Dolley Wooster Cllr - Working for our Community

01/09/2026

Today I will be attending the urgent decisions committee at Swale to talk about the proposed interim changes to Swales taxi licensing policy. I have been working with Icars since the news dropped and have put forward a motion for a change to the policy around 12 hrs after we first heard the news. I do not sit on licencing so will leave the process questions to the Cllrs that do including the armed forces champion that sits on that Comittee. The purpose of today is to get meaningful results on a policy change that allows a Sheppey's armed forces supporting business to get back to business as usual. Again thanks to icars and their staff for reaching out to get this work done together.

Edit -
You can watch the meeting on this link on YouTube live streams.

https://swale.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=380&MId=4581

25/08/2026

Street Club will be starting again next week and meeting in Rushenden on Manor Road. For games, gaming and refreshments after school, come and find us. More details in the poster...

24/08/2026

Over the weekend we had the devastating news that 2 police officers were killed and 5 others. Whatever the circumstances surrounding this tragedy, we are thinking about the affected families and emergency workers that had to attend that and every other incident. Every time a 999 call is received someone does their best to get there to help and I think we shouldn't take that for granted. Everyone deserves to go home after their shift. RIP

PC Tom Clough and PC Matthew Blades were killed in a collision with a car travelling the wrong way on the A66 near Middlesbrough on Saturday morning.

20/08/2026

Pleased to see the announcement that one of our large Sheppey fly tipping sites will be on the labour government hit list. Sites in Swale were spoken about at the recent fly tipping conference where the announcement was made that the EA would get a bigger budget to support communities. I visited the site back in March based on Swale officers work and this is a good example of everyone working in the same direction to provide consistent communication around our fly tipping issues especially linked to organised crime. Is it everything no, however this focus on Sheppey is what we want more of from a labour government. The MPs office has been a major driver here taking our message to West Minster and we should do more working together.

New crackdown unites government, regulators, police, local government, and Mayors against criminal gangs behind illegal waste sites.

19/08/2026

Too many people have already lost their lives. The RNLI float to live campaign is also worth highlighting to swimmers and non swimmers to.

https://rnli.org/water-safety/float

It can be tempting to cool off in lakes or rivers but there could be dangers hidden under the surface.

Help us to reduce the risk of an emergency by following these tips:

💧Think before you enter – Cold water shock can be dangerous, even on hot days.
💧 Look out for hidden dangers – Currents, reeds, and deep water can all pose risks.
💧 Know what to do in an emergency – If you see someone struggling, call 999 and ask for the fire service if it’s inland, or the Coastguard if you’re at the coast.

15/08/2026

Just for information. The fireworks in Sheerness have been cancelled tonight. I know it's disappointing but I want to thank the organisers for doing the safe thing for everyone.

10/08/2026

Local plan engagement information.

This is straight off of an email provided by Swale officers as there is so much information. It's all important and even one comment counts as a response. I will be encouraging town and Parishes to also respond.

Swale Borough Council is now inviting comments on the Regulation 19 stage of the Local Plan. This consultation seeks feedback from stakeholders and the community about Front cover of Local Plan Review (Regulation 19) Summer 2026the Local Plan’s vision, objectives, strategic policies, site allocation policies and development management policies.

Key documents such as the Sustainability Appraisal, the Habitats Regulations Assessment and supporting evidence base are also available for consultation.

This consultation will run from 9am on Monday 10th August 2026 to Monday 21st September 2026 at 5pm.

You can view the draft Local Plan Regulation 19 document, the Sustainability Appraisal, the Habitats Regulations Assessment and evidence documents at: https://swale.gov.uk/lpr-consultation

Please respond to this Regulation 19 consultation via our consultation portal: https://swale-consult.objective.co.uk/kse/

You won’t be required to register or sign into your Objective account, but will be asked for basic details including name, address and email, before responding to comment points in the document. You can also use the portal to respond to the Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulations Assessment which is a separate survey on the portal home page.

Hard copies of the Local Plan Regulation 19 are available to view at the 3 Council offices:

Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 3HT – open 10am to 12 noon, Monday to Friday.
Sheppey Gateway, 38 to 42 High Street, Sheerness, Kent, ME12 1NL - open 10am to 12 noon Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Alexander Centre, Preston Street, Faversham, Kent, ME13 8NZ – open 10am to 12.30pm and 1:30pm to 4:30pm, Tuesday.

And are also available to view at all Swale libraries:

Boughton
Faversham
Teynham
Minster
Queenborough
Sittingbourne
Sheerness
The two mobile libraries

(For opening hours and addresses of the libraries please visit https://www.kent.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/libraries/visiting-a-library/find-your-nearest-library or call 03000 41 31 31).

You can also email or post any comments (referring to the policy number you are commenting on) to [email protected] or Planning Policy, Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 3HT.

All comments must be submitted by 5pm on Monday 21st September 2026 - please submit them earlier if you can.

This is the final consultation stage before we submit the plan to the Government. The Government will then appoint a planning inspector to run an Examination In Public, which we expect to take place next year (2027).

Unlike earlier consultations, the planning inspector will focus purely on comments relating to the Plan’s Soundness and Legal Compliance. There is a guide which explains these terms to help you make your points clearly to the inspector. It can be viewed at https://swale.gov.uk/lpr-consultation

Comments will be made publicly available to view online along with your name and post town. For details on how your information is handled, please see our privacy notice at https://swale.gov.uk/planning-and-regeneration/local-plans/local-plan-review/local-plans-privacy-notice

Equalities Questionnaire

We are also inviting our residents and stakeholders to complete the optional Equalities Questionnaire after commenting on the Regulation 19 document. This can also be found on the home page of the Portal: https://swale-consult.objective.co.uk/kse/.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the Reg 19 Local Plan, it will cost £27.00 which includes postage. You can also purchase the land allocations pack for £16.00. Or both Reg 19 Local Plan and the land allocations for £40.00. The order form will be available on our website (https://forms.swale.gov.uk/service/pay_planning_fees), or you can phone our call centre for assistance (01795 417850).

Public consultation

06/08/2026

Good news for Swale. Thank you to labour members for voting against.

Today, as Labour Cllrs on the Kent & Medway Fire and Rescue Authority, we voted against proceeding to consultation on the proposal to make changes to local fire cover.

The proposals included closing four on-call fire stations, removing attached on-call provision from Herne Bay, Deal, Faversham and Tunbridge Wells, and reorganising fire appliance deployment across the county.
For Herne Bay in particular, the loss of the attached on-call appliance would be a significant change to local fire cover.

We are not against change. We recognise the need to address changing demand, recruitment and retention challenges, appliance availability and emerging risks such as wildfires. However, we felt these proposals involved too many major changes at once and we were not convinced the impact on local communities had been fully addressed.

Throughout this process, we listened to the Fire Brigades Union, firefighters, on-call crews and residents, and we made sure their voices were heard in the Authority chamber.

We also challenged the argument that these changes were unavoidable because of reduced funding. The Authority received a 4.25% funding increase this year and funding has increased by more than 12% over the next three years. While financial pressures exist, this is not a service that has seen its funding cut.

Thank you to everyone involved in this debate, including the FBU, firefighters, residents, senior management and officers. While we may not always agree on the solutions, we all share the goal of making Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Service one of the best in the country.

As Labour councillors, we will continue to work constructively within the Authority, support our firefighters, and do everything we can to make the lives of residents across Kent and Medway safer.

Vince Maple
Zoe Van D**e
Mark Prenter