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Kent County Council says it plans to retain an office in Brussels when the UK leaves the EU, saying its presence will help secure the county’s interests after Brexit.
The authority has had a presence in Brussels for more than 20 years and has over that time succeeded in attracting hundreds of millions of pounds in EU grants for regeneration schemes for disadvantaged areas.
The office is overseen by the council’s International Affairs Group (IAG) who have overall responsibility for the authority’s European activities.
Asked about its intentions after Brexit, KCC said that leaving the EU posed no immediate threat to its use of an office that it shared with other regional groups from France and Belgium.
In a statement, the authority said: “Keeping this small but effective KCC presence in Brussels will help secure Kent's interests during the post-Brexit negotiations.
"In particular, it will provide intelligence and advice on issues emerging from the negotiations of particular importance to Kent such as borders and security.”
The council says it will continue to have a single member of staff who works from a desk located within the office of the French region Hauts-de-France - formerly Nord Pas de Calais and Picardy.
It continued: “KCC has strong and active relationships with various European countries, especially France and Belgium. With the support of its representative in Brussels, the county council and its partners secured about £60m in EU funding from the current 2014-20 programmes.”
The council said both the Conservative leader Paul Carter and cabinet member for economic development Cllr Mark Dance had met with its partners from Belgium and France to discuss relationships after Brexit.
“These meetings have underlined our partners’ desire to continue to develop our relationships and work together to keep our border fluid, and support our economies and services,” it said.
KCC is one of a handful of councils who have had a presence in Brussels but Brexit has prompted a rethink among some.
Councillors have pulled the plug on a subsidy that supported the Brussels office of the East of England Local Government Association (LGA).
However, Cornwall council is tendering for a contract for the continued operations of an office in the city “to support our efforts to define our place within the new UK/EU relationship”.
KCC’s use of an office in Brussels has proved politically contentious. When UKIP became the official opposition at County Hall in 2013, it frequently tried to bring an end to the arrangement.
