Kent and Medway Are Getting an Elected Mayor by 2028 - a Different Promise From the Council Shake-Up Still on Hold

The Government confirmed on 28 October that it will work with Kent County Council and Medway Council towards establishing a Mayoral Strategic Authority for Kent and Medway, with an ambition of having the area's first elected Mayor in place by 2028. It's the clearest signal yet of what "devolution" will actually mean here - and it's a different commitment from the four-council reorganisation that has sat paused since September.

KCC Leader Linden Kemkaran welcomed the news, made as part of a wider national programme shifting powers and funding from central government to regions and communities. "The announcement by the Chancellor gives us some much-needed clarity on the Government's plans for Kent, a county with so much potential," she said. "Colleagues in local government have been clear for some time now that in order for residents to see real change and proper investment, we need an elected Mayor of Kent and Medway." She added that "there is still a lot of work to do and many questions that remain unanswered", but called the announcement a step towards "a model that works better for people in our county."

Kemkaran argued an elected Mayor could unlock "additional powers and investment on housing, transport, infrastructure, skills and economic growth", pointing to Kent's position "closely between Europe and London" as a reason the county should get a bigger say over how that money is spent, rather than have it decided in Westminster. "An elected Mayor who knows Kent & Medway inside out will be the best judge of where money should be spent and how to achieve the best results for residents," she said.

It's worth being precise about what this is and isn't. A Mayoral Strategic Authority with a directly-elected Mayor is a different change from Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) - the plan to abolish Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge & Malling and Maidstone councils outright and replace the whole structure with a small number of new unitary authorities, which this site reported was confirmed for 2028 back in July before the Government paused it in September pending a legal review. A Mayor sits above whatever council structure exists beneath it. Wednesday's statement commits to the Mayor; it says nothing about whether, or in what form, the reorganisation underneath that Mayor will now go ahead - and both changes are now, by coincidence or design, pointed at the same year.

For residents in Tonbridge & Malling, Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and Sevenoaks, that leaves the two biggest open questions exactly where they were in September: what the local council map actually looks like by 2028, and who ends up running - and paying for - whatever comes next. Nothing in Wednesday's announcement changes how any council or local service in West Kent is run today; it's a commitment to a destination, not a description of the journey.

Source: Kent County Council.