Buses in Medway are going to get a lot cheaper. For a little while. In the height of winter
Plus how few GPs we actually have, you should leave Medway if you want to cycle, and a truly phenomenal gig in Chatham
Weird week to be writing any kind of newsletter, particularly one that is tangentially about current events, albeit hyperlocal ones. Still, a new Prime Minister and the death of a queen are national rather than local stories, so here we are, with lots of little bits of Medway news, in a week where’s almost no other news.
Buses in Medway are going to get a lot cheaper*
* for a little while in the height of winter
All bus journeys in Medway are set to be capped at £2 under a new government scheme announced by the Department of Transport this week.
That said, they sneakily did so days before Liz Truss took office so there’s always a chance for a u-turn.
But assuming the scheme happens, what does it mean?
Simply, any single bus journey should cost no more than £2.
This kind of offer probably won’t sound too exciting to anyone in London where all bus journeys cost £1.65, but for those of us who have gazingly stared over the border at such cheap fares, this makes things a little more equal.
Bus fares in Medway are considerably higher than the new cap, which along with infrequent services and poor area coverage, means bus use in our towns continues to decline.
Still, while this doesn’t fix two of those problems, it will make travelling in Medway by bus rather less expensive at least.
Alas, as ever with these things, there are important caveats.
Mostly that the DfT will only fund the scheme for three months, from January until March next year. Which is definitely better than nothing, but if the scheme successfully lures new passengers onto services, it’s hard to imagine most of them sticking around when the fares double or triple in April.
The scheme is set to cost the government £60m in subsidised fares during the period, which in the grand scheme of things doesn’t actually sound like that much?
If the scheme were to be extended to a full year, that’s £240m of funding.
Conversely, the DfT just agreed to spend £3.6bn bailing out Transport for London.
Still, if you’ve been wanting to explore Medway by bus in the height of winter without it costing you a fortune, your chance is coming soon!
Covid in numbers
Cases: There is no data this week as the ONS hasn’t published their weekly infection survey, presumably because of queen related news.
Hospitalisations: There are currently 20 patients being treated for covid in Medway Hospital, with none on a ventilator. This is up 33% on last week.
Deaths: No new deaths were recorded this week, keeping Medway at 974 covid deaths in total.
Vaccinations: 81% of the 12+ population in Medway have now had at least one vaccine dose, 77% have had two doses, and 60% have received a booster dose. 79% of those eligible for a fourth dose have now received one, a drop on last week, which I assume is demographic based. 10% of those under 12 have had at least one dose of the vaccine.
Monkeypox in numbers
Cases: No new monkeypox cases were reported in Medway this week, keeping Medway at 5 cases in total.
Seeing your GP isn’t getting any easier
It’s no great secret that seeing a GP in Medway these days is - to put it mildly - a challenge for those at most surgeries.
New data analysed by KentOnline lays bare just how extreme and varied the problem is in our towns.
The data shows that Kent and Medway have roughly 38 GPs for every 100,000 residents, compared to 60 on a national level.
Our towns also have surgeries are both ends of the scale. The Maritime Health Practice on St. Mary’s Island has the worst ratio of GPs to patients in the whole of Kent, with one GP being responsible for nearly 7,000 patients. Sounds bad!
On the other hand, the Waltham Road Medical Centre in Gillingham has roughly 700 patients per GP. Sounds better!
On the most part though, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get much easier to find a GP in Medway for the foreseeable future, something that really needs to be fixed.
Medway Council’s Future Hoo rumble gets postponed
Yesterday morning I assumed the big issue that I’d be writing about in this edition of Local Authority would be last night’s special full Medway Council meeting. This was called following a bunch of Conservative councillors forcing the Conservative leadership’s Future Hoo proposals to be looked at again. It was likely to be a testy meeting.
With the passing of the queen literally minutes before the meeting was due to start though, a decision was taken to postpone the meeting. The legal nature of these meetings means it still had to start before it could be adjourned though, leading to a slightly surreal sight of fifty or so councillors all turning up only to be told to go home again. The meeting will now instead take place next Thursday instead.
You can watch the entire three-minute meeting on Youtube here:
The meeting did resolve one niggling thought I’ve always had regarding these meetings, and more specifically, the two-minute silences that are held whenever tragic events occur. Whenever I’ve been in the room, they’ve always felt rather shorter than two minutes, and the video here confirms that the ‘two-minute silence’ didn’t even hit a minute and a half. I have no explanation as to how this happens beyond the fact the mayor presumably doesn’t have a clock when chairing the meeting. Which seems very strange.
No recycling bags for you
Most Medway Council business seems to have continued on as normal today, with the exception of the Medway Recycling team cancelling their event in Rochester today. The event was due to give out recycling bags, personal safety alarms, and anti-drink spiking tools, but instead it’s been pushed to some unknown later date.
It’s what she would have wanted.
Farewell to Rehman, hello to Kelly
A new Prime Minister means a new governmental team, which means new ministerial positions being given out left, right, and centre, as well as the obligatory sackings.
Bad news for Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti, who having found himself given a role in the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in the dying days of Johnson administration has found himself summarily removed a mere two months later.
On the other hand, Rochester and Strood MP Kelly Tolhurst continues her whistlestop tour of every single government department, with a new role at the Department for Education. She usually lasts a few months in each role before being moved on, with the tenures seemingly getting shorter and shorter.
For those marking off their special Kelly Tolhurst Government Job Bingo Cards, here’s the full list of her government roles so far:
Assistant government whip (2018, in post for 6 months)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2018-20, in post for 19 months)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport at the Department for Transport (2020, in post for 7 months)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government and Homelessness at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (2020-21, in post for 4 months)
Deputy government whip (2022, in post for 2 months)
Minister of State in the Department for Education (2022, in post two days so far)
Where will she be a month from now? Who can possibly tell?
Leave Medway if you want to cycle, says Medway Council
Very bizarre tweet here from Medway Council, who are encouraging people to join a group event to get you familiar with the cycle paths. Which sounds like a pretty good idea. Until you actually look at the detail anyway.
So confident are Medway Council in our own cycle facilities, they would like you to meet in Higham (outside of Medway), ride to Gravesend (outside of Medway), before cycling back to Higham (still outside of Medway) again. In fact, not a single metre of the route is within Medway. Quite how this familiarises anyone with local cycling is beyond me, but it feels about right for Medway Council.
It’s not surprising Medway Council would feel this is necessary given how poor our local cycle network is though. Below is the cycling map of Strood, which features precisely two dedicated cycle lanes, and absolutely no way to link up with the rest of the network east of the river without riding through horribly busy town centre roads.
Maybe a trip to Higham isn’t too bad after all.
E17 come to ME4
Every now and again I complain about the lack of particularly exciting gigs here in Medway. It’s hard to argue with this incredible lineup coming to the Central Theatre in November though:
Truly phenomenal. Tickets are available here for - this can’t be right, surely? - £32.50.
Need more Local Authority?
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This week saw my monthly analysis of the local political situation as we hurtle towards our local elections, while Steven Keevil put together a frankly bewildering guide to the formation of Medway as a unitary authority.
Becoming a paid supporter costs as little as £3.75 a month and ensures we can keep this thing running for the long term.
Stray Links
Halling Baptist Church’s bigotry may lead to a pride parade through the village. (KentOnline)
A top 8 pubs in Rochester list that’s actually pretty good. (Kent Life)
The Guardian has been visiting the UK’s ‘cultural cold spots’, so obviously they came to Chatham. (The Guardian)
Footnotes
Thanks to the tens of readers who got in touch to point out that the Ordnance Yard building I complained about not being familiar with last week is over in Upnor. In my defence, the listing said Rochester and I didn’t expect it to be all the way out there. Still, always nice to hear from readers who are infinitely more knowledgeable than the person writing this thing.
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If you hear about any Medway news that might be of interest, let me know! Hit reply to message me directly, DM me on Twitter, or leave a comment below.
Music that soundtracked the creation of this newsletter: Raise Hell by Fresh, The Yearbook by Baby Queen, and Sprawling by Happy Accidents.