Medway’s red route cameras aren’t catching anyone

Plus devolution is go, 18 by-election candidates confirmed, Medway on the New Year Honours list, news in brief, and more

We’ve spent much of the last year writing about traffic cameras in one form or another. With the School Streets and traffic offences cameras fining thousands of motorists, it seemed set that the controversial red routes scheme would do the same. The reality is very different though, with some streets not issuing a single fine. We’ve got the full details below. Further down, we have news that Medway is set to reunite with Kent for devolution which will see an elected mayor for the county, details of the 18 by-election candidates for Rochester and Gillingham, Medway residents on the New Year Honours list, news in brief, and more.

---

Medway’s red route cameras aren’t catching anyone

The Labour administration of Medway has revealed itself to be a big fan of camera enforcement and fining people who break the rules of the road. Over the past year, we’ve seen the introduction of School Streets and enforcement of moving traffic offences, which have captured thousands of motorists.

Over 2,000 fines were issued under the School Streets scheme in the first six months of operation, while over 3,000 were caught by the moving traffic offences rules. Both of these will have generated significant income for Medway Council.

It seems logical to assume that the red routes scheme, rolled out across five key roads in Medway, would also generate large fines.

But figures obtained exclusively by Local Authority paint a very different picture.

Between the scheme’s launch in May 2024 and November 2024, red routes in Medway generated a grand total of 35 fines.

A red route. Photo: stock.adobe.com

Drilling down into the data generates more questions about the scheme's implementation. During the period, no warning notice or fine was issued on some streets.

• Corporation Street, Rochester - 0 fines, 0 warnings

• Star Hill, Rochester - 2 fines, 8 warnings

• Best Street, Chatham - 1 fine, 9 warnings

• The Brook, Chatham - 0 fines, 4 warnings

• High Street, Rainham - 32 fines, 196 warnings

Clearly, the scheme in Rainham is proving most effective, which is ironic given that it faced the greatest backlash during the consultation process.

It seems staggering that Corporation Street or The Brook could not generate any fines during a six-month window. A drive along either street regularly sees vehicles parking at the Rochester station bus stop or the garage on The Brook, amongst several other places.

It is unclear why Medway Council is failing to catch people breaching the rules on the red routes. The issue may be related to the positioning of cameras. While the previous schemes had clearly defined lines to monitor, red routes cover a wider area, and from conversations with those with knowledge of the scheme, cameras may not be covering all of them.

Still, given that the scheme cost Medway Council £805,000, it must be concerning that in the first six months, barely more than £2,000 in fines were generated.

A Medway Council spokesperson told us:

“There are more contraventions of Moving Traffic and School Streets restrictions than of those relating to Red Routes in Medway, so the PCN data is not directly comparable.

The low number of fines and warnings issued is largely due to a high level of compliance relating to red routes. Data collected during the warning notice period will be used to review the current locations of the cameras.”

As a result, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Medway is eager to proceed with more School Streets and moving traffic offences schemes rather than additional red routes.

---

Local Authority is an award-winning independent news service for Medway. To receive our free weekly briefing editions straight to your inbox when we publish, please subscribe below.

---

Devolution is go

Last week, we received confirmation of what we’d been expecting for a while: Kent County Council and Medway Council confirmed that they had written to the government to request that the county be included in its Devolution Priority Programme.

In theory, this means that Kent, including Medway, will vote on an elected Mayor with significant strategic powers as early as next year. As a result, some of the big ticket items that councils deal with, like large-scale planning, will move to the new mayor, while powers on issues like transport will be handed down from the government.

What was striking was the different approaches Medway Council and Kent County Council took to the process. Last Thursday, Kent County Council held two major public meetings on the issue. The full council held a non-binding vote before the Cabinet formally voted to proceed with the proposals.

As a result, it was possible to see where each party within Kent County Council stood on the matter. The Conservatives and Labour were generally supportive, while the Greens and Liberal Democrats raised concerns about the process. Ultimately, the council voted 39-18 in favour of the move. While much of it was grandstanding, such a significant change for our area should surely face public scrutiny.

In Medway, things were very different. The matter didn’t come before full council or even Cabinet. Instead, the first public word we had in Medway was Leader Cllr Vince Maple confirming that he was co-signing the joint request for devolved powers:

“I am pleased to confirm that I have today (Friday, 10 January) co-signed a joint letter with Cllr Roger Gough, Leader of Kent County Council, to Jim McMahon, Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, formally requesting that the Kent and Medway region is part of the Government’s Devolution Priority Programme. We are confident this presents a positive opportunity to deliver significant benefits for the nearly two million residents and businesses of Kent and Medway.

I welcome the collaborative and constructive approach adopted with our colleagues at Kent County Council and the District and Borough councils and will continue to work closely with them in the coming years to shape the future of local government in the region.

Should we be included in the Priority Programme, there is a clear commitment from both government and Medway Council to involve you in public consultation and keep you informed every step of the way.

I very much look forward to hearing the outcome of our approach to Government and to moving into the next important chapter in our history.”

So why the different approach? First, the issue was more febrile for Kent County Council, which was due to hold elections this year. The work needed for devolution means they will likely be delayed for a year. Second, it is clear from the above that the council groups disagreed on the way forward. This does not appear to be the case in Medway.

Sources with the administration told us there has been good cross-party agreement on the matter throughout the process, with most councillors favouring devolution.

Cllr George Perfect, Conservative leader of the opposition on Medway Council, seemed to agree, and seems to be excited about the opportunities for Medway:

The white paper will have profound consequences on Medway but, I do genuinely believe, opportunities too. As an opposition, we have committed to working pragmatically with the Leader of the Council, as well as colleagues across the county council and the districts and boroughs to ensure that Medway gets the absolute best outcome from the changes ahead. Being within the priority programme for devolution and local government reorganisation gives Kent and Medway the best chance to shape its future. I thank the Leader of the Council, Conservative Group Leader colleagues across Kent, and the Shadow Ministerial team for engagement so far on the future for Kent and Medway.

Medway Conservatives are firm believers in unitary authorities. However, we are clear, any future changes must have the support from the districts and boroughs, must make financial sense, and services cannot suffer whilst any local government reorganisation takes place. These three tests will drive my engagement on the future of local government and the devolution settlement in our area.

Even Medway’s Independent Group are happy with the progress being made, though perhaps this shouldn’t be entirely surprising given some of them previously campaigned for the Hoo Peninsula to leave Medway and rejoin Kent County Council.

Cllr George Crozer, leader of the Independent Group on Medway Council, told us:

“Whilst we are unsure of what a devolved Kent would ultimately look like, as the only Unitary Authority in the Southeast, Medway Council are well placed to join the Devolution Priority Programme along with Kent County Council the other upper tier authority in Kent.

Since the publication of the white paper 16th December 2024 cross party discussions have taken place to gain a broad consensus of opinion that Medway Council should be party to the Devolution Priority Programme.

Representing a large proportion of residents North of the river Medway, the Independent Group are keen to remain part of the cross party process.”

While there may be strong agreement on the matter of an elected mayor, it is unlikely that will remain when it comes to merging Medway with other districts to form a new, more extensive unitary authority, which also needs to happen in the next few months.

As ever, we’ll be watching.

---

18 by-election candidates to fight for three seats

With two Medway by-elections on 6 February rapidly approaching, we now have complete candidate lists. As such, we now know that 18 candidates are vying for the three vacancies on Medway Council. So, let’s see who we have.

Gillingham South by-election, one seat available (Labour defence):

• Conservative: Saboor Ahmed

• Green: Trish Marchant

• Heritage: Roshan Bhunnoo

• Labour: Liubov Nestorova

• Lib Dem: Onyx Rist

• Reform: Rizvi Rawoof

• SDP: Peter Wheeler

The Conservatives campaigned with a decent number of activists over the weekend, as did Labour. The Greens have been on the campaign trail, too, but there’s little sign of anyone beyond candidate Trish Marchant, while Onyx Rist of the Lib Dems has been telling everyone how well Onyx Rist is doing on KentOnline.

Onyx Rist post on KentOnline

Elsewhere, Reform is putting forward Rizvi Rawoof as their candidate, a man so organised during the General Election campaign that he forgot to turn up to our hustings. Peter Wheeler is standing for the SDP following efforts in the local and general elections. Finally, Roshan Bhunnoo is standing for the Heritage Party, marking their first ballot appearance east of the river.

Rochester East & Warren Wood by-election, two seats available (Labour defence):

• Conservative: George Clarke & Tolga Sirlan

• Green: Doug Bray & Jeremy Syby-Steanson

• Heritage: Peter Burch

• Labour: Carolyn Hart & Robert Wyatt

• Lib Dem: Anita Holloway & Sarah Manuel

• Reform: David Finch & John Vye

In a similar story to the above, Labour and the Conservatives had significant campaigning events last weekend, with activists on the doorstep. There have been few signs of activity from anyone else, though Reform did put out this excellent campaign photo of their candidates:

Reform candidates David Finch and John Vye.

It remains challenging to predict the direction of this campaign, but much is at stake. Labour could lose its majority on Medway Council if it loses two of the three seats up for election.

Later this week, paid Local Authority subscribers will receive an analysis of the current state of play from our resident elections expert, Medway Elects’ Alan Collins.

---

Five or six Medway people receive New Year Honours

The honours system is inherently silly, but it remains interesting to see which Medway figures make the list for their work. This year, depending on how you count, five or six Medway residents made the list:

• Austin Christopher Daboh - Executive Vice-President, Atlantic Records UK. OBE for services to Music.

• Katherine Jane Batts - Lately Treasurer, City of Rochester Swimming and Lifeguard Club. MBE For Voluntary Service to Swimming and to the Royal Life Saving Society.

• Alexander Angus Cameron - Co-Chair, High Street Heritage Action Zone and Co-Chair, Intra Community Trust. MBE for services to Heritage and the community in Kent.

• David Ward - Founder and Trustee, Abigail's Footsteps. MBE for services to Bereaved Parents of Stillborn Children, particularly in Kent.

• June Rosemary Cox - BEM for services to the community in Bredhurst, Kent.

• Elizabeth O’Hanlon - BEM for services to the Environment and Sustainability in Rainham, Kent.

One of the surprising things about these lists is discovering names you have never heard of before. This year's list includes an interesting mix of people doing good work.

We spoke to Alex Cameron about his work with the Intra Community Trust just before Christmas, so we would like to offer him an extra special congratulations.

Whether June Cox counts as a Medway person for her work in Bredhurst is debatable, given that it’s over the border. However, the papers listed her as Gillingham, so who are we to argue?

---

In brief

💷 Medway Council is owed more than £10.5m in unpaid fines since 2022. The figure includes fines for parking, traffic offences, truancy, and littering, with nearly 30% of fines going uncollected.

🏗️ Medway Council planning officers have recommended approving a 168-home development on the former Morgan Timber site in Strood. The move comes even though there is no safe and accessible way for pedestrians and cyclists to enter the site from the north side, as we previously wrote about.

📸 ANPR cameras will monitor traffic offences at 17 more locations in Medway starting next Monday (20 Jan), with fines being issued for those breaching the rules. The 17 areas are in town centre locations, including yellow box junctions, no right turn restrictions, and pedestrian areas.

🦽 Adult social care in Medway has been graded as ‘requires improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission. Long waiting times across various areas were one of the key problems identified.

🏡 Medway Council is considering building its own care home as demand for places increases. Medway has nearly 1,700 care home places, but residents are increasingly placed outside of the area due to demand outstripping supply.

---

More Authority

Something slightly different for our weekend this interview this week, with Steven sitting down with himself to mark his 100th Local Authority interview. Steven talks with Steven about his educational journey, his favourite interviewees, and whether he is a member of the Labour Party.

Later this week:
Thursday (paid subscribers only): Our election data guru, Alan Collins, will be looking at the upcoming by-elections in Rochester and Gillingham to see if past results can tell us anything.
Friday: Our weekly arts and culture briefing.
Sunday (paid subscribers only): Our weekend interview is with Cllr Tracy Coombs, Medway Council Portfolio Holder for Education.

---

Footnotes

Follow us on social media! We’re on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and Threads, but not that other one.

If you enjoy Local Authority, please share it with your friends, family, associates, and enemies. We have no meaningful marketing budget, so we rely on word of mouth from our readers to find new readers. You can even get some sweet rewards for sending new readers our way. Details here.

Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Privilege by Parenthetical Girls, I’m Glad We’re Friends by Thank You, I’m Sorry, and Tallahassee by The Mountain Goats.