Kent Current

01/06/2026

Kent’s housing market is doing two different things at once.

House prices are falling across much of the county, but rents keep rising everywhere. The places that once looked like Kent’s cheaper alternatives are becoming less affordable too.

We dig into the latest housing data, round up the continuing water supply problems affecting thousands of homes, look at an AI data centre proposal in Canterbury, planning news from across the county, local political developments, and more.

🔗 Full briefing in the comments.

29/05/2026

Kent’s water system has failed the same test again.

The heat was forecast. South East Water says it planned for high demand. Treatment works increased output, extra water went into the network, and customers were asked to use less.

By Friday, 17,665 properties across Kent were still dealing with no water, low pressure or intermittent supplies.

We look at how another week of tankers, bottled water stations, school disruption, business closures and familiar explanations has opened a wider political row over whether Kent’s water infrastructure is fit for purpose.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

27/05/2026

We’ve started a WhatsApp channel for Kent Current.

This may be a terrible idea. We genuinely do not know yet. But people keep asking for easier ways to keep up with our reporting, and apparently the answer in 2026 is 'put Kent news directly into WhatsApp.'

We’ll mostly just use it to share new stories and the occasional major countywide development rather than posting constantly.

If that sounds useful, you can follow it here:

Follow Kent Current's WhatsApp Channel. Independent, reader-supported news for Kent covering the county’s biggest stories, politics, culture, and more.. Join 37 followers for the latest updates.

26/05/2026

Kent’s water failures returned with the heat over the bank holiday weekend, leaving hundreds of homes across the county without water or low pressure as temperatures climbed.

We look at the latest South East Water disruption, the growing scrutiny facing the company, and why emergency tankers and bottled water stations are becoming a familiar sight in Kent.

Plus pressure to move Dover border checks inland after fresh gridlock, Dreamland’s Scenic Railway saga, residents facing a four month wait to return to Miller Heights in Maidstone, and how Margate’s former synagogue is being brought back into use without losing the history that made it matter in the first place.

🔗 Full briefing in the comments.

23/05/2026

East Kent Hospitals is not dealing with one neat crisis.

Over the past few months, the trust has faced critical incidents at major hospitals, national intervention, questions over its meningitis outbreak response, and a leadership row that has now ended with its chief executive leaving.

We look at how the trust reached this point, and why changing the name at the top will not be enough on its own.

Plus KCC starts with prayer and ends with less scrutiny, and a very good video about one very broken road in Swanscombe.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

20/05/2026

Mark Thomas is heading to Faversham for a run of Edinburgh warm-up shows, so we spoke to him about comedy, protest, opera in his dad’s bungalow, being spied on by BAE-linked operatives, and why arts centres matter.

They also discuss getting arrested, infiltrating the Labour Party in the 1980s, and why stand-up is about more than just making people laugh.

🔗 Full interview in the comments.

18/05/2026

Residents have been forced out of 122 flats at Miller Heights in Maidstone after a basement flood damaged electrical systems and exposed wider safety concerns.

But the story does not begin with last week’s flood. It begins years earlier, with an office conversion, fire safety warnings, water ingress, and a question now hanging over the whole building: who is actually responsible when a block fails?

Plus Reform’s first year at County Hall, Operation Brock, more water woes, planning, property and more.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

18/05/2026

Kent County Council has plenty on its plate. Roads, SEND, social care, buildings needing hundreds of millions in maintenance, and the small matter of local government reorganisation.

So, naturally, Reform councillors have found time to push for prayers and the national anthem at full council meetings, while also backing less time for opposition leaders to respond to the administration.

We look at the row over faith, patriotism and scrutiny at County Hall.

Plus fresh questions over KCC’s sale of Antony Gormley’s Two Stones, and how the Starmer crisis is splitting Kent’s Labour MPs.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

13/05/2026

Dartford MP Jim Dickson sits in a constituency shaped by growth, traffic, infrastructure and one very famous crossing.

In our latest interview, he talks about the Dartford Crossing, why the Lower Thames Crossing “can’t come soon enough,” what happens next with the Swanscombe Hole, Ebbsfleet’s jumping spiders, Reform at KCC, Morgan McSweeney, and why he thinks Dartford’s identity is distinctively Kent.

🔗 Full interview in the comments.

12/05/2026

South East Water chief executive David Hinton is stepping down after months of supply failures across Kent and Sussex.

The company says he will remain in post over the summer while a replacement is found, following a winter that left tens of thousands of customers without reliable water.

We look at what led to his resignation, the political fallout, and the bigger question still hanging over Kent’s water infrastructure.

🔗 Full briefing in the comments.