KCC: Clinging on to power

Devolution on the table for Kent?

Kent County Council has taken its first steps towards seeking a devolution deal from national government. This hardly comes as a great surprise, KCC Leader Roger Gough flirted with devolution in his foreword to the 2022-26 Council Strategy, asserting that they ‘can engage with Government to seek the devolution of the powers and resources to support Kent succeed.’

But is devolution for Kent and Medway as good an idea as Gough and his Cabinet would have us believe? Like most things, there are pros and cons to devolution. The Institute for Government define a devolution deal as ‘a negotiated agreement between Whitehall and local leaders that devolves a set of specified powers in return for agreed governance and structural reforms at the local level.’, meaning that KCC would receive greater power, and thus more money, to govern Kent than it currently has, often having to adhere to national government’s decisions and limited funding streams.

This could arguably help to dig KCC out of the large financial hole it currently finds itself in, but it is also unlikely to overthrow the current system significantly enough to enact real change and close the ever-widening socioeconomic gap in Kent, with a £19,900 disparity between the household earnings of the wealthiest neighbourhood, Tunbridge Wells Central, and the poorest, Sheerness West.

Moreover, it is likely that a devolution deal for Kent would take the form of a Mayoral County Combined Authority model, meaning that Kent’s local government would be headed by an elected mayor. This potential move has already proved to be unpopular with local figures across the political spectrum, with both Labour Medway Council leader Vince Maple, and Conservative Deputy Leader of KCC, Peter Oakford, holding concerns about this additional layer of democracy, and metro mayors holding relatively little ‘hard’ power.

However, KCC have been keen to emphasise that this step towards devolution is merely an expression of interest at this stage, and that there is significant room to shape a devolution deal to Kent and Medway’s best interests and unique challenges.
So, only time will tell; it is clear that real change is needed to prevent KCC and Medway from issuing Section 114 notices sooner rather than later, and it is against this unsettling backdrop that devolution is increasingly being whispered in the corridors of Kent’s local authorities.