The last leader of Medway?
Plus Anthony Martin's emotional new album, another Gills managerial change, Brickwrecks at Chatham Dockyard, we review Bombay 2 Gillingham, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
Is it possible that we are in the final days of Medway Council? A few years ago it would have seemed ludicrous, but now, even the current leader thinks this is the final stretch. We’ve been finding out more. Further down, we have news of local musician Anthony Martin’s emotional new album, yet another managerial change at Gillingham FC, reviews of the new Brickwrecks exhibition at Chatham Dockyard and Bombay 2 Gillingham, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more.
The last leader of Medway?
At the Volunteer Community Sector Leaders Network event, organised by Medway Voluntary Association at Gillingham FC’s Priestfield Stadium, Medway Council Leader Councillor Vince Maple took part in a talk about the future of local government. We were there listening in, so how does he view Medway’s new democratic future?
As we previously reported on Local Authority, Medway and Kent were unsuccessful in their bid to become a priority place for devolution and will not be voting for a Mayor next year. Now, areas across the county have to prepare for the elections, only to merge into new unitary authorities with the upcoming local government reorganisations. “The future of local government isn't added to my job title,” says Cllr Maple, “but it feels like it a bit at the moment”.
Vince has one slide for his presentation and doesn’t open papers for a speech. He speaks straight to the audience about issues he has spent much time recently debating, justifying and reiterating. “We live in interesting times, to use that well-worn cliche. Part of the reason there are no slides is, one, I never use slides if we can help it, but two, they would be changing probably by the hour at the moment.” So, just what does the future hold for Medway?
“We've got a new government. I'm very happy about that, and pretty early on, they said we want to look at devolution.” Vince explains that sometimes this is referred to as local government reorganisation, but they are two separate things. “Devolution is where the government is giving us, in Medway, more powers to get on and do stuff.” His example is the Manchester bus service, which is not only cheaper but runs on time. In Medway and Kent, councils don’t run the bus service, though they may subsidise specific routes. But they are restricted from taking on the whole operation by law.
When the opportunity for devolution was presented, all 14 councils in the region of Kent had consensus that they would seek the additional powers that come with it. “I use the phrase ‘region of Kent’ quite a lot because it differentiates between Kent County Council, and the county of Kent. The region of Kent is something different but happens to have the same geographical footprint because Mayors will be in charge of regions.” Across the region of Kent, there are Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green and Labour council leaders. “That's good for everybody,” says Vince. “Hooray for that. But what that does mean is trying to find consensus can sometimes be a bit challenging.” The government had set the target of devoluton regions having populations of 1.5 million, and Kent achieves that with 1.9 million residents.
Devolution was led by the two upper-tier authority councils, Medway and Kent. “The other 12 are equally important, but from a government perspective, devolution was very much framed as the upper tier authorities moving that forward.” As most readers will now be aware, “the decision was taken that we would not be a priority. That's disappointing for the 1.9 million residents of our region because it means we lose those opportunities like public transport, like the skills agenda, to improve those outcomes.”
The reason given was effectively that the government couldn’t come to a position of having a governance structure that balanced the two upper-tier authorities, with Kent making up 84% of the population and Medway only 16%. “Whatever way you make that work, someone will think it's unfair,” accepts Vince. Meetings continue between Kent, Medway, ministers and civil servants, “but it's very clear that until we do local government reorganisation, we're not likely to have a Mayoral Combined Authority”.
On the same day they were told they would not be a devolution priority place, Kent, Medway, and the districts were invited to consider local government reorganisation. From a day-to-day perspective for the residents of Medway, “local government reorganisation won't look and feel much different.” The government's position is that two-tier local government is not fit for purpose. Vince says that he “would agree. I accept I have an absolute bias. I've only ever served on a unitary authority.” The government have stipulated that they want each new council to have around 500,000 residents. “There is a level of flexibility in that, and I think that's sensible, but there needs to be a justification for that.” Similarly, they've said that ideally, unitaries will be working with the existing boundaries of the districts, boroughs and unitaries, “but there's a recognition that actually the world has changed in the last 50 years, and things might look and feel different.”
Challenges for the new unitary arrangement include the council tax base. “If you look at east Kent and west Kent, you could say in broad terms West Kent's tax base has been subsidising east Kent.” It is very unlikely that East and West Kent will be part of the same council, so issues must be reconciled there. “We're not doing this in isolation. Every other part of England that has two-tier councils will be going through a similar process”. As reported in Tuesday’s edition, councils had their first deadline last week to answer three questions.
Firstly, do you want to be part of this? “You haven't really got a choice, but it's nice to be asked,” jokes Vince. Secondly, do we want to have one council for the whole region? “Now, that's a pretty obvious no. Nobody is advocating for a single council for all services for 1.9 million people.” The third question is whether any of the councils involved fall outside your region. “Now again, for us, that is a pretty straightforward answer. Our councils are staying within Kent.”
The second and more important deadline is 28 November. That is when council proposals will be submitted on what the existing councils want the future to look like. Up to 14 submissions could be made for our region if no one can agree. “I suspect it will be two. Some people are advocating strongly for three councils. Respectfully, I think they're wrong. Some people advocate for four. That's me, and people will say that I'm wrong. That's perfectly fine.” Ultimately, the decision will sit with central government, which went so well last time for the region with the devolution proposals.
What about the 1.9 million people in Kent? Will they get much of a say in the process? Vince says this is an “excellent question. We'll be starting that process. We have put some resources aside in the council. We've got hardworking officers doing the day job and trying to do local government reorganisation at the same time.”
What does Vince think the timeline for all of this will be? “I think that we will have a Medway Council in place until May 2028. I think we will have the elections for the new councils in May 2027 to have a shadow year. You'll basically have two councils running at once, although the new council won't actually be up and running until the following year, in 2028. It would be hopeful that we would have the Mayoral election in May 2028, so we can get us those buses.”
“I think that what's clear to me is that the councils that we currently know,” says Vince as he reaches the end, “none of those will exist in their current format in probably five years’ time. There's a likelihood that I will be the last leader of Medway Council.”
Call for questions! Soon, we will be interviewing Medway Council Leader Cllr Vince Maple to mark the halfway point of his Labour administration. This will be the fourth time we have sat down with Vince, so we are opening the opportunity to you, dear readers. If you have a question to ask the council leader about himself, his time in office or the future of Medway, then email steven AT localauthority DOT news.
In brief
🏗️ Future Medway, the independently run website looking at development and regeneration in Medway is ten years old. To celebrate, they have launched a Substack, which you should subscribe to.
🇪🇸 Medway Poet Bill Lewis is on tour in Spain and is featured in the Madrid Review ahead of his visiting the city.
⚽ Congratulations to the Chatham Town FC Under 13s, who have been crowned champions of the Kent County Cup.
⛴️ Tiller & Wheel are trying to create a sustainable future for the region’s historic ships. They’ve announced a new project, the Intra Maritime Trust, and the addition of a new barge to their fleet.
Getting Closure with Anthony Martin
In January, we spoke to musician Anthony Martin, where he talked about mental health, the release of the single he wrote to help him process his father’s suicide, and his buskathon across Medway for the charity Mind, from which he raised over £500. Anthony releases his album Closure today with a launch event at Rochester Baptist Church.
Closure is a solo album, though friends have supported him along the way. “It's basically an album of every song I've ever released, really,” as well as three songs not previously released. Last year, Anthony raised money through crowdfunding to enable him to complete the album. “I've raised nearly £85,000 for a variety of charities, but this one's for me,” he says. He raised £2,000 in just over a month.
The album consists of ten songs and a whole gamut of emotions. “They're songs of trauma, loss, pain, redemption, and hope.” Whilst the singles have only been available online, he is looking forward to being able to release the album as a piece of physical media. “The launch is on the 28th of March at the Rochester Baptist Church. I first went there for the William Cuffay Festival with Ivor Riddell,” where Anthony was asked to play a few of his songs and met friend of Local Authority Rob Flood. “He suggested the church would be a great place, so that's where we're launching the album.”
Anthony’s music style varies. “We've gone a few different ways, but it's mostly indie, Brit poppy style.” A music child of the 90s which has influenced his thoughtful singer-songwriting material, Anthony admits, “There's a bit of Billy Bragg in there.” Anthony is a MidKent College music graduate, which gave him some useful contacts when putting the album together. “I did music there, and a couple of my mates are now professional guitarists. It's really awesome to be able to ask them to play on my record.”
Anthony is very open about his songs being therapeutic. “Sometimes when it happens and you listen to the song, it's not clear. The lyrics might actually be about something else entirely. And sometimes the lyrics are very on the nose.” Anthony’s debut album represents 42 years of life condensed into 10 songs full of emotion.
Closure by Anthony Martin is available now via Bandcamp.
Managerial change at Gillingham FC, again
by Ben Hopkins
Gillingham Football Club owner Brad Galinson has released a statement about having a clear vision and stability at the club following another change of manager, but what does our very own Ben Hopkins have to say?
In a hotseat switcheroo best described as ephemeral, Gillingham’s temporary manager John Coleman has been prematurely ejaculated from the club in favour of Gareth Ainsworth - surely the only football manager to have been featured by Classic Rock magazine.
John Coleman deserves some credit for his work. He rediscovered Gills’ fighting spirit, slashed some of the club’s bigger egos from the snakepit, and introduced immensely promising centre-back Sam Gale to first-team football. What he didn’t do was… well, the small matter of winning games on a consistent basis.
While Ainsworth looks a bit like a bassist from a Guns ‘n’ Roses covers band, his managerial pedigree is strong, earning Wycombe promotion from League Two and only being blocked from a second promotion by a play-off final defeat to Sunderland. But it’s also a little chequered, having struggled with challenging circumstances at both QPR and Shrewsbury. He leaves the latter bottom of League One.
But at Gills, he has the ingredients to replicate his Wycombe success. The budget should again be enough for a promotion push, and as dismal as the team has been, there are players with the ability to achieve far more than an appetite for self-destruction.
So welcome to the Gills jungle, Gareth. Let’s hope he’s not dismissed in the cold November rain.
In for a Takeaway: Bombay 2 Gillingham
In which Steven Keevil assesses the food options available in our towns. This week, he’s ordered from Bombay 2 Gillingham in Gillingham…
When it comes to ordering takeaway in Medway, you very soon run out of variations when ordering at lunchtime. So I made the decision to order takeaway in the evening because not all heroes were capes. I decided to order curry, and Bombay 2 Gillingham came highly recommended on Just Eat. Though as the restaurant delivers the food themselves, you can skip Just Eat and order from then directly.
I ordered poppadom with mango chutney, onion bhaji, the Bombay 2 Gillingham Special (because it was listed as ‘highly recommended’), which consisted of succulent, tender breast chicken cooked with tamarind and garlic in a savoury sauce, and a portion of mushroom fried rice.
The food came within a respectable time frame and was delivered by a friendly driver. The listing of ‘poppadom’ was deliberate as they delivered a single poppadom, which seemed not a lot, and left the chutney to poppadom ratio very chutney heavy. The chutney was tasty but did not appear to be homemade. The bhajis were tasty and not oily. The mushroom fried rice was tasty and generously portioned, but perhaps it was meant for two. The Bombay 2 Gillingham Special was very nice indeed. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was special, but it was good, with well-cooked slices of chicken protein in a savoury sauce. The spice rating was medium, which is fair.
If you are in Gillingham and looking to order a curry, then Bombay 2 Gillingham is a good shout.
Review: Brickwrecks at Chatham Historic Dockyard
by Stuart Turner
This wasn’t my first rodeo. By which I mean I have taken the enthusiastic offspring to see exhibitions of Lego at Chatham Dockyard before, not that these contained any depictions of rodeos. That said, this was the first one I had taken the offspring to with an exclusively mariner theme and, furthermore, the offspring’s favourite: the nautical disaster. In conjunction with various aquatic archaeological organisations from across the seven seas, Brickwrecks takes an informative, visually impressive and, most importantly, entertaining look at submerged history rendered in cuboidal brickwork.
Entering the exhibition hall, you are first met by an appeal to pass on, recycle and reuse your old Lego bricks, the kind of sensible suggestion that offsets the occasionally eye-watering cost of the hardy perennial birthday and Christmas gifts, before being introduced to your animal guide: a pink and white Lego mouse called Farun (Arabic for mouse). Like the rat from Horrible Histories, Farun will feature on all the following information boards, giving an alternative text to the main information board about specific ships and their fate, ensuring the display information can connect across age ranges, keeping nautical disaster light.
There then follows a series of dioramas arranged roughly chronologically, depicting shipping and shipping disasters from a variety of angles and with a barrage of supporting facts and side scenes. These start with the Uluburun, which sank of the coast of Turkey c1300 BCE. You are presented with a wonderfully detailed harbour scene (in Lego, obviously), descriptions of the boat and its purpose, an explanation of the finding of the mouse skeleton (hence Farun) and a depiction of the wreck in situ on the inclined sea bed (in Lego). This sets the tone for the Shinan (China c1323), a tipping/capsizing/interactive model of the Vasa (Sweden, c1628, complete with details of its Mary Rose-eque raising (in Lego)), the Batavia (Australian coast, 1629) and the Pandora (Great Barrier Reef, 1791). There followed a wonderful expanded display on the finding of the Terror and the Erebus (Chatham-fitted ships lost in the search for the North West Passage, 1846), including an actual-size model of a remote-controlled sea bed camera. Passing through the doors into the wider entrance corridor, you are confronted with a wonderful rendering of the Titanic (Atlantic, 1912) en route to the sea bed and the more recent oil and container ship Rena, running aground in New Zealand, 2011. This latter modern-day disaster display included Lego that was on board the ship as it sank. And penguins. Lego penguins.
These depictions are intermittently intercut with play table areas, allowing visitors to get involved (no age restrictions apply), and honesty boxes for the return of wandered-off-with bricks. There are display tables for these efforts to form part of the exhibition itself. This motif is extended to Duplo bricks for the younger visitor and even bigger blocks in the pipe-bending workshop for the even younger visitor.
All in all, this was really well thought out, well executed and provided interactive edutainment for pretty much all the family. Especially those interested in nautical disasters.
Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in Lego Bricks is exhibiting at Chatham Historic Dockyard until 31 August. Entry is included with admission to Chatham Historic Dockyard.
Events this week
👩🔧 Sat 29 Mar - Remake, Repair, Create // A morning of upcycling your clothes, making costumes from household trash and creating handmade notebooks. Sun Pier House, Chatham. Free.
🛍️ Sat 29 Mar - Rochester City Vintage & Artisan Market // New traders event with market stallholders dotted throughout Rochester High Street. Free.
🧾 Sat 29 Mar - Milk. Eggs. Bread. // A comedic exploration of shopping lists found around Medway by Kieran Poole. Sun Pier House, Chatham. Free.
🗣️ Wed 2 Apr - Medway Matters Live // Chance to quiz Medway Council Leader Vince Maple and Chief Executive Richard Hicks. Hundred of Hoo Academy, Hoo. Free.
🎤 Fri 4 Apr - Sophie Lancaster Foundation Fundraiser // Live music fundraiser featuring Rainbow Machine, High Frequency and Lucid Fox. Poco Loco, Chatham Intra. Tickets £5.
We’re thrilled to be launching our second title next week! The Kent Current will be similar to what we do here at Local Authority, but casting our eye across wider Kent. We can’t wait to get started, so please subscribe below to ensure you don’t miss the first edition.
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: Baroque Anxieties by Little Storping in the Swuff and A Little More Time by Senior Service.
Bombay 2 Gillingham is highly recommended. But how do prices compare? If it was £30 fair enough. If it was £90 then even a good recommendation wouldn’t interest me! Price is an important part of a food review. Some idea would be helpful!