Your council

Thanet: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Thanet District Council: Non-metropolitan district (lower tier), England, South East; within the county of KEN. GOV.UK lists it as a district council, within Kent County Council. ONS code E07000114.

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Thanet for 2026–27: £279.15 of a £2,490.90 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 3 opened (3 academy converter), 6 closed (3 closure, 3 academy converter)

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Thanet reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Thanet: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
ServiceBudget
Education servicesnone budgeted
Highways and transport services−£1.5 million
Children's social carenone budgeted
Adult social carenone budgeted
Public healthnone budgeted
Housing services (general fund only)£6.4 million
Cultural and related services£4.2 million
Environmental and regulatory services£12.0 million
Planning and development services£1.9 million
Police servicesnone budgeted
Fire and rescue servicesnone budgeted
Central services£4.7 million
Other services−£1.8 million
Total service expenditure£25.9 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Life in Thanet: the official facts

Facts about the people who live here: their pay, homes, health and more, from official statistics. They describe the place, not you, and every council gets the same list. Each shows when it was measured.

Show the figures for:

Showing: Thanet.

People living here
143,618 people 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsAn official estimate of everyone who lives in the area, in the middle of the year.
Typical age
45 years 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsHalf the people who live here are younger than this and half are older.
Money to live on, per person, per year
£24,665 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage household income per person after taxes, with benefits added: what people have to spend or save.
Typical weekly pay, before tax
£578 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsFor employees who live here: half earn more than this each week, half earn less.
Children growing up in poverty
34.8% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsThe share of children under 16 in families on low incomes once housing costs are paid.
People claiming unemployment-related benefits
5.2% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsThe share of people aged 16 to 64 claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or Universal Credit while looking for work.
Average price of a home
£268,549 August 2026 · HM Land RegistryThe average price of a home here in the month shown.
How many years of pay a home costs
8.1 times yearly pay 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsA typical home's price divided by the typical yearly pay of people who live here.
Greenhouse gases, per person
3.5 tonnes per person 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroEmissions from the area in a year, shared out per resident, in tonnes of carbon dioxide or its equivalent.
Homes and businesses that can get the fastest broadband
79.2% 1 January 2026 · OfcomThe share of addresses that can get gigabit broadband (1,000 Mbps).
Public chargers for electric cars
98.1 per 100,000 people 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublic charging points at all speeds, for every 100,000 people.
Businesses trading here
5,075 businesses 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with sales or staff in the year.

More figures for Thanet from the ONS

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

56 seats in 2026. Run by: Labour, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Labour Party 29, Conservative and Unionist 13, Green Party (E&W) 7, Reform UK 5, Independent / Other 1, Thanet Independents 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 56 councillors, by ward
  • Jennifer Matterface (Labour Party) — Beacon Road
  • Joanne Bright (Labour Party) — Beacon Road
  • George Kup (Conservative and Unionist) — Birchington North
  • Reece Pugh (Conservative and Unionist) — Birchington North
  • Emma Dawson (Conservative and Unionist) — Birchington South
  • Linda Wright (Conservative and Unionist) — Birchington South
  • Phil Fellows (Conservative and Unionist) — Birchington South
  • George Rusiecki (Conservative and Unionist) — Bradstowe
  • Jill Bayford (Conservative and Unionist) — Bradstowe
  • Raushan Ara (Labour Party) — Central Harbour
  • Rebecca Wing (Green Party (E&W)) — Central Harbour
  • Tricia Austin (Green Party (E&W)) — Central Harbour
  • Brenda Rogers (Conservative and Unionist) — Cliffsend and Pegwell
  • John Davis (Conservative and Unionist) — Cliffsend and Pegwell
  • Barry Manners (Reform UK) — Cliftonville East
  • Cedric Towning (Conservative and Unionist) — Cliftonville East
  • Marc Rattigan (Reform UK) — Cliftonville East
  • Alan Currie (Labour Party) — Cliftonville West
  • Harry Scobie (Labour Party) — Cliftonville West
  • Heather Keen (Labour Party) — Cliftonville West
  • Jack Packman (Labour Party) — Dane Valley
  • Martin Boyd (Labour Party) — Dane Valley
  • Ruth Duckworth (Labour Party) — Dane Valley
  • Corinna Huxley (Labour Party) — Eastcliff
  • Helen Crittenden (Labour Party) — Eastcliff
  • Steve Albon (Labour Party) — Eastcliff
  • Darren Oxborrow (Reform UK) — Garlinge
  • John Dennis (Reform UK) — Garlinge
  • Alan Munns (Independent / Other) — Kingsgate
  • Helen Whitehead (Labour Party) — Margate Central
  • Rob Yates (Green Party (E&W)) — Margate Central
  • Anne-Marie Nixey (Labour Party) — Nethercourt
  • David Green (Labour Party) — Nethercourt
  • Pat Moore (Labour Party) — Newington
  • Rick Everitt (Labour Party) — Newington
  • Debra Owen-Hughes (Labour Party) — Northwood
  • Jim Driver (Labour Party) — Northwood
  • William Scobie (Labour Party) — Northwood
  • Katie Pope (Labour Party) — Salmestone
  • Leo Britcher (Labour Party) — Salmestone
  • Pat Makinson (Labour Party) — Sir Moses Montefiore
  • Tony Ovenden (Labour Party) — Sir Moses Montefiore
  • Kevin Pressland (Green Party (E&W)) — St Peters
  • Mike Garner (Green Party (E&W)) — St Peters
  • Paul Moore (Conservative and Unionist) — St Peters
  • Abi Smith (Green Party (E&W)) — Thanet Villages
  • Abi Smith (Green Party (E&W)) — Thanet Villages
  • Peter Evans (Reform UK) — Thanet Villages
  • John Nichols (Conservative and Unionist) — Viking
  • Kristian Bright (Labour Party) — Viking
  • Roopa Farooki (Labour Party) — Viking
  • Elysa d'Abbro (Labour Party) — Westbrook
  • John Edwards (Labour Party) — Westbrook
  • Bertie Braidwood (Thanet Independents) — Westgate-on-Sea
  • David Donaldson (Labour Party) — Westgate-on-Sea
  • Matthew Scott (Conservative and Unionist) — Westgate-on-Sea

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.