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Wednesday February 26 | 2020
Council tax rises by £5 a year but borough is still poorest in Kent
STAR STUDENTS: Tonbridge School and Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School pupils are about to see the experiment they designed sent to International Space Station; (l-r) Thomas Stack, Edward Barry, Godwyn Lai, Sarah Prescott and Abigail Colley. Pg 2
Small businesses are hit again as West Kent’s debts revealed By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk WEST KENT COLLEGE has accumulated debts of £5million owed to 64 individual organisations, most of which are small businesses. It also owes £13.2million to the bank. The further education provider in Brook Street is part of West Kent and Ashford College (WKAC), the second college to enter education administration in this country last August, after Hadlow College. West Kent itself has 2,736 students and 343 members of staff. All three are run by the Hadlow Group, which is in the process of selling all three institutions after sustaining huge financial difficulties.
Accountants BDO released its statement of proposals last week which showed that WKAC also owes £13.2million to Barclays Bank and £1.1million to Ashford Borough Council. The £4.9million in unsecured claims includes £437,500 to Salix Finance, which provides interest-free government
Hadlow College owed £40million to more than 300 organisations loans to the public sector for improving energy efficiency, and £230,563 to BAM Construction Limited. BDO’s report for Hadlow College in November showed it had run up debts of
THE borough council has decided to increase council tax by £5 a year after approving its budget for 2020-21. A meeting of the full council voted for the 2.4 per cent rise, which will see the bill for services such as waste collection, parks, environmental health and planning reach £214.50 for a typical band D home from April. This represents 11 per cent of the overall council tax bill, with the precepts aportioned as follows: Kent County Council £1,351.26 (4 per cent increase); Kent Police £203.15 (5.2 per cent rise); Kent Fire and Rescue £79.29 (up 2 per cent); and Parish Councils, which average a year £60.94 (an increase of 5.9 per cent).
Forecast
£40million to more than 300 organisations - again with small businesses bearing the brunt. The report also shows that WKAC received capital grants worth £86million from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), which is also owed £1million of standard education funding. The grants were given to K College, which ran WKAC before it collapsed in 2014 - when the Hadlow Group rescued both colleges. It was provided to help with the construction of campuses in both towns. The capital grant is a liability over the economic life of the property, and
That means overall a band D resident will pay £1,909.14 a year, compared to £1,875.70 in Tunbridge Wells. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s income from council tax for the next financial year is forecast to be £11million. It is also set to receive government core funding and a grant to support housing growth totalling £5.7million. The council has seen its core funding decrease by around 65 per cent since 2011 and is lower than all other borough councils in Kent. Government funding per person in the borough will stand at £17.64 - compared to £20.12 in Tunbridge Wells. The next lowest in the county is Sevenoaks at £19.16 per capita, while the highest is Thanet (£36.33).
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