Who's axing Kent's councils?

Our politics producer Oliver Leader de Saxe breaks down the mystery facing future of Kent's local authorities.

Transcript

00:00It's the mystery hanging over all of our politicians.

00:04What is going to happen to Kent's councils?

00:08Just before Christmas, the government dropped the smoking gun on devolution and local government

00:14reorganisation, which will fundamentally change Kent's political landscape forever.

00:20Like all great mysteries, the future for Kent's councils is a little complicated.

00:25You might even need a chalkboard.

00:28To kind of break it down for you, currently there's three types of council in Kent.

00:33You have your borough and district council, so your bins, your planning, your local services.

00:39Then you have the big stuff run by Kent County Council.

00:44That's adult social services, education, that sort of thing.

00:48Then you have Medway, the only unitary authority here in Kent.

00:54But under government plans, these 13 here will have to merge together to be more like

01:00Medway Council.

01:03These unitary authorities will exist within a wider strategic authority, overseen potentially

01:09by one of these, one of the new mayors.

01:13And if this all sounds like a lot, all submissions have to be done by the 10th of January.

01:20The public haven't had a chance to say anything about this yet at all.

01:24And as a councillor myself, I've had very little input either.

01:29I think that the group of people that have made the decision are a very small representative

01:33group of the county.

01:35They are 14 men to start off with, and I have colleagues in that group, which I have a lot

01:41of respect for, but 14 men is not a representative selection of the county.

01:46Protests are expected on Thursday as Kent County Council is set to hold an extraordinary

01:52meeting to help decide whether Kent and Medway will be on the fast track to these changes.

01:58If added to the priority list, it could mean no local elections in May and the end of all

02:04borough councils within three years.

02:07I'm really concerned about the cancellation of the elections to Kent County Council.

02:12Others are worried about too much power being invested in this single mayor figure across

02:19Kent and we don't know how that person is going to be held to account.

02:26Others are concerned about the loss of districts and the impact that has on democracy.

02:32So having big unitary authorities instead of smaller districts separates or starts to

02:38separate the link between councillors and constituents.

02:41All submissions to government have to be made by Friday, but while this may solve the mystery

02:47of Kent's political map, answers over local elections or representation will be a lot

02:54less clear.

02:55Oliver Leader, The Saks, for KMTV.