Long-serving Medway councillor Phil Filmer dies

Long-serving Medway councillor Phil Filmer dies

Cllr Phil Filmer, a long-serving Conservative member of Medway Council, has died.

Filmer, who was 74, was the councillor for Cuxton, Halling and Riverside, having been elected to the ward in 2023. Previously, he represented Peninsula for 20 years, and All Saints for three years before that.

His political career began in the old Rochester-upon-Medway City Council, where he served as a councillor from 1991 to 1995.

The Medway Conservative Group said it was “deeply saddened” to share news that Filmer had died.

Cllr George Perfect, leader of the Medway Conservatives, said Filmer had been a “dedicated and passionate councillor” committed to serving residents across Medway.

He said, “During his nearly twenty-five years’ service across both the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet, Cllr Filmer was dedicated to ensuring residents received high-quality services from the Council, whilst a member of the administration and in opposition.”

“Known for his kindness and personable nature, Cllr Filmer will be missed greatly by people across the whole of Medway.”

“The Conservative Group and I will miss our colleague, but also our very dear friend, dearly, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this difficult time.”

Filmer was one of Medway Council’s longest-serving councillors, and spent much of that time inside the Conservative administration that ran the authority until 2023.

He joined the cabinet in 2003, initially holding the highways and transport brief, before taking on the wider frontline services portfolio from 2005 until 2023.

The brief covered some of the council’s most visible day-to-day work, including highways, waste collection, recycling, street lighting, public transport and the Medway Tunnel.

It was not a particularly high-profile portfolio in the way that leadership, finance or regeneration can be, but it put Filmer close to many of the services residents deal with most often.

After Labour took control of Medway Council at the 2023 local elections, Filmer remained on the Conservative benches.

He became a member of the group’s shadow cabinet and was the opposition spokesperson on the planning committee, reflecting his long-standing interest in transport, planning and regeneration.

Medway Council leader Vince Maple said Filmer was “both respected and liked in a way which is rare to find” across the political spectrum.

He said, “His dedication to local government for both Medway Council and previously Rochester-Upon-Medway City Council was clear for all to see as a ward councillor, a member of the opposition or a cabinet member.”

“He will be missed by everyone across the council chamber.”

“My thoughts and the thoughts of all councillors continue to be with Phil’s family and friends at this most difficult time.”

Outside the council, Filmer was a local business owner and also served on the Rochester Bridge Trust.

He was nominated to the trust by Medway Council in 2011, before serving as Junior Warden from May 2017 to May 2021, and Senior Warden from May 2021 to May 2023.

His death creates a vacancy in Cuxton, Halling and Riverside, a ward the Conservatives held narrowly at the 2023 local elections.

The ward elected two Conservative councillors at that election. Matt Fearn topped the poll with 880 votes, while Filmer won the second seat with 685 votes. Green candidate Matt Nightingale finished just behind him on 641 votes, leaving Filmer 44 votes ahead.

It was the closest the Greens came to winning a seat anywhere in Medway in 2023.

The timing of any by-election will be confirmed in due course.

The contest will be watched closely, not least because Cuxton, Halling and Riverside would not usually be considered as one of Medway’s most obvious political battlegrounds. The 2023 result showed the ward had become far more competitive.

Filmer’s death leaves the Conservatives defending a seat they held by 44 votes last time, in a ward where the Greens will see their clearest route onto Medway Council.

Chatham gaming shop owner apologises after transphobic posts resurface

A Chatham trading card shop owner has apologised after screenshots circulated online appeared to show an Eclipse Gaming account making transphobic comments, including one post describing refusing to use a customer’s pronouns in the shop.

Eclipse Gaming, based on Railway Street in Chatham, sells Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Lorcana, One Piece and other trading card products online and from its town centre shop.

For those outside the hobby, that may sound like a niche retail concern. Within the trading card world, shops like this are often more than shops. They are places where people meet, trade, play, compete, learn the rules, buy things they absolutely do not need, and spend a long time being very sincere about cardboard monsters.

Which, to be clear, is absolutely fine.

It also means that who feels welcome in that space is an important question.

Screenshots shared widely on social media over the last week appear to show comments from an account using the Eclipse Gaming name and logo rejecting trans people’s pronouns and using crude language about sex and gender.

One screenshot appears to show the account saying, “I was taught biology and X/Y and male and female reproduction and what a male or female is.” The same post continues: “He is a he and she is a she. Flaps or meat. Sorry.”

Another screenshot appears to show the account comparing trans people to a neutered dog, adding, “Tell this to trans people plz. Also don’t hurt me for my joke.”

A further screenshot describes an interaction with a customer who had come into the shop to learn how to play Pokémon. In that post, the account says, “I refuse to call a man with a beard a ‘her’. I just acted how I normally would and called them ‘bud’.”

That screenshot is particularly difficult for Eclipse to wave away as merely a bad joke in a private chat. If genuine, it appears to describe a customer’s gender identity being disregarded during an interaction connected directly to the shop.

The comments were reported last week by gaming site TheGamer, which said Eclipse had faced a wave of negative Google reviews after the screenshots were shared by members of the Pokémon trading card community.

On Instagram, Eclipse Gaming owner Anthony Horn later posted a statement accepting that he had made comments in 2024 which had now become public.

Horn wrote he was “aware that comments I made in a small group chat during 2024 have recently been made public.”

He said the comments had been made “before Eclipse Gaming had grown into what it has now become” and added that the shop had since become “a physical and virtual space where literally anyone could walk through the door and play their favourite game”.

Horn said that “as the founder of the business, and as a person, I accept that some of the language used in the comments was insensitive. It was in poor taste. I apologise for that.”

He also said, “I can say without hesitation that whatever my personal opinions or beliefs, they have never been brought into how this business is run, who is welcome, or what kind of world we have co-created.”

That is where the statement gets harder to follow.

Horn apologises for “language” that was “insensitive” and “in poor taste”. He does not use the words trans, transgender, pronouns, LGBT, or misogyny. He does not directly say whether the comments about trans people were wrong. He does not say whether the apparent customer interaction happened. He does not say whether Eclipse Gaming will use customers’ correct pronouns in the shop or in its online spaces.

He also asks readers to accept a clean separation between personal belief and business conduct. But the screenshots circulating online appear to show the comments coming from an account using the Eclipse Gaming name and logo, rather than an obviously personal account.

Other screenshots attributed to the same account appear to show hostile comments about customers or members of the shop’s wider online community.

One appears to show the account complaining about people asking whether Eclipse buys certain Pokémon cards, saying: “Use the fucking Discord.” Another appears to discuss social media reporting and says: “Let’s go after him.” A further screenshot includes a threat to “punch” a named person in one of the Discord channels.

Local Authority has not independently verified the full Discord history because the site is now inaccessible to new users. But Horn’s statement accepts that he made comments in a group chat during 2024, which have now been made public.

The apology has also been delivered in a very controlled format. Comments are disabled on the Instagram post carrying Horn’s statement and other recent posts from the shop.

Several social media users have said Google reviews they left after the screenshots circulated were removed, while others say they have been muted or blocked after asking questions about the posts. Local Authority has seen some screenshots appearing to support those claims, but has not independently verified every account.

Google reviews are a messy part of any online backlash. Businesses can report reviews they believe breach Google’s rules. Google can also restrict new reviews when a listing receives a sudden surge of activity. So it is not possible to say, without further evidence, exactly who asked for which reviews to be removed or why.

But the effect is clear enough. Eclipse has published an apology saying everyone is welcome, while some of the places where people might publicly respond to that apology have been limited.

Older negative Google reviews of Eclipse remain visible. Many of them predate the current row and are not about trans rights, Discord posts, or online pile-ons. They are about the atmosphere in the shop.

Several describe staff as rude, condescending, or unwelcoming. Some name Horn directly. Others contrast negative experiences with positive comments about other members of staff.

One review says the shop has “tonnes of inventory” but criticises the owner’s conduct. Another says the shop has “decent stock” but a “very weird atmosphere”. A further review says Eclipse is “not a great example of the gaming community,” which the reviewer describes as normally friendly and enthusiastic.

That does not prove every criticism being made now. It does show that the current backlash has landed on a business that already had a visible trail of complaints about how some customers felt they were treated.

Eclipse’s own statement leans heavily on the idea of community.

Horn writes, “We’ve built something rare and special: a place where kids, parents, collectors, players and people from every background can gather, connect and share in the joy of games and community.”

He adds, “Eclipse Gaming has always been, and always will be, a place where everyone is welcome, where there is a seat at the table for anyone who wants to play.”

That is a clear promise. It is also now testable.

Local Authority asked Eclipse Gaming whether Horn accepts the comments about trans people and pronouns were transphobic, whether the business will commit to using customers’ correct pronouns in-store and online, and whether the apparent customer pronoun incident happened.

We also asked how Horn reconciles his statement that his personal views had never been brought into the business with screenshots appearing to show comments from an account using the Eclipse Gaming name and logo, including one about an in-store customer interaction.

We received no response from Eclipse Gaming ahead of publication.

Medway Council would like to talk about the future

Medway Council is holding another Medway Matters Live event tomorrow night, giving residents the chance to ask questions about the future of the area, local government reorganisation, and whatever else they can fit into a microphone slot.

Council leader Vince Maple and chief executive Richard Hicks will appear at the Corn Exchange in Rochester for the event, which the council says will focus on its 'vision and plans for Medway.'

That is quite a wide brief, given Medway is currently dealing with a new Local Plan, ongoing financial pressure, questions over regeneration, housing and transport, and the small matter of the council being abolished by the time the government has finished reorganising local government across Kent and Medway.

The event takes place tonight, with doors opening at 6pm, before the main session runs from 7pm to 8.45pm. As ever, it will be hosted by TV news personality Rob Smith, with residents invited to put questions and views to Maple and Hicks during the panel session.

There will also be information stands from council services, including welfare and benefits, libraries, fostering, community safety, climate response and volunteering.

The event is free, but places must be booked in advance through the council.

For anyone who has ever wanted to ask the leader of the council and the chief executive a question in person, this is the officially sanctioned version of that. Which is probably healthier than shouting at a parking machine.

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