Swale Borough Council

The leader of Swale Borough Council and the chair of the council's Environment Committee have raised concerns about the potential borough-wide impact of the closure of the Faversham Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC).

Kent County Council have proposed three options for saving £1.5m from their HWRC’s and every one of those options includes the closure of Faversham HWRC. Two of the three options would also see Sheerness HWRC close for two days a week.

A programme to support people struggling to feed their families and pay their bills has reopened across the borough.

Swale Borough Council has received more than £500,000 from Kent County Council’s (KCC) Household Support Fund to help households access food boxes, get vouchers to pay their electric, gas and water bills, and buy items needed to keep warm until March 2024.

The money is being used to support organisations within the local community who have been on the ground helping people navigate the cost-of-living crisis.

Here are the results in the Local Elections on Thursday 4th May 2023  for Sittingbourne Borough Wards.

Across the borough only 30,599 people, out of a possible 110,088, voters turned up to vote – amounting to just 22% of the elctorate.

Bobbing, Iwade and Lower Halstow

250 new tree saplings, planted at Milton Recreational Ground last week, have been kicked, uprooted and damaged by vandals.

Swale Borough Council and Southern Housing held a tree-planting day last Monday (6th February) aimed "to increase tree cover for biodiversity and boost the health and wellbeing of families, dog-walkers and other park users".

Local Swale Borough Ward concillor, Cllr Steve Davey, said "the damage was noted over the weekend and will be repaired tomorrow".

Swale Borough Council has been awarded £20 million to improve health, education, leisure, and employment opportunities in Sheerness on the Isle Of Sheppey.

The Sheerness Revival project has been awarded the money from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund.

The scheme will expand the existing health centre to provide more and better services from the Healthy Living Centre for local people.

Swale, along with two other Kent councils, have signed a new waste and recycling contract with SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd.

Ashford, Maidstone and Swale councils – who work together as the Mid Kent Waste Partnership - have awarded the eight-year contract to Suez after a joint tender process.

The new £19 million a year contract begins in March 2024 and will bring improvements to all the existing service and make use of the latest technology.

Councillors have agreed the rollout of a low cost, low emission car club to Sittingbourne.

Swale Borough Council will be launching the next local car club to help people access cleaner vehicles, without the expense and hassle of ownership.

Swale BC say "the scheme will be building on the successful trial of the first club set up in Faversham last year. This has been estimated to have saved local drivers almost £24,000, and reduced CO2 emissions by 6.39 tonnes, in the first three months".

Councillors are being asked to approve consulting on Swale Borough Council’s draft budget next week.

The policy and resources committee will be discussing a report on the draft budget for 2023/24 on Wednesday (30th November).

The report sets out how the council proposes to tackle significant inflation, increased pressure on key services and delays to the government’s local government funding review.

People struggling to feed their families and pay their bills could be eligible for more support this winter.

Swale Borough Council has received more than £250,000 from Kent County Council’s (KCC) Household Support Fund to help households access food boxes, get vouchers to pay their electric, gas and water bills, and purchase the items needed to keep warm.

The money has been allocated to organisations within the local community who have been on the ground helping people navigate the cost of living crisis.

Parking in one of Swale’s pay and display car parks should soon be easier with new pay units being rolled out by the council from next month.

Swale Borough Council are installing 38 new pay units that accept debit or credit cards and contactless payments, as well as the existing cash or RingGo App options.

The new pay units are being installed in the council’s 24 pay and display car parks around the borough from November.