‘The government is failing to tell what is actually a positive story’

On this week’s Kent Politics Podcast we welcome a stalwart of local government in the county. Labour’s Roger Truelove has been a borough and county councillor, a council leader and twice a parliamentary candidate - for the Liberal Democrats. He led a rainbow coalition at Swale council and also worked as an MP’s agent and special advisor.

A published political author, he got involved in politics over concerns with Margaret Thatcher’s policies. He talks about his background and interactions with prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and gives his view on the controversial 8,000-home Highsted Park development in Swale. The team also discuss a special KentOnline report about £20 million of unspent public money, the latest in a bid to convert a Premier Inn into housing and an update on a long-running road collapse.



The weekly podcast brings together Simon Finlay, Robert Boddy and Dan Esson, of the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Simon covers Kent County Council while Robert reports on Medway Council and Dan specialises in borough and district councils. They are regularly joined by KM Group news editor Nikki White who looks at what’s happening with Kent and Medway’s MPs in Westminster.

You can listen to the podcast at IM Listening , or download it from Apple Podcasts, Spotify and TuneIn – just search for Kent Politics Podcast. Readers can also keep up-to-date with the latest political news on our dedicated Kent Politics page on KentOnline or sign up for our weekly politics newsletter ..