Opposition councillors have said Reform are trying to avoid scrutiny and are ‘out of their depth’
The Reform UK leadership at Kent County Council (KCC) is set to cut the number of committees to save £75,000 a year.
The changes are to be presented to a specialist panel next week before going before full council next Thursday (December 18). The authority currently hosts 120-150 committee meetings a year and this will be reduced by around 15.
Opposition parties have been critical of cancellations early in the Reform administration and pointed to thinner agendas ever since. One Conservative claimed Reform is trying to avoid scrutiny and are “out of their depth”.
KCC said it wanted to “streamline” the system and eradicate duplication while shaving support costs, allowances and employing AI-generated minutes to generate the savings. Some committees would be merged.
However, all the main committees – scrutiny, health overview and scrutiny, governance and audit, pensions, personnel, flood risk and water management and standards – remain unchanged, the council claimed.
Cllr Brian Collins, deputy leader of Kent County Council, said: “This is a bold step towards modernising how we govern.
“By merging committees, reducing duplication, and embracing technology like AI for minute generation, we can save taxpayers’ money while maintaining strong democratic oversight. These changes will make Kent County Council more efficient and better equipped to serve our communities.”
Two cabinet committees – environment and transport and the growth, economic and economic development panels – would merge into a single body.
The selection and member services committee and the electoral and boundary review committee would combine into a single ‘electoral and member arrangements committee’, bringing together responsibilities for appointments, constitutional changes, grants, and election arrangements.
The member development sub-committee would be discontinued and replaced with “alternative engagement methods”.
Conservative KCC member Sarah Hudson said: “The lengths Reform will go to avoid scrutiny is outrageous, plus the fact they are trying to hide the fact they haven’t got enough available members to fill their slots on the committee, so they just cut the number of committees.
“This administration is now totally officer-led because they are so out of their depth.”
The report will be considered by the selection and member services committee on Tuesday (December 16) and it will be asked to recommend the changes to full council for decision at its December 18 meeting.
