After 14 years as leader of one of the largest councils in the country, Paul Carter is to stand down. Political Editor Paul Francis spoke to him about his time at the helm and what the future holds.

Few council leaders have much of a profile beyond the local areas they serve; if they do, it is usually because they are embroiled in some scandal.

Paul Carter steps down as KCC leader

Paul Carter is among the exceptions. As leader of the largest county council in the UK, he has been a doughty champion not just of Kent but of local government at a time when the sector has been under arguably the greatest financial pressure in decades.

There is some irony that he has decided to call time on his leadership after 14 years just at the point when the government signalled an end to the austerity regime that has caused so much grief for councils.

Perhaps it is not surprising that when asked what he feels was among his achievements, he singles out the fact that KCC has managed to balance its books in the face of dwindling government grants.

His critics will dispute his claim that he has done so without adversely impacting on frontline services but he is insistent that he has squared the circle.

"I want a bit of my life back. I have spent six - sometimes seven - days a week doing this job..." - Paul Carter

So, why now? “I want a bit of my life back. I have spent six - sometimes seven - days a week doing this job and before that as cabinet member for education.

"That is 22 years in public service. I don’t want to give up public service but I want to do three days a week rather than six.”

When it comes to asking what he considers to have been among his achievements, he cites the eight years in charge of education that gave him the greatest job satisfaction.

Alongside that he says that despite presiding over a decade of a squeeze on public sector spending “we have made the money go a lot further and have been enormously successful in that... we are running with 40% less money than we had seven or eight years ago.”

He says schemes like the Young Person’s Travel pass - previously known as the Freedom Pass - exemplified the council’s determination to go beyond just providing statutory services.

His response to the complaint that the costs have escalated to a point where some parents struggle to find the money is that “we don’t have to do it all.”

“We have had to increase the proportion parents pay but still are putting £8m in which, if we did not, parents would have to find double or treble the amount they are paying.”

He cut his political teeth as a Maidstone borough councillor before being elected to Kent County Council and was an admirer of Margaret Thatcher.

But he has been a pragmatic politician rather than one driven by ideology, possibly because of his experience of building up his own business in property.

Despite outsourcing many services, he has not been wedded to privatisation at all costs but did face opposition - some from his own party - when it came to the commissioning of adult care, which saw a lucrative contract to the consultancy Newton Europe in 2013.

He combined his political skills with his business acumen when drug giant Pfizer scaled back its operations at its Sandwich site. He took charge of a taskforce set up to deal with the devastating consequences on 2,400 jobs.

With government support, the East Kent Growth Fund was set up to encourage small start-up businesses in life-science sector.

Just last week, Pfizer announced it was to invest £5m in the Sandwich plant - a reversal of fortune that no-one might have predicted back in 2012.

His period as leader also saw the council in the limelight after opening the first ‘new’ grammar school in decades - albeit an extension rather than a fully fledged stand-alone school. Inevitably, it drew as much criticism as praise but he believes other areas should be allowed to develop selective schools.

“If I was inventing grammars, I would have them for the 10-15% of the brightest children... I would have super-selective schools for the very brightest children who almost need specialist training to stretch them.”

Although he has often complained about the unwillingness of the government to properly fund councils, he says that it has forced authorities to look at doing things differently.

He said: “You need a disruptive influence to get innovation and the fact that we have had to run services with a lot less money has been that influence and has encouraged us to do things differently... I do believe in disruptive management... one of the problems with the public sector is that if you ask them why they are doing something in a particular way, they say because we have always done it that way.”

He has not shied away from controversy. He saw through a 15% increase in councillors’ allowances immediately after the KCC election in 2017 despite widespread condemnation.

He triggered a row over comments suggesting part-time staff prioritised family and were “not focused on their jobs” - eventually issuing an apology for the remarks.

On the ticking timebomb of dealing with a growing adult population he says reforms are long overdue. “I feel enormously for families who have worked hard and saved money and then care costs over three or four years sees a depletion of their assets... there needs to be answers.”

Despite quitting as leader, he says he won’t be leaving politics and plans to see out his term as a councillor and stand at the next election.

He acknowledges that it is not in his “natural psyche” to keep his views to himself, saying he may have to bite his lip when it comes to his successor.

As to what advice he would give the person stepping in to his shoes, he thinks carefully.

“Connect with frontline staff, listen and talk to those working at the chalkface and get out of the office as much as you can. My one regret is that I have spent far too much time in the office and not getting out enough and talking to people.”

On the county’s readiness to deal with Brexit, he says he is confident the authority has contingency measures in place to limit the impact.

However, he said he did not want the contra-flow on the M20 to be a permanent fixture.

“There has to be a solution to that; let’s see how it works with all the changing customs arrangements but it is a workable option that is better than Operation Stack.

“I would like to see that Highways England and Kent Police have enough manpower to make sure chaos does not ensue. I am not saying there won’t be delays but it is preferable to closing the motorway because we have all seen the massive chaos that can cause.”

He has recently expressed fears over government plans for five customs clearance stations in the county, warning it could lead to mayhem.

As to his political views on the issue, he says he has shifted his position.

“The uncertainty has gone on and on... it is really regrettable that MPs of all parties have not found a solution... it is why I have gone from being a supporter of an amended withdrawal agreement to a no-deal supporter now. We really need to bring this to a conclusion and bring certainty because the pain being experienced by businesses is ridiculous.”

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