Conservatives For Herne Bay

26/10/2026

UPDATE FROM FULL COUNCIL MEETING

Key points from your Herne Bay Conservatives team:

- Despite our objections, the Government has stripped local Planning Committees of key powers, reducing residents' say in planning decisions; so much for 'returning powers to communities'!

- Parking Enforcement: Now back to full strength. Dozens of tickets issued near schools, with illegal parking outside High Street takeaways targeted next.

- Recycling Loss: Uncovered a £300k income loss due to falling recycling rates. Council approved our call for an urgent review and recovery plan.

- Changing Places Toilets: Pushed to use developer funds for accessible toilets in future seafront redevelopments (including reopening the delayed arcade blocks).

- Memorial Park Pond: Urged the Council to finally resolve outstanding issues and finish work - 2 years is too long!

We shall keep you posted on future Full Council meetings.

26/10/2026

If you were inspired by Kemi Badenoch's speech at the Conservative Party Conference and would like to help rebuild the Conservative Party in Kent, we'd love to hear from you.

We need new members, new helpers and new community champions who would like to stand as local councillors.

Click the link below and we will be in touch.

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/HCbH9NpA62

24/10/2026

Last night at full council, our Conservative group on Canterbury City Council reiterated our objection to the new planning delegation legislation which will strip councillors of their ability to call in planning applications to the Planning Committee on behalf of residents, removing an important means of enabling transparent debate and decision making.

We’ve signed a letter to the Prime Minister alongside other Conservative councillors to express our views and call for it to be revoked.

24/10/2026

📣 REPORTING BACK ON FULL COUNCIL MEETING 📣

As your Herne Bay Conservative team, we raised the following topics at Council last night:

- tomorrow will see two protests at the Clocktower, but in order to ensure the safety of residents and local businesses, the Police Commander has confirmed a very large police presence, with more officers on standby if needed; Canenco will clean the area after the demonstrations end

- the Parking Enforcement team is back to full strength; dozens of tickets have been given out to people parking illegally and unsafely outside local schools; a new focus will be cars parked illegally outside take-aways, clogging up the High Street

- our investigations revealed a £300K loss of income at Canterbury City Council, due to declining recycling rates; the Council agreed our call for an urgent review and improvement plan to get recycling back on track

- we pressed the Council to use developer funds to install Changing Places toilets for disabled people at the seafront public toilet blocks, as they are redeveloped in the future (including the reopening of those by the arcades, which are much delayed)

- while ongoing work is taking place to resolve the outstanding issues with the Memorial Park Pond, we urged the Council to prioritise the completion of this project; 2 years is too long!

We will keep raising your priorities at Council committees in the months ahead.

15/10/2026

Canterbury City Council is holding a consultation asking whether people living and working in Herne Bay would like a Town Council re-established.

It would be good to have as many responses along with your reasons for your viewpoint whether you are for, against or would like to propose an alternative form of local governance.

More information on the proposals and how to take part, including a useful resource library, are available here https://news.canterbury.gov.uk/consultations/community-governance-review-stage-two-have-your-say-on-local-representation/

Or you can simply email [email protected]

There is a public meeting on November 12 at Herne Bay Baptist Church from 6pm where you will be able to ask questions and find out more information about the proposals. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

14/10/2026

Is our local council getting its priorities right?

With 2027 local elections approaching, we want to know what matters most to you, what’s working and what needs to change.

Tell us what you think - our short survey takes just a few minutes:

Tell us your views....

25/09/2026

The revival of our party is continuing at pace and we are looking to sign up new members, ahead of council and Parliamentary elections in the next few years.

If you want to make a difference to the direction of our local area, as well as the country, please watch our video from other local members and sign up to join us today 💙 🤝

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DcPh7LQ44/

10/09/2026

We are opposed to Labour's holiday tax. An attack on a seaside town like Herne Bay - damaging jobs and businesses.

We are opposed to Labour's holiday tax and will vote against any proposals to introduce this. We are particularly concerned about the proposal to allow uncapped rates which is foolish.

At a time when youth unemployment is rising, we should be doing all we can to help our young folk into jobs. Increases in the minimum wage, employers, NI and business rates have already seen cuts in jobs.

We live in an area where the hospitality industry is vital and we need to do everything we can to encourage overnight stays by visitors to boost our economy. We are just returning to pre-Covid levels. Why clobber us again?

In a cost of living crisis, it's totally unfair to put an unnecessary and expensive additional tax on British holidaymakers.

There's absolutely no reason to believe the income from a tourism tax will be used to improve council services for local people. Most of it will be swallowed up in bureaucracy or wasted on Labour's vanity projects.

07/09/2026

Another shambolic policy from this Government... ending in another U-turn.
Whatever your views on the reorgnisation of local councils in Kent, I think everyone can agree that Angela Raynor has wasted a huge amount of time and money 😡

Kent and Medway is one of 14 areas where the controversial local government shake-up is to be reviewed and put on ice

07/09/2026

We've been preparing for Local Government Reorganisation for nearly two years in Canterbury.

Not only has it cost a lot of tax payers' money that could have been spent elsewhere, it's wasted a lot of time that could have been spent on delivering better services and it's put the people working in local government through an unnecessary period of uncertainty.

Today, the government has announced a review of LGR, which is basically an abrupt stop of the process. Elections will now be held for Canterbury City Council in May 2027 and the council is not being abolished - or not yet - or rather who knows what is going on?

The sheer incompetence of this Labour government beggars belief. Is it about delivering better services or about Labour wanting more control? I don't think it has a clue.

This affects ordinary people facing daily challenges who are homeless, who have children with special education needs or adults who are in social care. It means that the joined up services we were hoping to be delivering from 2028 to better serve our communities won't be happening.

It means the savings that could have been made delivering more joined up services for residents have just been dumped.

It's a mess made by this wholly incompetent Labour government.