Medway Council is civil until it isn’t
Plus the Independent Group gains another member, we review the Waters Edge, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
Medway Council meetings have long been politically charged, particularly after lengthy Conservative rule. So it was interesting to see what this week’s meeting would bring with Labour in charge of both the council and the country for the first time ever. It started well enough, and then it rapidly descended during a debate on homelessness. Further down, we have news that the Independent Group has gained another councillor, we review the Waters Edge in Strood (spoiler alert: not a rave), our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more.
Medway Council is civil until it isn’t
Last night saw the first full Medway Council meeting in this brave new world where Labour control both the council and the entire country. It was a fairly lively affair. We’re going to spare you the full five-hour blow-by-blow account, but here are the highlights in handy bullet point form:
Medway Council Leader Vince Maple gave his support for reintroducing Eurostar services to Ebbsfleet and Ashford. He talked up the economic and environmental benefits of doing so.
Liberal Democrat Stuart Bourne asked Medway Council how much they had divested from fossil fuel companies since Labour took control, something they had called on the Conservatives to do when they were in opposition. Cllr Curry (Lab) responded that it wasn’t possible to do so, so it’s hard to understand why they demanded the former administration do it.
Conservative councillor Andrew Lawrence submitted a motion on Chatham Docks demanding the Labour administration apologise for their u-turn on its redevelopment. Unsurprisingly, the Labour voted against the motion, and Cllr Curry was outraged that the motion dared to suggest that councillors on the planning committee might have voted along party lines. Perish the thought.
Independent Group councillor Michael Pearce brought an entire box of Yorkshire Tea with him. Fair enough given how long these meetings run.
Councillors voting on Cllr Sands’ motion Independent Group councillor Ron Sands submitted a motion on fixing the pension unfairness impacting women born in the 1950s. In a rare moment of cross-party unity, the Labour administration and Conservative opposition both supported the motion. Given the unanimous support, the issue moved straight to vote, leading to Cllr Naushabah Khan (Lab) to note the irony that only one woman was allowed to speak on the issue.
Independent councillor Chris Spalding proposed a motion calling for better engagement with veterans’ groups on military-related events. Following Medway Council Leader Vince Maple saying he’ll support the motion because he agreed with the spirit of it rather than every word, this one was also passed unanimously. Maybe a new, agreeable dawn has broken in Medway politics.
That agreeableness lasted until the final motion, submitted by Cllr Louwella Prenter (Lab), on tackling homelessness and asking the government to continue supporting Medway's £1m Rough Sleeping Initiative funding. Cllr Gulvin (Con) submitted an amendment to the motion, in theory to make it less party political, but instead removed much of the detail. Things escalated when Cllr Howcroft-Scott (Lab) said the Conservatives had “blood on their hands” on the issue, which led to an angry response from Conservative leader Cllr Perfect (Con).
It was announced that the new Healthy Living Centre in the Pentagon Centre in Chatham will be named after James Williams, the Public Health Director at Medway Council, who recently passed away.
Medway Council officers are assessing whether to extend Rochester’s Saturday pedestrianisation to Sundays and public holidays. That will undoubtedly be popular.
Responding to a question on car parking charges stopping people coming to Rainham town centre, Cllr Paterson (Lab) referenced figures that showed that more people were parking in the car parks this year than last year, despite what traders may be saying.
In a glorious example of how local democracy works, of the 16 questions submitted by councillors at this meeting, there was only time to answer 7 of them.
While it’s positive that council meetings now prioritise the glamourous bits like public questions and motions, this can lead to the final hour being incredibly dull.
If, for some reason, you’d like to watch all five hours of the meeting, you can do so below:
In brief
🗺️ The Guardian has featured Gillingham in its series on overlooked towns. The piece talks about the area's history, music, and culture.
🚧 Rochester Bridge will have overnight lane closures for the next eight weeks. The measure is to allow part of the bridge to be repainted.
🍺 KentOnline has been to review the Homeward Bound pub in Halling. It scores pretty solidly.
Independent Group grows again
Following the news last week that Cllr John Williams of Strood Rural had resigned from the Conservative Group to sit as an independent, it didn’t take long for him to be snapped up by the Independent Group on Medway Council.
Cllr Williams didn’t hide the fact it would be a possible destination for him, revealing to us last week that he’d be open to joining the group if asked. Ask, they did, as Cllr Williams is now the fifth member of the group, which is slowly increasing its size from three a year ago.
With the Independent Group initially forming three councillors in Hoo and High Halstow, the group is now extending westward, holding two of the three seats in Strood Rural. Inevitably, questions will be raised about whether Cllr Gary Etheridge, ward colleague of now Independent Group members Cllr Williams and Cllr Elizabeth Turpin, will also leap across.
As Medway Council gets its Local Plan process underway in earnest, things feel positive for the group as they seek to influence the outcome to protect the Hoo Peninsula as much as possible. Each new councillor assists with that work, and it will be interesting to see how the group works together on wider council issues as it becomes more prominent with a more diverse range of views.
Out to Lunch: The Waters Edge in Strood
In which Steven Keevil assesses the lunch options available in our towns. This week, he’s been down to The Waters Edge in Strood…
According to the website, this Hungry Horse chain pub is in the heart of Rochester, which is one way to describe Medway Valley Park in Strood. I’m old enough to remember when Medway Valley Park was the place to go in Medway. Today is not that day.
Describing the Waters Edge as sprawling doesn’t quite convey that it is bigger than it needs to be. Many tables were available, and the booths had individual screens showing sports. We picked a booth where the television wasn’t working.
The menu had a wide variety of beige food available, and I ordered more chicken wings than is medically advisable because they were on a 3-for-something offer. I ordered Chinese salt and pepper, Korean BBQ, Texas BBQ, salt and pepper chips, and coleslaw. In an exciting twist, the Coke came with the offer of a ‘flavour shot’. I ordered one with vanilla and one with cherry.
The drinks had the largest gap between the drink and the brim of the glass in the history of these reviews. The cherry mix was quite chemically, but the vanilla was a lovely addition. The coleslaw felt like it had come out of a large vat, but the chips were fresh, crisp, and tasty. While many chicken wings were delivered, they were small and clearly not from higher-welfare chickens. I could only just about tell the difference between the Korean and Texas BBQ taste.
As I finished the meal in this pub that had seen better days in this forgotten part of Medway, I thought about the sad lives these chickens must have had before being deep-fried. I’ve never left feeling so sad before.
Events this week
🎸 The cultural highlight of the week sees Medway’s best new band, Little Storping in the Swuff, playing their debut album, Baroque Anxieties, in full at the Medway Little Theatre tomorrow (Sat 20 Jul). Rochester songwriter David Goggin is at the top of his game, and this promises to be a delightful evening. Tickets £10.
🎛️ Some Kinda Cultcha returns to Poco Loco tomorrow night (Sat 20 Jun). Club night featuring genre-shredding music from across the world, including African, Caribbean, Balkan, Asian, Latin, Arabian, and more. Tickets £3.
🚂 Chatham & District Model Railway Club hold their annual exhibition at Chatham Historic Dockyard this weekend (20-21 Jun). Features displays, traders, demonstrations, and more. Tickets £9.
🥕 Rochester Farmers Market is back on Sunday (21 Jun) in the Blue Boar Lane car park. Around 20 traders will be selling local and unique food and drink. Free.
🎸 Three Sheets to the Wind in Rochester continue their gigs that punch above their weight, with John Bramwell of rock band I Am Kloot performing on Sunday night (21 Jun). Tickets £25.
📽️ Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest is screening at the Chatham Odeon on Monday (22 Jun). Remarkable director Jonathan Glazer’s film examines the alarmingly mundane life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss. Tickets £5.
🎞️ At the same time, on the other side of Medway, Cineworld in Strood is screening South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The 1999 satire has only become more relevant in the years since, examining censorship, war, and scapegoating. Tickets £5.
Help us (through the medium of flyers)
We often talk about our small marketing budget for Local Authority, and that’s no exaggeration. Aside from a little pot for social media advertising, most of our income goes toward covering our costs and paying ourselves (modestly) for working on it.
Spreading the word is vital to making this thing sustainable. We’ve been trying to get flyers out around Medway, but we can only go so far. So we’re asking for your help to go further, and we have a mountain of flyers to make that happen.
We’d love for you to take a small pile of them to distribute somewhere appropriate, whether it’s the staff room at work, your place of education, or even handing them out to your friends and neighbours. We don’t mind where they end up as long as they end up where someone might notice them.
If you’d like to take a small stack, email us at hello@localauthority.news with your address and we’ll get some dropped off with you. Thank you!
Footnotes
Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: All Hell by Los Campesinos! and I Spent the Winter Writing Songs About Getting Better by Proper.
Thanks for the link to the Guardian piece. Nice to read something that doesn't rubbish our town. Though their researcher missed out on the Do It Yourself book.