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Kent Reform councillors have been amending their registers of interests after Byline Times discovered a raft of businesses and shares they own which had not been properly declared to the public.
This outlet has found a large number of firms owned by Reform councillors which have, until now, been obscured from the view of voters and council officers. Kent County Council has been led by Reform since May 2025, winning 57 seats. It has since seen a spate of defections, expulsions and suspensions from the party, and is down to 47.
Three councillors amended their transparency filings within 48 hours of Byline Times raising missing or improperly registered companies that the governing-party politicians owned. A fourth, the council’s deputy leader, updated his on Wednesday 26 August.
In total, Byline Times identified potential errors and missing company ownership information in the registers of at least nine Reform councillors in Kent. The county council is the largest in the country, representing around 1.6 million people.
Deputy Leader Cllr Brian Collins‘s register recorded “None” on his entry for ‘securities’ (which includes shares) for fourteen months, despite owning half of a local kennel, Colldale Airedale & Terriers Ltd. His wife Caroline owns the other half. The business’s website describes the associated Haven Boarding Kennels as owned by “Brian & Caroline Collins” and as “a real family business”.
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Section 30(3) of the Localism Act is clear that the financial interests of spouses and partners must be declared by councillors. The rules exist to provide transparency over potential conflicts, for example where spouses own firms the council works with – or is in dispute with.
Before updating his register, Cllr Collins told us the council “is aware of the companies in which I have an interest, which I have declared”, adding that “advice has previously been given to me as to how I manage this” – a separate issue to registering an interest for public scrutiny. He said he would “pick up further with the Monitoring Officer and make any required updates”.
His register was amended at 9 am on 26 August to declare both holdings and to correct the company’s name, which had been given incorrectly as “Colldale Airedale & Welsh Terriers LTD”. He did not answer questions about why the entries had been missing, or what advice he had previously received.
Cllr Beverley Fordham, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, held a shareholding in a Kent-registered company from before her election that went undeclared for fifteen months. She disclosed her ownership of Fortax Ltd, formerly BB Payroll Services Ltd, herself after being contacted by this outlet, though it formed no part of our enquiry. She signed an application to strike the company off on 19 August, the day before declaring it, and the day we contacted her.
Cllr Fordham said the securities section of her register “was completed incorrectly”, calling it “a genuine administrative error on my part”, and that she contacted the Monitoring Officer for advice and updated the register.
On Fortax, she said she “only became aware of the omission during a review of my declarations”, adding: “It was an oversight, and there was no intention to conceal the interest.” The dormant company had been considered as a vehicle for tax services, she said, but she had concluded she lacked the capacity to pursue it. The decision to strike it off “was not prompted by your enquiry,” she said.
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Reform Cllr Mark Mulvihill is Deputy Cabinet Member for Environment, Coastal Regeneration and Public Health. He is a director of ‘P Wave Medical Ltd’, which appeared nowhere on his register of interests, despite being Kent-registered and active. He did declare a separate firm, Wantsum Medical Group Limited, in full.
P Wave Medical’s legally required confirmation statement has been overdue since August 2023, and its accounts since August 2022. Cllr Mulvihill’s cabinet post covers public health, meaning he interacts with many medical firms. He also sits on the council’s Pension Fund Committee, helping oversee a multi-billion-pound fund, while a director of companies whose statutory accounts are up to five years overdue.
Six of his firms have previously been dissolved without ever filing a confirmation statement – Wantsum Ambulance Service, Property’s Abroad, Wantsum Events, Wantsum Radio, The Wantsum Group, and P Wave Medical Academy. He is an ambulance clinician employed by London Ambulance Service. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Cllr Diane Morton was cabinet member for social care until May this year. She amended her declaration after this outlet noted that her firm ‘RJM Civil Engineering’ and the size of her holding were missing from the ‘securities’ section of her register. Her shareholding was registered with Companies House on 23 June 2026, six days after her register was published. Asked if she had notified the council, she said: “Yes, I have notified the relevant officer within KCC.”
Her register, published 17 June 2026, also declared she was a “Director of DMD (Gravesham)”, thirteen months after she had in fact resigned as a director. That entry was deleted entirely from the amended register published shortly after we made inquiries. Cllr Morton told us she remains a “franchisee” of the community interest company, which provides transport in Kent. That is listed nowhere on her updated form. It is not clear what, if anything, she earns from the role. She did not respond to follow-up questions.
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Contradictory Filings
Cllr David Wimble, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Special Projects, amended his register after Byline Times raised a litany of potential errors and missing information.
He had also failed to declare that he is a director and shareholder of The Looker Newspaper Ltd (800 of 1,000 shares), Feel Great Radio Ltd (all 1,000 shares) and Marsh Media Limited (all 500 shares), all registered in the KCC area.
Cllr Wimble says Marsh Media Ltd was incorporated into The Looker Newspaper Ltd – but it remains a live firm on Companies House, of which he is owner and director. His Kent Model Exchange Ltd was incorporated on 18 March 2026 and declared on 20 August 2026: roughly five months, against a 28-day legal duty.
The Looker describes itself as the only free newspaper covering Romney Marsh, Hythe, and Sandgate, all areas under the council’s remit. It appears to be defunct, having last shared an edition online in September 2024.
However, even Cllr Wimble’s amended register now contradicts his own Companies House filings – it records a 10% shareholding in Radiowaves Media Ltd. Companies House records him as owning 75% or more, and he is the sole officer. Both figures cannot be true.
His amended register still records “None” against the ‘securities’ section, while listing four shareholdings, three of them over 80%, in Kent-registered companies in the voluntary declarations section of the same form.
He told us his declaration was completed at the time of his election “under the guidance of the relevant Member Services officer at Kent County Council”, and was “correct at the time it was submitted”. He added: “None of my businesses has any dealings with Kent County Council or, to my knowledge, any other local authority. My understanding was therefore that there was no further legal requirement for me to declare interests beyond those I had already disclosed.” He also said: “I have listed the companies which I own or in which I have a significant shareholding.”
Cllr Wimble said his declaration “would next be reviewed in May, at which point I would naturally update any information where necessary”. He amended it four days after our approach.
He also criticised the local citizen journalism outlet ShepwayVox, which has previously reported on discrepancies in his register and whose reporting he had left uncorrected for thirteen months. He claimed the site had “over a period of approximately 16 years, published material about me which I consider to be false”. ShepwayVox says it has existed for 11 years. He asked that material originating from it be “independently verified against primary sources before being treated as fact”.
None of Byline Times‘ reporting came from ShepwayVox.
Reform’s Cllr Peter Osborne held 50 of the 100 shares in Associated Vehicle Solutions Ltd, which traded as Brenzett Car Sales, and which does not appear to have been declared on his register. Public profiles listed the firm as trading in Romney Marsh, which is firmly under KCC’s authority and therefore needs to be declared. The company was dissolved on 7 April 2026, about eleven months after his election. Cllr Osborne is Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport. He did not respond to requests for comment.
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What The Rules Require
Under the Localism Act, councillors must ensure their registers are up to date and accurate, and update them within 28 days of any change. KCC’s Code of Conduct, paragraph 21.60, requires written notification to the Monitoring Officer within 28 days of becoming aware of “any new Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or change to any interest already registered”. The Code of Conduct adds that “it is entirely your responsibility to comply with the provisions of this Code”, appearing to undercut Cllr Wimble’s reliance on Member Services advice. Other sections make clear that spouses’ relevant interests must be declared.
Until now, Kent County Council appears to have checked none of these registers for accuracy. The discrepancies came from the council’s own published documents set against Companies House, and were corrected, in some cases, only after we asked. Kent Police say pecuniary interest breaches under the Localism Act are for council Monitoring Officers in the first instance. Byline Times‘ extensive reporting on the subject has found that this is frequently flouted, with apparent impunity.
A KCC spokesperson said: “It is the responsibility of individual Members to ensure that their declarations of interest are up to date and accurate. Additionally KCC, as with all local authorities, participate[s] with the National Fraud Initiative which requires the submission of payroll data that includes elected Members, matched against Companies House and KCC’s creditor data.”
If this is the case, it is unclear why several senior councillors had missing or incorrect entries, discovered using Companies House and public information by Byline Times.
The spokesperson said training on the Code of Conduct “was provided for all KCC Members…shortly following their respective elections”, and that complaints are not recorded by political group. The authority would not comment on whether it had made, or considered making, any referral to the police under s.34 of the Localism Act.
Most startlingly, the council suggested there are no sanctions for failing to maintain a correct and up-to-date declaration: “There are no specific sanctions for [breaching] this. Advice is provided by the Monitoring Officer as may be required.” Asked if it would review all members’ registers, the spokesperson said: “Advice has been given to all Members. It remains a Member’s responsibility to keep the form updated if their circumstances change.”
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Calls For Probe
Phil Brickell, MP for Bolton West and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, said: “The British public has every right to expect elected officials, whether that’s the Prime Minister or their local parish councillor, to be open and honest about personal interests. Without this kind of basic disclosure, voters can’t accurately judge whether their politicians are using their privileged powers in the public interest or for their own corrupt personal benefit.”
He added: “These allegations are extremely troubling. They must now be investigated thoroughly and, if any rules have indeed been broken, the individuals in question must be held to account.”
Tom Brake, director of Unlock Democracy, said: “Elected officials are required by law to disclose accurate and complete details of their business interests. This serves a simple purpose: flagging any potential conflicts of interest that might arise in relation to their council’s financial decisions. This transparency helps guarantee that local residents’ money is spent wisely.”
Cary Mitchell, Executive Director of Strategy at Best for Britain, which campaigns to keep the radical right out of power, added: “With Reform UK’s leader, Nigel Farage, under investigation in Parliament for failing to properly declare his finances, the party clearly has questions to answer about whether it has allowed a culture of disrespect for voters and democratic values in its ranks and whether its representatives, at all levels, are upholding the high ethical standards voters expect.”
Kent’s Reform leader, Cllr Linden Kemkaran, and the national party did not respond to requests for comment.
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