Thanet District Council


Thanet District Council is the local government body for the Thanet district in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Margate. On a national level, Thanet forms part of two parliamentary constituencies at Westminster and is represented in Parliament by two MPs.

History

The district was formed by the merger of:
Isle of Thanet Rural District was created by the Local Government Act 1894 and was abolished in 1935.

Responsibilities

Thanet district council is responsible for providing clear leadership to the community and continuously to improve the delivery of local services. These services include: leisure, environmental health, housing — including the provision of social housing and housing benefit and rubbish collection. Kent County Council is responsible for more strategic services such as education, libraries, main roads, social services, trading standards and transport.

Organisation

The powers of the council are specified in its constitution in accordance with the Local Government Act 2000.
The council is a cabinet-style council with a leader and the cabinet itself, which is formed by the majority party in the district. Decisions on the council's services are made by the executive which comprises five councillors. Each member of the cabinet holds a separate portfolio. The leader and cabinet are responsible for policies, plans and strategies, and for recommending them to the overall council, which is convened as a whole, at regular council meetings. The full council consists of 56 councillors.
The cabinet is held to account by the remainder of the councillors acting as overview and scrutiny who verify that decisions are appropriate and can prevent a decision taking immediate effect. The council is chaired by Cllr Jason Savage and led by Cllr Rick Everitt.

Mayors

Mayors are ceremonial figures whose only real power is to chair sessions of their councils.
Councillors are responsible for the appointment and oversight of officers, who are delegated to perform most tasks. The chief executive officer, has overall responsibility for council employees and operates in conjunction with department heads.
The civil parishes located in the district are:
Elections are held every four years. The last council election took place on 3 May 2019. This election which saw UKIP, the party with the largest number of seats in 2015, lose all of their councillors.
Initially after the 2019 election, the Conservative party led the council with a minority - however, after a vote of no confidence in October 2019, Labour now operate a confidence-and-supply arrangement with the Greens and Thanet Independents.

Electoral wards

The district is divided into 23 electoral wards, mainly located in the coastal resorts of Margate, Cliftonville, Broadstairs and Ramsgate.

History of control