Flags, apparently

Plus Medway debt surges 36% in a year, Council staff happy with pay but other problems linger, news in brief, and more

Medway’s lampposts have found themselves covered in flags over the past week, in what is either a show of pride or a threatening sign of nationalism, depending on who you ask. We dig into what’s been happening and look at the responses. Further down, we have news of Medway Council debt surging 36% in a year, council staff survey findings, news in brief, and more.

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Flags, apparently

If you’ve driven through the Medway Towns in the past week, you’d have struggled to notice a sea of flags flying from lampposts, usually around larger road junctions.

These aren’t the result of a sudden bout of flag excitement from Medway Council, but instead part of an orchestrated effort started by far-right agitators on social media.

‘Operation Raise the Colours’ is the latest campaign from the same people lining up outside hotel housing asylum seekers and marching through town centres chanting ‘stop the boats.’

Much like anything framed through the lens of social media, it is difficult to assess how much this is a mass movement or the actions of a relatively small number of people with ladders and a Temu account.

In Medway, a combination of St. George’s Cross and Union flags has sprung up on roundabouts like Bowaters and Ito Way in Gillingham, outside Horsted Retail Park, around Rochester Bridge, flying at half mast and often up the wrong way.

Of course, this isn’t something people are supposed to be doing. While you are very welcome to fly flags on private property, you aren’t allowed to hang anything you like on a lamppost, whether it’s an advert, a campaign poster, or a flag.

This hasn’t been helped by council leaders in other areas condoning the moves, with Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran stating that they “will not be removing any of these flags put up unilaterally by residents of Kent.”

Medway Council have, at least on paper, taken a rather different tone, with Cllr Alex Paterson, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Highways and Enforcement, telling us:

"Medway Council proudly flies the Union Flag at Gun Wharf, alongside flags which at various points of the year rightly celebrate different parts of our community such as the Armed Forces Day flag, the Pride Flag and others.

People are free to fly these and other flags on their own property, subject to legislation. However as with flyposting and illegal advertising, we do not allow any unauthorised items to be attached to street furniture such as lampposts and street signs, or for road markings to be defaced."

While this may be the official position, a week after the first flags went up, there has been no sign of any being removed.

Beyond symbolism, there is also the issue of safety and liability. Flags fixed to lampposts can become loose and fall into the road, while paint on roundabouts can affect skid resistance for cars and bikes. If a driver crashes as a result, the question of who is responsible, the person who put it there or the council that failed to remove it, becomes a very real legal headache. It’s one reason authorities are usually quick to clamp down on flyposting and banners, yet in this case, the response has been sluggish.

Still, the flag erecters have received at least some local support, with former Rochester and Strood MP Kelly Tolhurst declaring that she was “loving” them on social media, which showed an upside down Union flag attached to Rochester Bridge.

It would appear that the Rochester Bridge Trust didn’t feel the same way, given that the flag was removed the following day.

At least one local business has been eager to capitalise: Chatham’s D&A Toys posted that seeing the flags “made me feel so proud to be British,” before advertising that they had “plenty of Union Jack & St George’s Cross flags in stock” for homes, cars, and gardens, though oddly, not lampposts.

Those participating in the campaign aren’t limiting themselves to just flags either. Social media posts from across the country show roundabouts and crossings being painted with the cross of St. George, and while this hasn’t been as prevalent in Medway, this particularly refined example from Wayfield was shared on a local Facebook group.

As is often the case, Labour, both in government and more locally, have struggled to seriously respond to the campaign, with Chatham and Aylesford MP Tristan Osborne responding on some social media posts about the flags, calling them a “nice touch” to celebrate the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Twydall councillor Mark Prenter posted a similar comment on another thread. Pretending this surge in nationalism is to celebrate sport is both disingenuous and potentially dangerous.

For now, the flags remain, fluttering above roundabouts and bridges, somewhere between street furniture and political statement. Medway has become the backdrop for a culture war, its roundabouts turned into battlegrounds of bunting. Whether the flags are left to fade or finally pulled down, the message has already been sent, and it isn’t about rugby.

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Medway debt surges 36% in a year

According to new data released by the government, Medway Council has managed to run up £612m of debt, a 36% leap in the year that leaves it within striking distance of Kent County Council in the race to be the most debt-burdened in the county. Given that the county council serves a population six times larger, Medway is now only a fraction behind it in the debt stakes. For residents, that works out at £2,134 each compared to a national average of £1,791.

Look across the rest of Kent, and the picture is even starker. Thanet owes £173m, Maidstone £168m, Dartford £158m. Gravesham, Swale and Tonbridge and Malling all sit below £150m. Medway, with its 280,000 residents, has managed to clock up nearly as much as every district council combined, and the figure keeps rising sharply. Around £27m is historic debt inherited from Kent when Medway became a unitary back in 1998, but the real growth is recent.

Medway Council argues the money is being used for long-term housing, regeneration and infrastructure projects, not to cover everyday costs. Without additional support, services such as social care would already have buckled. It is a familiar refrain, and not without truth, but it still leaves Medway carrying one of the heaviest debt burdens of any council in the country. The interest payments alone will impact budgets for years, leaving less for the very services the borrowing is meant to protect.

Then there is the awkward question no one seems keen to address. Medway Council itself is unlikely to exist much longer. With councils across Kent set to be replaced by three or four new unitary authorities, what happens to £612m of debt when a council disappears has yet to be explained. The likeliest answer is that it will simply be passed on to whichever new super-council takes Medway’s place. The name may vanish, but the debt will not.

For now, Medway keeps borrowing, and the numbers keep rising. Whether this turns out to be a bold investment strategy or a financial millstone will only become clear years down the line. In the meantime, residents are left living in a council that is smaller than most, but owes more than almost all of them.

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Council staff happier with pay, other problems still linger

A report heading to the Employment Matters Committee next week lays out the results of the latest staff survey of Medway, and things are looking.. slightly better than they did a year ago?

Seven in ten staff now say they’re proud to work for Medway, up from last year, and nearly three quarters would recommend it as a place to work. Most say they’ll stick around for at least three more years, which feels optimistic given the council will likely be abolished in that timeframe.

Money has clearly helped the situation. After years of grumbling, the MedPay review and a couple of chunky pay rises have pushed satisfaction with pay and rewards up by 17 points to almost half the workforce. Staff also feel more trusted to get on with their jobs and are more optimistic about career development.

Wellbeing is ticking upwards too. More staff say they feel supported, loneliness is down, and a new initiative is apparently helping staff take breaks. But conditions appear to vary wildly. Business Support staff are far more likely to have a comfortable workspace than those in Children’s and Adults Services.

The bad news is familiar. Around 6–7% of staff say they’ve experienced bullying or discrimination in the past year, mostly from colleagues or managers. More people are reporting incidents, but the system is hardly inspiring confidence. Only 6% of those who reported bullying were happy with the outcome.

Communication also remains lopsided. Line managers get good marks, but only half of staff feel listened to by senior management. Most have heard of the ‘One Medway’ plan, but fewer than six in ten know what it is. At least that’s six more than if you asked ten people on the street about it.

Local government reorganisation continues to loom over everything. Staff know it’s happening, but most don’t know what it means for them, leading to job security being at the top of their list of worries. The majority describe themselves as neither positive nor negative about the changes, which is a polite way of saying they’re waiting for someone to explain them.

Overall, the results show a council workforce in better shape than last year, but still waiting for leadership to deal with the same nagging issues: bullying complaints that go nowhere, patchy communication from the top, and uncertainty about whether their jobs will even exist in a few years’ time.

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In brief

🗣️ Medway’s summer of licensing hearings continues, with councillors set to decide on the fate of two licence applications next week. The Cricketers in Rainham have applied to make noise outside for longer hours, with one nearby resident objecting. Meanwhile, Newlands newsagent in Rochester has applied to sell alcohol for two extra hours and has been challenged by the prohibition trifecta: Medway Council’s Public Health team, the Rochester City (sic) Centre Forum’s Sarah Tranter, and perennial objector Steve Hutchins.

🚓 Following a day of operations in Rochester and Strood targeting unsafe vehicles, Kent Police seized a grand total of seven e-scooters and two electric bikes. The streets feel safer already.

🏥 Medway Maritime Hospital’s IT systems were disrupted for nearly a week recently, with staff struggling to perform relatively basic tasks.

🎙️ Chatham and Aylesford MP Tristan Osborne appeared on the Kent Politics Podcast last week, discussing asylum seekers, protests, the perception of crime, and more.

🔥 Get Ready Comics in Rochester was subject to an arson attack last night (Mon). No one was injured, but a crowdfunding campaign has been set up to help them cover the cost of repairs.

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More Authority

Our paying subscribers have more fun, and this week had not one, but two exclusive pieces to sink their teeth into. First up, we sat down and spoke to Reform councillor John Vye in what might be our most commented on piece ever. We talk to him about coming to Medway, what drew him to Reform, being a councillor, and lots more.

We also welcomed a new columnist last week, with former civil servant Bob Collins writing on what impact the government’s proposed changes to voting will have in Medway. While giving 16 and 17 year olds the vote gained most of the attention when it was announced, Bob argues that other changes will have the bigger impact…

Our free editions and additional content for paid supporters can only happen because of the people who choose to support our work by paying for it. You can take advantage of our birthday offer for just a few more days, which will give you 25% off the usual price for an entire year.

Over the border, our sister title, the Kent Current, reported on five Kent Reform councillors who were photographed smiling alongside a man draped in a flag bearing a neo-Nazi symbol. A week later, no one from Reform has been able to explain how they came to be in this position.

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Footnotes

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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Teenage Retirement by Chumped, Hold On Now, Youngster… by Los Campesinos!, and The Modern Lovers by The Modern Lovers.