Democracy ahoy
A PCC election is upon us, as well as a referendum in Chatham. Plus Cllr Spalding is at it again
Police and Crime Commissioner elections have hardly set the world alight since their introduction in 2012, but another one is upon us, so we’re going to do our best to make you take an interest in it. Further down, we’ve got news of an even more niche referendum happening in a small part of Chatham, and regretfully, we must report that Cllr Spalding has been at it again on social media.
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Coming up this week, paid supporters will receive our look at allotments in Medway, a story we’ve been digging into (sorry) for a long time. They’ll also receive interviews with the two men challenging the incumbent Kent Police and Crime Commissioner. If you’d like to receive those pieces as they are published, please consider upgrading your subscription.
Democracy ahoy, part I
If you’re a Medway resident, odds are that you’ve had a polling card drop through your door in recent days. Indeed, a few of you may even have had two, but we’ll get to the second one later.
Across Medway, voters are set to go to the polls on Thursday 2 May to participate in an election few of them understand, and even fewer seem to care about. It’s time for the election of Kent Police and Crime Commissioner election once again!
Police and Crime Commissioner elections were launched in 2012 as part of coalition plans to open up more directly elected positions like US politics have traditionally done. The problem was that no one seemed interested in electing someone for the role, so following the wave of apathy that followed, no more such positions were created.
The biggest problem in getting voters to engage with PCC elections is that many voters don’t understand exactly what a PCC does. Their primary role is to oversee police services rather than take any kind of operational control. While PCCs set out their priorities and plans for policing, their main job is to provide scrutiny and push for progress from police forces.
As a result, it perhaps isn’t wholly surprising that the first PCC election in Kent had a turnout of 16% and elected an independent to the role as something of a ‘screw you’ to the system.
Since then, the turnout has edged upwards, hitting the dizzying heights of 31% in 2021, so there is a chance a third of the electorate might choose to take part this time.
Most excitingly, we now have a full slate of candidates, and it’s, er, the same slate as we wrote about last month. No new candidates have popped up from the Greens or Reform, nor have any independents thrown their hat into the ring. With the deposit for these elections running £5,000 and the government arbitrarily changing the voting system to one that helps them, it’s perhaps not surprising that smaller parties chose to sit this one out.
Arguably, even Medway Council has given up, choosing not to publish the statements of persons nominated on their own website and instead directing website visitors to Gravesham to find out their candidates. Still, the papers do reveal one bit of glorious nominative determinism: the returning officer for Kent’s PCC election is a guy called Stuart Bobby. Perfect, no notes.
So, who are our runners and riders to become Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner?
Matthew Scott (Conservative) is the incumbent PCC, having first been elected in 2016. Scott comes from a police family and won the 2021 election with a pretty definitive 58% of the vote. He has a campaign website, and you can also read our interview with Matthew Scott from last year.
Lenny Rolles (Labour) is a councillor at Gravesham Council. He also has a campaign website that definitely wasn’t thrown together in five minutes.
Graham Colley (Liberal Democrat) is a former councillor who ran for the role in 2021 and came third with 17% of the vote. He has a campaign website and the tagline ‘radical solutions for old problems’, which sounds quite envelope-pushing for the Lib Dems.
Now, we understand that choosing candidates in this sort of election can be challenging, so we’re once again holding one of our debates. Next week, in fact!
We are delighted that all three candidates have confirmed that they will come to Medway and take questions from our readers at a live event on Wednesday 17 April. Unfortunately, we can’t say just yet where the event will be held, but all ticket holders will be informed a couple of days in advance. We can tell you that it’s in a central Medway location with plenty of parking, though.
Tickets are free, and we’d love for you to come along, learn more about the role of Police and Crime Commissioner, and submit your questions to the candidates. We’ve had some excellent ones submitted so far, but there’s still room for more, so please hit the big orange button to book your space and ask a question. Hopefully, we’ll all learn more about the role of the PCC in the process.
Please also feel free to pass the link to the event on to anyone else who might be interested in attending, even if - shock horror - they aren’t a Local Authority subscriber.
Democracy ahoy, part II
As mentioned above, a small section of Medway residents will also get a second vote on May 2, as another blockbuster ballot is about to hit one small part of Chatham: The thrillingly titled Arches (Chatham) Neighbourhood Plan referendum.
Easy now.
Neighbourhood Plan referendums are a relatively new power that, in theory, allows local communities to have a larger say in what the future of their area looks like, influencing local developments and the character of a community.
The Arches referendum covers, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Luton Arches area of Chatham but extends out rather beyond that into much of the Luton Road area and along The Brook toward the bus station. It’s a not insignificant area, certainly, but it will be interested to see how engaged voters in the area are with the issue.
Going on posts in local Facebook groups, plenty of residents have no idea, only learning they have a vote when the polling card arrives. The process of presenting the information isn’t making this any clearer, with Medway Council dumping all relevant documents (some rather hefty) on one web page in no particularly obvious order.
Neighbourhood Plans can be a net positive for an area, giving more local residents a statutory role within planning processes. However, as the idea is relatively new, it’s unclear exactly how much influence they will have in reality.
If passed, the Arches Neighbourhood Plan would be the second one in Medway. Last year, voters supported the Cliffe and Cliffe Woods Neighbourhood Plan referendum by 87% to 13%. It’ll be interesting to see if the voters of Chatham feel as strongly about the plan for their area.
If you aren’t currently registered to vote or have recently changed your address, you have until Tuesday 16 April to register to take part in both the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner election and (if appropriate) the Arches (Chatham) Neighbourhood Plan referendum. You can register to vote here.
Councillor Spalding is at it again
Last week, we featured an anti-trans tweet from independent councillor Chris Spalding. While admitting his words were clumsy, he flatly refused to apologise for his beliefs.
Mere hours after we published that article, Cllr Spalding decided to share a white nationalist, far-right conspiracy theory on the same Twitter account that got him in trouble the first time.
Retweeting a post from an account called RadioGenoa, well known for posting incredibly racist content while banging on about ‘European identity’ and posting as much anti-immigrant content as possible.
In this case, the content is pretty normal footage of a multicultural street in any UK city, but with a caption talking about ‘Britons’ being in a clear minority, seemingly unable to understand that there are, in fact, non-white Britons. Crucially, it ends with the ‘this is not immigration, it is replacement’ line.
This is a clear dog whistle to the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, which asserts that white populations are being replaced by non-white ones. No sound data on the subject supports this theory, but that hasn’t stopped it from being leapt upon by white nationalists across Europe and other parts of the world.
So now, within two weeks, we have an independent councillor in Medway posting anti-trans rhetoric and amplifying white supremacist conspiracy theories. What’s next?
In brief
🍍 The redevelopment of Rochester Riverside has been nominated for a Pineapple Award. The awards seek to spotlight developments that create great places and puts Rochester’s project alongside prestigious developments across the country.
🎥 The Docking Station, a hub for creative industries led by the University of Kent, has been awarded £3.5m of National Lottery funding. Construction on the project will begin later this year and be completed next year.
🏚️ An unlawful HMO in Strood could be converted into six flats following a planning application. The two houses were converted into HMO housing for up to 20 people but were shut down following enforcement action in 2018.
More Authority
Our paid supporters receive extra editions of Local Authority every week. Over the weekend, they received the second part of our big interview with Medway legend Billy Childish, which covered being a musician, living in Medway, Kylie Minogue, and whether he wants to be remembered.
Our paid supporters also received our latest monthly arts edition, featuring work from five unique Medway creatives. This edition featured a short story, a video piece, a non-fiction piece, artwork, and a song about a notorious Medway figure.
Footnotes
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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog by Jens Lekman, Guts by Olivia Rodrigo, Dear Catastrophe Waitress by Belle and Sebastian, and Tourist in this Town by Allison Crutchfield.