13/10/2026
Cllr George Holt is at Dartford Council - Civic Centre.
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Dartford
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🏛️ An evening at Dartford Council...
Yesterday evening, Councillors gathered for Dartford Borough Council's General Assembly of the Council (GAC). There was plenty on the agenda, including the future of local government in Dartford, adult social care, pensions and some rather unwelcome changes to planning law.
But first, some good news...
We had a flying start from our Mayor. The meeting opened with an update from our Mayor, Cllr Sandhu, on his many charitable engagements over recent months. Among these was his successful wing walk in aid of We Are Beams, a fantastic Dartford charity supporting disabled children, young people and their families.
Quite an achievement, particularly for those of us who prefer to remain firmly inside an aircraft when it's in the air!
👇🏻 Anyway, onto the business of the evening.
🏛️ Local Government Reorganisation: What a mess!
First up was Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), which has become something of a masterclass in how to spend a great deal of public money achieving remarkably little.
The Government initially insisted that councils like Dartford reorganise, whether residents wanted it or not. This involved months of work, considerable expense and the prospect of Dartford being merged into a much larger authority, potentially inheriting the financial problems of neighbouring councils.
For context, Dartford currently has the lowest council tax in Kent, while Medway's debt is eye-watering. You can probably see why Conservative Councillors weren't particularly enthusiastic about the prospect.
Having pushed everyone through this process, the Government then decided to pause the whole thing, leaving council staff understandably uncertain about their futures and everyone else wondering what exactly all that time and money was spent on.
Conservative Councillors brought forward a motion calling on the Government to reconsider the entire exercise, recognise the impact on council staff and give Dartford residents a proper say through a binding referendum before any further reorganisation.
A fairly reasonable proposition, you might think.
The motion went to a vote 👇🏻
🟦 Conservatives: For
🟪 Reform: For
🟥 Labour: Against
👵 Adult Social Care and Protecting Pensioners
Next came a discussion about the Government's approach to adult social care and proposals concerning the future of the triple lock.
Improving adult social care is something we should all be able to agree on. It is an important issue, and one which deserves serious consideration, and we also believe that pensioners shouldn't be expected to pay the price through the loss of protections they have come to rely upon.
Conservative Councillors therefore proposed an amendment expressing concern about the potential impact on pensioners, while making clear our support for cross-party efforts to improve adult social care.
In other words, we can support better care without making life harder for pensioners. The two are not mutually exclusive.
The vote 👇🏻
🟦 Conservatives: For
🟪 Reform: For
🟥 Labour: Abstained
🏘️ Planning Changes: Apparently Whitehall Knows Best
Finally, we came to the Government's changes to planning law.
This one is particularly important for Dartford because it affects how planning applications are decided and the ability of elected councillors to represent residents' concerns.
Under the new rules, more planning applications must be determined by planning officers, with Councillors losing the ability to insist that certain applications are brought before the Planning Committee.
Even where residents have raised objections, some applications will no longer be eligible for review by elected councillors.
Now, planning officers already make the overwhelming majority of decisions in Dartford, around 98% in 2025/26. The existing system has worked perfectly well, allowing Councillors to become involved to ensure planning law has been followed where applications attract significant local concern.
But apparently, that wasn't good enough for the Government.
The new legislation requires Dartford Borough Council to amend its planning procedures, whether we agree with the changes or not. Failing to comply could leave planning decisions open to legal challenges.
So, while we have to implement the law, we certainly don't have to pretend it's a good idea.
Conservative Councillors raised concerns about the loss of local accountability and the reduced ability of Dartford residents to have their objections considered by elected representatives.
We therefore made our opposition to the Government's changes clear and put those concerns alongside the amended policy to vote.
The vote 👇🏻
🟦 Conservatives: For
🟥 Labour: Against
🟪 Reform: Split
One Reform councillor voted alongside the Conservatives in opposing the changes. And another voted alongside Labour.
✍️ And on that subject...
Dartford Conservatives have launched a petition calling on the Government to reverse these planning changes. If you believe Dartford residents and their elected councillors should have a proper say in planning decisions, we'd be grateful for your support.
🔗 http://www.dartfordconservatives.org.uk/stop-labours... See less
