Innovation Park plan abandoned after £33m spent
Plus Medway Hospital emergency care requires improvement, Medway Council passes a balanced budget, news in brief, and more
In a competitive field, could Innovation Park Medway be the biggest folly Medway Council has embarked on? After years of work and tens of millions spent, the project to bring 3,000 high-tech jobs to Medway looks set to be abandoned. We look at what’s happened and what’s planned. Further down, we have news of a difficult inspection for Medway Hospital’s emergency care, details from Medway Council’s budget meeting, news in brief, and more.
Innovation Park plan abandoned after £33m spent
Medway Council is finally set to walk away from one of its biggest follies, with the Innovation Park Medway project around Rochester Airport morphing into something far more mundane.
After spending more than £33m on the project that was supposed to bring 3,000 high-tech jobs to Medway, reality has seemingly bitten after no tenants could be found for the site.
The project, which started under the previous Conservative administration, and paused last year by the current one Labour one, has seemed doomed for some time, with the only real debate being what should be done with the site instead.
In a report being presented to Medway Council’s Cabinet next week, a new plan is finally being offered to try and salvage things.
The northern part of the site will be switched to industrial and mid-tech units, while the southern site is to become a care home and retirement units. Happily, the latter part should help fulfil Medway Council’s desire to build a new care home on their own land. Perhaps less happily, quite how many people want to live with a dual carriageway on one side and an airport on the other is another.
The report states that the new plan will require an additional £2m in funding. However, this is lower than the amount already allocated for the project, meaning Medway Council will be able to claw back some of the roughly £60m that was supposed to be spent on the project.
Even this new plan is unlikely to move anytime soon. The site is subject to a Local Development Order, and any deviation from it requires a consultation with stakeholders, which Medway Council says could take up to a year. The site's complex geography means it partly crosses into Tonbridge and Malling Council, so they must also withdraw their Local Development Order.
The new proposals are not without risk, either. The report doesn’t seem wholly confident in the care home proposal, offering a backup plan of mid-tech on the southern site if it isn’t viable. Further, given the project's changed scope, the risk register sets out an ‘unlikely’ but ‘catastrophic’ scenario in which external grant funding is pulled back. This would amount to £11.6m that Medway Council would be obliged to return.
Speaking to KentOnline today, former Medway Council Leader Alan Jarrett said that the current Labour administration had “ruined” and “mismanaged” the scheme.
A statement from Cllr Harinder Mahil, Portfolio Holder for Economic and Social Regeneration and Inward Investment, set out the administration's position. He highlights a February 2024 BBC Radio Kent interview with Alan Jarrett, who claimed that the first aim of the project was to ‘ensure the longevity of Rochester Airport’, offering a scathing assessment of the scheme:
"When we decided to pause and take stock of the work at IPM last year, it was interesting to hear the former Conservative Leader of Medway Council, Alan Jarrett, on the radio saying that the first of his two aims for this project was to ‘ensure the longevity of Rochester Airport - which we’ve done’. In no way do we view this as a priority for the people of Medway, and if saving an airfield was the main focus of the previous administration, which they already thought they had achieved, it is no wonder the project was failing.
At the point of taking over Medway Council, we discovered there were no serious proposals from businesses to move onto the site. We have taken all reasonable steps to understand what has the best chances of delivering solutions at IPM which will work for the people of Medway. The next steps, as laid out in the cabinet papers, show that our preferred route is for a care home for the southern site to help meet the ever-rising demand for support here in Medway, and a slightly less restrictive home for businesses than originally proposed for the northern site."
Years of work and tens of millions of pounds later, Innovation Park Medway might finally be moving toward its final form. Unfortunately, that final form does not promise the high-tech, high-skilled jobs of the original plan, instead morphing it into the sort of industrial estate we already have all over Medway.
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Medway Hospital emergency care ‘requires improvement’
One year after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected the emergency and urgent services at Medway Hospital, the report on its findings has been published, and it paints a pretty bleak picture.
The February 2024 inspection was conducted in response to concerns about patients' safe care and treatment. It found that all areas other than leadership required improvement, with safety receiving an inadequate rating.
The report identifies a litany of problems in the way emergency and urgent care is provided:
The service did not protect the privacy and dignity of patients.
Patients experienced long waits in the department before admission to an inpatient bed.
The environment within the emergency department was not suitable for the number of people being accommodated and staff did not have clear policies to support them to provide safe care to patients in non-designated care areas.
The service did not ensure there were enough suitably qualified nursing staff to provide safe care and treatment to the number of patients in the department.
The service did not manage medicines well and patients did not always receive their medicines on time.
The service did not ensure all incidents were reported and acted on.
Some staff described a poor culture, with staff fearing reprisal for raising concerns and senior leaders not focused on patient care.
After the inspection, the CQC issued Medway NHS Foundation Trust a Warning Notice requiring them to significantly improve the service.
Following the publication of the report today, Jayne Black, Chief Executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said that the organisation was ‘very sorry’ for the level of care found in the report:
“We are very sorry that despite the best efforts of our hard-working staff, at the time of the last February’s inspection the inspection team found that our care fell below the standard that everyone should expect in their time of need.
Over the last year we have made significant improvements so that patients attending our Emergency Department are treated sooner, are cared for in areas more suitable for their needs, and receive appropriate and compassionate care.
We recognise there is much more for us to do, particularly to reduce delays for patients waiting to be admitted to a ward, so that every patient receives the high standard of care that we aspire to provide.
Staff throughout the hospital continue to work tirelessly, together with our ambulance, community and social care partners, to reduce delays and improve care for all for patients attending our Emergency Department.”
The trust has also highlighted that wait times have significantly decreased since the report, ambulance handovers are faster, there is new capacity in the hospital, and patient feedback has improved.
Of course, it remains unclear how much progress has been made in the year since the inspection regarding the issues directly raised by the CQC. It will likely take another inspection to establish whether the required changes have been made to improve the department's rating, but it appears at least some metrics are moving in the right direction.
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Medway manages to pass a balanced budget
Medway Council managed to set a balanced budget last week, albeit with large amounts of borrowing via Exceptional Financial Support from the government to make the numbers work.
The council spent four hours discussing the budget and a few other issues. Many councillors once again demonstrated how much they like the sound of their own voices as they reiterated the same points others had made earlier in the meeting.
You can read our live coverage from the night here, or if you really hate yourself, you can watch all five hours here:
The highlights:
Medway Council Leader Vince Maple (Lab) introduced the proposed budget for the year in a 30-minute speech that often discussed how much better Medway is under a Labour government. Throughout his speech, his microphone continued to cut in and out.
One big budget cost is a 5% pay uplift for council staff. This is intended to encourage recruitment and retention and reduce the need for temporary staff.
There was an inevitable u-turn on councillors receiving a discount for Medway Council leisure centre memberships alongside council staff, as proposed by the Employment Matters committee. As a result, the Chief Executive on £170k will now receive the discount, but councillors on allowances of £12k will not.
Cllr Maple was effusive about the extra investment in council services, the work being done on the Ascend coworking space in the Pentagon, and the healthy living centre in the same building, which is due to open later this year.
Cllr Maple isn’t usually one to pull last minute rabbits from the hat, but he suddenly found £50k to fund VE and VJ Day celebrations this year.
Leader of the Opposition George Perfect (Con) described the borrowing to keep Medway afloat as “not sustainable” and “total madness.”
Cllr Perfect criticised parking charges increasing by up to 47%, and other charges increasing across the board.
Leader of the Independent Group George Crozer highlighted positive moves the council has made, but raised concerns about the level of borrowing to do it.
Leader of the new Reform Group David Finch said that his group was “conflicted” by the budget, applauding the efforts to raise revenue, but criticising the 5% increase in council tax.
The Conservative Group put forward an amendment to save £6.9m from the budget by cutting the staff pay increase to 2.5%, making redundancies, delaying Children’s Services aiming for an Outstanding rating, and more, while improving school holiday clubs, reinstating free swimming for children and older people, and introducing 30 minutes free parking at some car parks.
Cllr Murray (Lab) described the proposal as a “fantasy amendment”, saying some of the things were already happening, concluding it was “a load of old rubbish.”
Cllr Howcroft-Scott (Lab) escalated matters by accusing the Conservatives of spending more on cruises than social care, launching into a tirade about their “fast cars and lovely suits” before calling them “blinkered” and “sad”, finally saying that the covid inquiry will likely investigate them. Cllr Perfect (Con) asks her to withdraw or substantiate the claim. She refuses, but Mayor Nestorov (Lab) takes no action.
Cllr Spalding (Ind) said that neither side in the debate is blameless for the state of things, both sides could be better, but that he welcomes anything that helps Medway recruit and retain staff. For the second year running, Cllr Spalding could not vote on the budget as he is in dispute with Medway Council over unpaid council tax. He alleges that his landlord was responsible, while Medway Council disagrees.
Cllr Pearce (IndGroup) supported the staff pay increase but suggested that those at the managerial level or above should be excluded due to the state of the finances.
Cllr Lawrence (Con) said he thought there might be some intelligent comments from the Labour benches, but accuses Cllr Murray (Lab) of adding “no value” to the debate, and says if he ran his business like Medway Council, he’d be bust. He tells Cllr Spalding (Ind) to “pay his council tax”, eliciting an angry response. Cllr Lawrence claims he is merely pointing out that there is £29m in outstanding council tax due in Medway.
Only Reform supports the Conservatives in their amendment, meaning the amendment is lost 36 votes to 20.
The Independent Group proposed their own amendment which would remove £874,000 due to be spent on marketing and devolution preparation. They propose to put that money into free swimming, free parking at country parks, a return of the Dickens and English Festivals, plus some money for potholes and rights of way.
Cllr Maple (Lab) described the amendment as “well meaning”, but Labour couldn’t support it. Only Reform supports the Independent Group in their amendment, meaning it loses 49 votes to 7.
Returning to the main budget debate, Cllr Lawrence (Con) describes the proposed budget as a “dereliction of duty” before going on about socialism. Cllr Gulvin (Con) refers to Chancellor Rachel Reeves as ‘Rachel from accounts’, and is immediately accused of misogyny by Cllr Browne (Lab).
After seemingly every single Labour councillor spoke to make the same points, the budget is eventually passed 32 votes to 25, Labour receiving support from independent councillors Shokar and Hubbard, as well as Independent Group Leader George Crozer.
And with that, Medway has a budget for another year. It wasn’t the only thing on the agenda though, even if it took most of the time. Elsewhere:
Cllr Maple (Lab) used his Leader’s Report to express his unhappiness about Kent and Medway being passed over for devolution. Cllr Perfect (Con) agreed, saying he was “stunned” that devolution was “snatched away” from us, calling the reasons behind the decision as “utter nonsense.” He went on to blame Labour as they are in control at all levels of government.
A new Mayor and Deputy Mayor were selected for the coming year. As Medway has returned to the old points based system, the opposition Conservative Group will get to hold the roles next year. As a result, Cllr Trevor Clarke and Cllr Wayne Spring were chosen for the respective roles, which they will take up in April.
Speaking to Local Authority after the budget meeting, we asked Medway Council Leader Vince Maple what residents will get for their 5% rise in council tax. He told us it was more about “defending what we have,” highlighting the retaining of weekly bin collections, bulky waste collections, and some leisure centre membership costs being frozen. “I recognise that a huge proportion of our spend is often on a small proportion of Medway residents, and most people would accept that’s okay”, pointing towards the large amounts of money spent on things like adult social care and children’s services.
Cllr Maple acknowledged that “really difficult choices” had to be made to pass a balanced budget. He accepted that “this isn’t a long-term strategy, but it is getting us through this difficult period.” He pointed out that 30 councils across the UK are in a similar financial position, but he believes the upcoming multi-year settlement for local government funding will reduce their pressures. We’ll find out in the coming months whether or not he’s right.
In brief
💷 The government has announced £1.5bn in funding for 75 places most likely to become ‘left behind’ towns over the next decade. Nowhere in Medway met the criteria, with Ramsgate being the only town in Kent to receive anything.
🏪 Tesco have resubmitted a licence application for a new Express store in Rochester. Last month, they withdrew a previous application at the last minute after residents complained about how long they would be able to sell alcohol for.
🏗️ Aldi has withdrawn their planning application to demolish the former St John Fisher School building on Maidstone Road in Chatham. It is unclear what this means for the future plans for a new store on the site.
🏘️ Medway Council is set to approve a new development east of Hoo consisting of 134 homes, commercial/retail spaces, a cafe, a nursery, and open spaces. Eight letters of objection were received to the plans.
🚄 The Mayor of London has reiterated a desire to take over the operation of Southeastern trains. It’s unlikely to happen anytime soon, but it’s quite a lofty aspiration that could make a significant difference for rail travel in Kent.
🎙️ Rochester and Strood MP Lauren Edwards appeared on the Kent Politics Podcast last week. In it, she talks about her ‘shock and disbelief’ when old tweets she posted about Estonians, elbowing homeless people in the ribs, and ableist slurs came to light.
More Authority
For our weekend interview, we sat down with Kyra De Coninck and Chris de Coulon-Berthoud to discuss their experiences in the Medway music scene and lots more. Our conversation was so expansive that it had to span two editions, with the second part coming this Sunday.
“You make it sound so romantic”
In this first part of a two part interview, Steven went to the home of married couple Kyra De Coninck and Chris de Coulon-Berthoud to discuss their names, playing the bicycle wheel, what happens when you are in band of girlfriends when the relationships end, and in a first, a geek empowering love story. Our conversation was so expansive that we’ve had to split it over two editions.
Footnotes
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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Sentimental Scum by Suzie True, All Hail West Texas by The Mountain Goats, and All Hell by Los Campesinos!
It really isn’t clear to me what Lauren Edwards has been doing. As with the government, I feel she needs to up her communications game (if indeed she has been doing anything above and beyond turning up to Parliament to vote).
Leisure membership costs frozen? That's a lie. They are all going up in April.