The English Devolution White Paper was published in December 2024 by central government.
A white paper is a document explaining government policy and this one outlines plans to transfer more powers from national government to local areas – a procedure known as devolution.
The government wants to create strategic authorities, some with elected mayors.
What is happening in Kent?
In the white paper there was an invitation to councils to apply to be one of the first strategic authorities.
Following discussions with Kent’s borough and district councils (including Folkestone & Hythe), Kent County Council and Medway Council asked the government to be one of the first strategic authorities and to be included in its Devolution Priority Programme (DPP).
The list of councils in the priority programme was published on 5 February 2025 but did not include Kent and Medway. The county council elections will take place on 1 May 2025.
Local government reorganisation
In addition to devolution, the government has said it wants residents to be served by just one local council (known as a ‘unitary council’).
Kent currently has two layers of local government - the county council (KCC) looking after services including education and children, social care and roadworks. The other layer is the 12 borough and district councils, of which Folkestone & Hythe is one.
As well as the creation of a mayoral authority, local government across the area currently served by all these councils would be reorganised into a small number of unitary councils.
It is not yet known how many unitary councils there will be, or which would be responsible for delivering the current services provided for residents and businesses in the Folkestone & Hythe district.
More information
Read the English Devolution White Paper - published 16 December 2024
For more information about local government reorganisation and devolution visit the devolution and LG reorganisation hub.