Stone
Lidl Stone: Six Object to 7am-11pm Alcohol, Hearing 7 Oct
Six residents oppose Lidl selling alcohol 7am to 11pm at its planned Stone store. Hearing 7 October; the planning bid faces three holding objections.
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What's On
Dartford Bear Hunt: Free Farewell Weekend, 26-27 Sept
All 80-odd Bears and Cubs are together at Bluewater for the last time on 26 and 27 September, 10am to 5pm. Free, but the timed ticket must be booked first.
Food hygiene
Dartford Food Hygiene: High Street Fishmonger Rated Zero
Shan's Fishmongers & Butchers on Dartford High Street holds the borough's only zero hygiene rating. Four more are rated 1, and all 20 September inspections scored 5.
Business
Dartford New Companies: 57 Formed in a Month, 8 in Food
57 companies were set up with a Dartford address from 24 August to 24 September, eight in food and drink. Plus the Gazette notices, including Made In Kent Radio.
House Prices
Dartford House Prices Down £7,043: Worst Fall in Kent
The average Dartford home is £347,773, down £7,043 in a year. That is the biggest annual fall of any council area in Kent, and flats dropped 4.7 per cent.
Council
Dartford Museum Shuts 1 October for £562,100 Redesign
Dartford Museum closes on 1 October for a £562,100 redesign, 84 per cent of it riding on a developer levy bid with no published decision. Reopening hoped for autumn 2027.
Business
St Paulinus Pre-School in Crayford Goes Into Liquidation
The company behind the 32-place Crayford pre-school resolved to wind up on 14 September, six months after Ofsted judged it to be meeting the expected standard.
Dartford Crossing
Dartford Crossing: Seven More Months of Night Closures
National Highways intends to close A282 carriageways overnight for about seven months from 7 October, with a new 50mph limit. Estimated end: 7 May 2027.
Dartford town centre
Hythe Street Dartford: £3.2m Rebuild Due January 2027
Cabinet is asked on Thursday to tender a £3.225m rebuild of Hythe Street: wider footways, a two-way cycle lane, main works from January 2027.
Business
Dimples Day Nursery Darenth Is Now Employee-Owned
The founders of the Darenth nursery handed majority control to a trust for its staff on 4 September. It has been Outstanding at its last two Ofsted inspections.
Dartford FC
Dartford FC Come From 2-1 Down to Win 4-2 in FA Cup
Dartford trailed 2-1 at Princes Park before beating Hayes & Yeading United 4-2 to reach the FA Cup third qualifying round on 3 October. Max Fiddes scored twice.
Bins and recycling
Dartford Food Waste Collections Start November 2026
Dartford houses get food waste caddies this autumn and weekly collections from November 2026. Flats follow in early 2027. What goes in, and what it costs.
Crime
Dartford Shoplifting Up 69% as Town Centre Violence Falls
Shoplifting in central Dartford rose 69% in the first seven months of 2026 while violent crime fell 24%. Police figures, month by month, and the outcomes.
Dartford Online covers Dartford and the places around it: Swanscombe, Greenhithe, Stone, Ebbsfleet, Longfield, Wilmington, Bean and Darenth. The everyday answers live here and stay current: which week the recycling goes, where to park near the station on a Saturday, and what is being built on the plot at the end of the road.
Beyond the everyday pages, we watch the record, because Dartford is not standing still. Ebbsfleet keeps growing, the riverside at Stone and Greenhithe keeps changing, and Swanscombe, Longfield, Wilmington, Bean and Darenth feel all of it in traffic and school places long before anybody writes a headline. Planning decisions, licensing notices, crime figures and council reports are public documents. We read them, set out what they contain, and link to the document so you can see it for yourself.
Start here
- Local Info: bin collection days, parking and council tax bands, the three things most people are here for.
- News: what the borough’s own records show, including planning applications.
- What’s On: listings for the week ahead.
If we cannot show you where a fact came from, we do not publish it.