Government ministers have launched a consultation on the future number of councils in Kent and Medway and the areas they should cover.
To take part in the government’s consultation, visit Local government reorganisation in Kent and Medway.
The deadline for responses is Thursday 26 March 2026.
Once the consultation closes, the civil servants and ministers will consider everyone’s responses alongside the evidence that has been presented to them.
A decision on which option ministers have chosen is likely to be announced in the summer.
Gravesham Borough Council is supportive of Option 5a, which we believe offers the right balance between being big enough to deliver services efficiently and local enough to understand our communities. Read more about Option 5a by clicking ‘our proposal’ above.
You can find more information about the process, by visiting Your councils – change is coming.
What's happened so far?
December 2024
In December 2024, the government published the English Devolution White Paper. This outlined its plans for transferring more powers from national government to local areas. This is called devolution. Devolution will be achieved by creating strategic authorities with elected mayors.
Councils across the country were invited to be one of the first strategic authorities as part of the Government’s Devolution Priority Programme. Kent and Medway put forward a bid to be part of this programme but were not selected.
The White Paper also included the government’s plans for simpler council structures, with residents served by just one local council (known as a ‘unitary council’). This is known as Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).
Kent currently has two layers of local government. Kent County Council looks after some services (like education, highways, libraries, children’s services and social care) and the 12 borough and district councils (including Gravesham Borough Council) deliver the other local services (such as planning, waste collection, parks and open spaces, housing, environmental health, licensing and council tax). This two tier structure will be replaced with a single unitary council that will provide all of the services listed above, to a population of around 500,000.
The government asked all two tier areas to work up proposals for moving to unitary councils.
March 2025
Interim proposals were submitted by the Kent authorities on 21 March 2025, with detailed proposals sent to government by 28 November 2025.
November 2025
On November 5 Kent Council Leaders shared their draft business cases that suggest several different options for how the unitary councils will be mapped out. You can view Gravesham Borough Council's preferred option, 5a, above.
The cases, compiled with the help of experienced advisers KPMG, explore different options for the number of unitary councils in Kent and the areas they should cover in the future.
The options for LGR across Kent & Medway were discussed at Full Council on Tuesday 18 November.
After a long debate, Full Council voted to recommend option 5a (five unitary authorities across Kent) to Cabinet.
Cabinet then discussed the recommendation from Full Council. Cabinet agreed to support option 5a as being the best of the options on the table.
On Friday 28 November, we submitted the business case for option 5a as our preferred option to MHCLG.
All of the councils in Kent and Medway submitted their preferred option for the number of unitaries and the geographical areas they should cover.
We all continue to push the government for devolution for Kent which would mean powers, decision making and money flowing into the county from ministers and civil servants in Whitehall. This means we would have more control over our own destiny through the creation of a mayor and strategic authority. As yet, nothing has been confirmed as to when, or indeed if, Kent will received devolution.
What happens next?
Once the consultation has finished and the feedback has been analysed, ministers will make the final decision on which option they prefer.
The new councils do not come into being until April 2028.