Conservatives For Herne Bay

27/07/2026

The extra security presence we successfully lobbied for last year has returned to Herne Bay for the summer. Early signs are positive again, with little anti-social behaviour around the town, so let's hope for a fun-filled summer 😎

Security guards have been drafted in for the second summer running to help tackle anti-social behaviour in two Kent coastal towns over the summer.

22/07/2026

Thousands have signed a petition urging a council to rethink plans to evict six businesses from an industrial estate to make way for new homes.

14/07/2026

We've received this from South East Water this morning just as they managed to avoid turning off our taps again.

Let's hope they put this money to good use to fix and upgrade local water infrastructure such as at the drinking water pumping and treatment stations.

We cannot go on with weekly announcements that our water may be turned off at any moment.

We are seconding another motion coming to Canterbury City Council on July 16 and will continue to challenge our local water companies to do better and deliver their statutory obligations which we pay for as customers.

From SE Water:
"I am writing to share an important update regarding the conclusion of Ofwat’s investigation into our historical supply disruptions between 2020 and 2023.

"Today, South East Water has finalised a £30.5 million redress package, which will be wholly funded by SEW’s shareholders, agreed in close collaboration with Ofwat. This legally binding commitment will replace an initially proposed £22 million fine, ensuring that all funds are invested directly into local network resilience and community redress.

"Our sincere apologies

"We are incredibly sorry that water supplies have been affected for some of our customers across Kent and Sussex, sometimes on multiple occasions. This is not the level of service we aim to provide, nor is it the service that our customers deserve. We understand how difficult these disruptions have been personally for families, local businesses, and the wider community.

"We accept Ofwat's findings regarding these past supply failures.

"Direct redress for impacted communities

"Creating direct redress for impacted customers is at the very heart of this outcome. The £30.5 million redress package is strictly focused on making visible, rapid improvements for the customers who suffered the most. Through the package, the company’s shareholders will fund:

"£13m to undertake further investment following an independent root and branch review of the company’s resilience.

"£5m to speed up the smart metering programme for businesses.

"£5m to help households to collect rainwater and reduce demand on the mains supply through the provision of free water butts.

"£5m to install on-site storage tanks and smart meters in high-usage businesses to help manage the network better at peak times.

"£1m to make sure critical settings don't run out of water if there is a future outage.

"£1.5m to create a community relief fund to give back to communities that suffered the worst water supply failures.

"Our Commitment Moving Forward

"We are entirely focused on learning from these past challenges. This package directly aligns with our upcoming Price Review 24 (PR24) Business Plan, which represents our largest-ever investment programme. Moving forward, our absolute priority is investing heavily in transforming our business, creating sustainable water resources, improving network resilience, and increasing our drinking water storage capacity.

"We recognise that rebuilding your trust requires visible action and long-term network reliability. We remain fully committed to delivering the resilient public water supply that you and your constituents expect and deserve.

"If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out. Details of the individual schemes will be shared with you in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Lisa Clement,

Interim Chair,

South East Water."

02/07/2026

We are opposed to Canterbury City Council's plans to stop renewing leases for small businesses operating in the Nursery Industrial Units at Sea Street.

These are good small businesses that add to the economy of Herne Bay.

This site is in the council's proposed Local Plan for development as housing. This is clearly a site that meets the Labour Party's objectives of developing brownfield sites without any regard for small local businesses. And we oppose this.

At the very least, given the Council has no plans to develop this site itself and no developer has come forward, we will demand that the Council rolls leases for six months until it is in a position to develop this site.

Given that CCC has some brownfield sites in past Local Plans that are yet to be developed, we expect this could be many years if not decades.

Why does Labour-run CCC want to stop businesses in Herne Bay operating and leave sites potentially vacant, derelict and vandalised with no plans to rehome businesses or build new housing?

05/04/2026

There have been posts recently about Herne Bay and how many people are feeling fed up with the lack of care that government (local and national) shows towards our community, businesses and infrastructure.

We will post on our thoughts during the week about what we're doing and how with your support we hope to see change for the better in Herne Bay.

Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch writes well below about the toxic impact the big state is having on us as individuals. We pay more and more tax, but what for?

We can't defend our country properly, we have businesses being taxed out of existence, young people can't find jobs let alone afford to buy or rent homes suitable to raise families, yet it feels like our cherished countryside is being built over without any new infrastructure, energy and food costs are rising daily, our roads are full of potholes, we can't get GP appointments and we're being told how to live our lives to a ridiculous degree by the nanny state.

It's time for more local decision-making and less government. Local choice must be paramount. Not made in Westminster, Canterbury, Maidstone or wherever the unitary will be based and dictating to the people of Herne Bay.

Whether you agree with Kemi or not, if you are fed up with how things are, but are hopeful that we can still turn things around and make a difference, please read on.

05/04/2026

21/03/2026

The Conservatives on Canterbury City Council voted against the Lab/Lib Dem's draft Local Plan in its current form going to the Section 19 stage (consultation by a planning inspector to judge the plan’s legality and soundness) because:

1/ the plan is unsustainable and unsound - it seems the process of deciding where to place 23,000 new homes has become simply anywhere that’s politically expedient for the Labour and Lib Dem cabinet, resulting in a reliance on technically complicated sites and insufficient highways infrastructure.
There is a risk of challenge and as a result all the infrastructure we hoped for like coastal secondary schools, lower density housing estates, more affordable housing, more open space and greater protection for our precious landscapes, biodiversity and nature could now be at risk of removal or being watered down. There is also great concern that the weakness of this Local Plan may result in the planning inspector putting the University of Kent land and other sites back into the plan.

2/ The transport plan is speculative and untested It relies on a bus first strategy without having any buses or any plan for a new bus station in Canterbury.
It aims to grid lock Canterbury by taking out one lane of the ring road, spending £18m of taxpayers' money to expand the Wincheap Park & Ride, while closing and disposing of most city centre car parks.
It’s a plan that is against the car driver and particularly against lower paid workers needing to get into the centre of Canterbury. It's unclear how residents in the NE of the district will drive by car to the hospital.
In what is called “vision and validate”, this scheme is nonsensical as it does not address how the council makes up the significant loss in parking revenue as a result of closing car parks. Moreover, if the “vision” fails to address reducing congestion in Canterbury, then strategies like imposing a charge on cars coming into the city could be adopted during the next decade.

3/ After the recent Scrutiny Committee we are concerned that both Southeast Water and Southern Water don't have the capacity to provide drinking water and sewerage respectively for new housing developments. It's all very well saying legally they have to provide connections, but we do not believe that the resulting restriction on daily water consumption or greater reliance on sewage tankering are the right answers.

This draft Local Plan is infrastructure light.

4/ While the Lab/Lib Dem administration says it has listened to residents, we don't think it has. It's listened to some where it suits them. The proposed Beacon Road development being a case in point. There's been no listening. They haven't challenged the housing numbers, which aren't based on current population growth trends in the district.

5/ The Lab/Lib Dem administration claims this is a great Local Plan for rural areas. Who have they asked? It's certainly not the view of parishes surrounding Herne Bay who are having yet more unwanted housing forced on them, but without the much-needed investment in highways infrastructure on Island Road or in Hoath, Greenhill and Herne & Broomfield.

20/03/2026

20/03/2026

07/03/2026

The veteran MP says the plans are 'full of holes'