THE leader of Kent County Council says the authority has not done enough to tackle some of the most chronic social problems afflicting poorer parts of the county.

Conservative leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart pledged to redouble KCC’s efforts to address issues such as high unemployment, social deprivation and economic regneration, particularly in places like east and north Kent.

He cited education as a continuing priority, saying the drive to push up classroom standards remained a priority.

Speaking on his re-election as leader of KCC for a third time, Sir Sandy gave a candid assessment of why more needed to be done.

Kent faced the twin challenges of responding to social problems such as high unemployment and exploiting the “extraordinary economic opportunities” coming the county’s way.

“Those challenges can only be answered by improving our education, economic development and strategic planning policies. But whatever we have done to address those challenges, we have not done enough. We have not turned the corner on raising education standards. We have not done enough to take forward our 'Supporting Independence Plan’ or to regenerate our towns.”

He added: “We do have excellent services but we do need to do more than we have in the past. We need to be single-minded and bolder in our actions.”

He signalled KCC would try to overcome complaints that it was a remote authority by handing more decision-making powers to neighbourhood groups. “We need to get closer to the people we represent.”

Admitting KCC had been a “politically aggressive” council, he also committed the authority to work more closely with the Labour government.

“Voters expect us to learn the lessons from the election and to work closer than we have in the past," he added.