WHITSTABLE URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL

The records are divided into those produced by the Council's committees and those produced by the departments and offices which put into practice the policies established by the committees. The committees' records comprise minutes and reports to committees along with official year books. The records of the departments mostly comprise correspondence files from the Clerk's and Engineer's departments. In addition are occasional registers and licences, numerous building control plans which were submitted upon application for planning permission, and engineer's plans which were drawn up for new roads, bridges, drainage, the Harbour and sea defences. Documents in the collection with dates before 1894 were inherited by the Council from organisations whose functions the Council had taken over. Likewise some documents are dated after 1974 and these came about by the Council's successor body, Canterbury City Council, continuing to use the same files instead of opening new ones.

<span class="wrapper"><p>Other catalogues relating to Whitstable or of administrative bodies surrounding Whitstable include: Wallace Harvey Collection 1558-2000. Ref CCA-U467;</p> <p>Bridge-Blean Rural District Council. Ref CCA-RD-BB;</p> <p>Herne Bay Urban District Council. Ref CCA-UD-HB;</p> <p>Blean Poor Law Union. Ref CKS-G/BL;</p> <p>Whitstable cum Seasalter Parish Council. CCA-PC20;</p> <p>Whitstable ecclesiastical parishes - Whitstable All Saints CCA-U3/131, Seasalter St Alphege CCA-U3/137 and Whitstable St Alphege CCA-U3/290.</p></span>

Whitstable Urban District Council was created in 1894 by the Local Government Act. This Act rationalised existing local government structures and brought together, into an elected body, many of the tasks performed by the Boards of Guardians, Boards of Health, Highways Boards and Elementary School Boards. Other services such as town planning were added in later decades. Services undertaken by the Whitstable Urban District Council were as follows:

Elections - compilation of the register of electors and organising elections in the district;

Rates - rate setting and collection;

Housing - provision and maintenance of council houses and garages, provision of accommodation for the elderly, loans and guarantees for the purchase of houses, improvement grants, slum clearance and administration of the Rent Acts;

Highways - maintenance of classified roads, making up of private streets, street lighting and clearing, provision of public car parks, arrangement of bus stops and bus shelters and road safety measures;

Public Health - provision of drainage, sewage disposal, prevention of nuisances, refuse collection, building control, removal of dangerous buildings and the provision of public baths;

Town Planning - local administration of planning control under delegation from Kent County Council, registration of planning applications, redevelopment schemes and preservation schemes for listed buildings;

Food and Drugs - inspection and registration of premises along with complaints and prosecutions;

Licensing and control - petroleum, Hackney carriages, charities, cinemas, gaming and lotteries along with rodent and litter controls.

Other functions of the council included Shops and Offices Acts, coast protection, the public library, public buildings and monuments, public relations, seaside undertakings, entertainments, community centres, open spaces, allotments, the cemetery, civil defence, local land registration, loan management, the Harbour and docks, public conveniences, home safety and public representation regarding bus and train services. Some functions exercised within the urban district were undertaken by Kent County Council. These included education, health and welfare services, weights and measures, animal diseases, police, fire service, ambulance service, the Thanet Way and town planning. For records relating to these functions please refer to the records of Kent County Council.

Whitstable Urban District Council was dissolved in 1974 as part of local government reorganisation. Control of services in Whitstable passed to the newly created Canterbury City Council.