Medway's emergency briefing
Residents and councillors talk climate in Rochester, plus planning, news in brief, what's on, and more
Rochester Eco Hub hosted a screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing, bringing together residents, Medway councillors and local campaigners to discuss the climate and biodiversity crisis and what action is possible locally. Plus the latest planning applications, news in brief, and what's happening in our towns this week.
Rochester Eco Hub hosts climate screening
The People’s Emergency Briefing is a film that summarises the National Emergency Briefing, a series of talks which took place last November. These were led by experts from the health sector, the military and climate science, who briefed MPs and leaders on the challenges facing the UK from climate change. The film is interspersed with Chris Packham screening the film to celebrities, industry leaders and members of the public about the film and its impact.
The Rochester Eco Hub, a space focused on bringing the community together to take action to improve the local environment, screened the film at the Rochester Adult Education Centre last month. The event, hosted by Cat Jamieson, brought together members of the public and Medway Council to watch the film and discuss the issues raised. “The aim is to get the message out about the urgency of the climate and biodiversity crisis,” she said, “to start conversations about what action we can take”.
Simon Curry, Medway Council's Cabinet portfolio holder for Climate Change and Strategic Regeneration attended the screening. He told us that, “This is such an important event. I'm really grateful to the people who've organised this.” He went on to note that a number of people at the screening felt that we were in a climate crisis already and that “I think we've got a lot of work to do.”
Curry attended the screening because “I wanted to see what they had to say.” Having seen the film, he reflected that “there was nothing in that film that I disagreed with and it's all there to be seen.” The film is based upon “proper science. I think this is something that we all should spend some time watching.”
Given the film showcases how climate change is a global existential crisis, we ask him what can a unitary authority do about that? “We've got our own little world in which we live where we feel that we can make a difference.” Curry suggests the old mantra of “think locally, act globally. I think that's the right way to approach it.” By acting locally, we can contribute to the bigger challenge. “There is a lot we can do more quickly, which would have huge benefits for the country and for the planet.”
With the Labour administration having passed the three year mark, Curry has been in his position for all that time. What achievements can he highlight from that time? “We restructured the climate action plan first of all, and we got that published.” That highlights five priorities around energy, recycling, and nature, “all the issues that came up tonight.” Curry argues that they are looking at the challenges from two perspectives: What they can do internally at the council, and what are the external messages that they send.
Curry highlights that the council has increased the fleet of electric vehicles, cut energy costs and that the refurbished Cozenton Park Sports Centre is “virtually carbon zero.” The council is also looking at how it can encourage Medway’s residents to “change the way they do things.” He concedes that is “a much more tough ask, because people have got their daily lives, embedded in the way they do things.”
Also present at the event were Habib Tejan, Shadow Cabinet member for Business Support, Climate Change and Digital, and Grace Duffy, Chair of the Medway Greens. We asked Tejan if there was anything he took away from the screening. “Very scary. I was saying to the group, there's so much out there we don't hear much about it in the mainstream media.” Tejan believes that the media could do a lot in sharing information. “I think if our mind was focused on the issue, we all can make our own little contribution.”
With a reaction on the right of politics against net zero targets, we ask if he is happy with his party’s response to the climate crisis. “We've got a Conservative Environment Network. We have got an environmental agenda, which I'm happy with.” How does he feel that the council is doing on climate change? “I think more could be done in every respect, nationally, locally. We have got the climate change agenda. Watching this tonight, I think we need to go back to the drawing board and read it.”
Grace Duffy came to the screening because “I think this really is an emergency and it's been extraordinary to see “the “frightening picture which is being presented about what happens if we continue on this path.” She says it is positive to watch the film and see “how solvable this problem is, and how much action is already underway.”
Duffy finished the screening feeling “inspired that there are specific tangible actions that we can take in our lives, in our communities,” that can help to solve this crisis. With the Rochester Eco Hub’s focus on what Medway can do, she highlights community power generation. “We've been out knocking on doors, and this is something that came up because of the cost of living crisis.” With people living in fuel poverty, these are “challenges that everybody is facing.”
She was also struck by the intersection of so many different factors. “We have a social media culture, a consumerist culture which is actively incentivising people to get into debt, to buy shit they don't need, which will not make them happy.”
Rochester Eco Hub are holding a follow-up discussion about the film and local actions on Monday 18 May. There is a pre-meeting screening at 6.30pm for those who were unable to attend the first time. The meeting will be at The Vines Church in Rochester at 7.30pm.
Our first regular print edition of Local Authority is out now, bringing some of our reporting, interviews, and features into a free newspaper you can pick up across Medway.
Copies are already in more than 50 cafés, pubs, community spaces, amd workplaces across Medway's towns and villages, with more to come. If you want to find your nearest copy and learn more about what we're doing, you can do so here:
Council matters
Meetings next week:
- None.
New planning applications:
- Conversion of Royal Function Rooms in Rochester into eight homes.
- Construction of a boxing gym off Shipwrights Avenue in Chatham.
- Conversion of toilet on Cuxton Recreation Ground into a cafe.
- HMO applications on Camden Road and Canterbury Street in Gillingham.
In brief
📄 Medway Council's Councillor Conduct Committee will investigate the actions of independent councillor Chris Spalding for the second time in a year.
💷 Former Rochester restaurant Rico Sabor has been fined £15,000 for failing to clear waste from behind its location.
⚽ Gillingham Football Club have released the list of players they will keep for next year and those they will let go.
🧖 Users of the sauna at Strood Leisure Centre are unhappy about 'secret' plans to replace it. In other news, apparently there's a sauna at Strood Leisure Centre.
🍻 82,000 visitors attended Sweeps Festival in Rochester, the highest number in a decade.
🏪 There's a new Nisa store on the Haven holiday park in Allhallows.
🌳 Cllr Jim Gilbourne will join the Conservative shadow cabinet, replacing the recently passed Phil Filmer on the planning and development brief.
➡️ Meanwhile, Reform Rochester and Strood are outraged that the Green Party are preparing for a by-election in Filmer's former ward.
🤖 While we're on Reform, there's whatever in the AI slop this is supposed to be. Quite why Theresa May has joined Medway Labour's Cabinet isn't entirely clear.
👑 Cllr Douglas Hamandishe has been elected Mayor of Medway for the coming year, with Cllr Sharon Jackson serving as Deputy Mayor.
Steven Keevil
Property of the week
This detached Victorian on St Margaret’s Street is on the market for £950,000 and sits in what the agent is quite happily calling Rochester’s 'golden triangle,' which is their way of saying you are buying one of the serious houses in the serious bit of town. It was built in the 1890s and it has the kind of proportions that suggest it was always meant to impress, an imposing hallway, big front rooms with triple sash windows and working fireplaces, and bedrooms that look straight out over St Margaret’s Church as if that view is part of the deed. It feels like a house built for people with staff, or failing that, people with enough confidence to host guests under cornices and picture rails, then see them off without leaving the sofa.
Events this week
🎭 Until 23 May - God of Carnage // Real-time play about a conversation between two couples that descends into carnage. Medway Little Theatre, Rochester. Tickets £12.
🎸 Fri 15 May - South Shore // Single launch for Medway supergroup. Rochester Social Club. Tickets £5.
🖤 Sat 16 May - Broken Heart Bazaar // Market of alternative art, curios, and wonders. Sun Pier House, Chatham. Free.
🥕 Sun 17 May - Rochester Farmers’ Market // Wide range of traders selling food and gifts. Blue Boar Lane car park, Rochester. Free.
🗣️ Wed 20 May - Folklore & Women // Professor Marisa Linton leads a talk on the power of folklore in reclaiming female stories. Glassbox Theatre, Gillingham. Tickets £14.
Footnotes
Follow us on social media! We’re on Facebook, BlueSky, and Instagram for now.
