Voice of the Leader

New Medway Council Leader Vince Maple sets out his plan for the first days of his administration

At the turn of the decade, we used to run monthly Voice of the Leader and Voice of the Opposition columns on our old The Political Medway website. With a new look Medway Council, a new leader and a new opposition, we decided it was time to bring it back, albeit as a quarterly feature. Thankfully, the new Leader of the Council Vince Maple and the new Leader of the Opposition, Adrian Gulvin, both agreed. Unfortunately, Cllr Gulvin was unable to produce a piece this month, so please join us back here in July for the first Voice of the Opposition.

In the meantime, we present the first edition of Voice of the Leader, with new Medway Council Leader Vince Maple setting out his priorities for the first days of his administration…

Cllr Vince Maple

It is often said that a week is a long time in politics. I’m writing this historic first ‘Voice of the Leader’ on day seven of the Labour & Co-operative administration. 

Of course, this week started after annual council where we elected Nina Gurung as Mayor and Marian Nestarov as Deputy Mayor.

I know both will do an amazing job in the first citizen roles and will be an inspiration to many throughout the Medway community and beyond. 

It is the greatest honour of my life to be given the opportunity to serve the community I call home as Council Leader. 

As many Local Authority readers know, the reason this is my home is that my late Mum said to my Dad when we moved here after him being posted in the Royal Navy to Chatham, she didn’t want to move again so I took that pretty literally – more than four decades on I’m still here!

I want to thank the residents of Chatham Central and Brompton for electing me as their local councillor as they have done since 2007 alongside my new ward colleagues Nina and Damola. I know anything I do in local government is as a result of having the support of the community I live in, and I never take that for granted. 

I want to thank two Chatham Central and Brompton residents in particular – Mary and Ned - and as I said at Annual Council on behalf of all 59 Medway councillors, to our families and friends who often sacrifice so much because of meetings and other time pressures no elected member could do what they do without your support - a heartfelt thank you.

One of the other things confirmed at the annual council was our Labour & Co-op Cabinet - A talented cabinet full of energy, fizzing with positive ideas and yes, a 50/50 gender-balanced cabinet. 

Medway Labour councillors

I’m proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Teresa Murray who will be an outstanding Deputy Leader of Medway Council as she has been on the opposition side of the chamber for the last 11 years. A true champion for adult social care, the voluntary sector, public health, and as we move towards its 75^th Birthday, our National Health Service.

Our campaign was like no other, with outstanding written and online materials, tens of thousands of conversations on doorsteps, a superb organiser in Owen Wittekind, brilliant support from our regional and national party, members of the Parliamentary Labour Party visiting including Keir Starmer twice before polling day and of course “Keir on the Pier” on May 5^th. The positive collective spirit & energy were like nothing I’ve ever known in a campaign.

I’m pleased to welcome our brilliant group of 33 Labour & Co-operative councillors – the first ever majority Labour & Co-op administration since the creation of the unitary council here in Medway and a special welcome to our councillors elected for the very first time.

I also welcome the Conservative Group, again in particular those elected for the first time. I congratulate Cllrs Gulvin and Turpin in their new leadership roles, I have no doubt they will hold our administration to account constructively and be ready to work on a cross-party basis when the opportunities arise.

I also want to place on record my thanks to those councillors who stepped down or missed out on re-election for their service too including Alan Jarrett who I may have disagreed with on many, many things but his commitment to unitary authorities as the best way of doing local government is something I will absolutely continue as Council Leader.

And I welcome the Independent Group with the addition of Cllr Pearce and Cllr Spalding representing All Saints – for the avoidance of doubt the new council ward, not the former Chatham hospital or indeed the 90s pop group!

Before May 4^th, I made it clear all we seek is the opportunity to serve, the residents of Medway have given us that opportunity and we will not let you down. 

Whether it is the 18-year-old in Wayfield voting for the first time, or the 90-year-old in Strood who had voted Conservative for 70 years but lent us his vote for the first time I say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who voted Labour & Co-operative.

For those who voted for another party or indeed voted for no party – we are your council, we will be here when you need us.

In our first 100 days, we will start the change people voted for by bringing forward a Cost-of-Living Plan for Medway, start to tackle the rogue landlords, bring forward recommendations to improve GP services – in this first week these three issues have already been added to the forward plan and will be debated at the June and July cabinet. 

We will also enhance the democracy of Medway Council, take on the fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour, reaffirm our commitment to our Armed Forces, increase the support for Medway’s small and medium-sized businesses, work hard to ensure we make progress when the next Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services arrives, improve the way residents can interact with the council and much more.

We know we form a new administration with a challenging cost of living crisis, a 20-year-old local plan leaving communities exposed to predatory developers and the financial mess left by the previous administration which will need sorting with the last published figure of somewhere between £16-19 million gap in last year’s budget, but rest assured we will bring fiscal responsibility back to this council. 

That may mean tough decisions but that is what a responsible administration will do.

As we said in our election address by electing a Labour administration you have a team which will serve with honesty, integrity, accountability and compassion.

I’m proud to lead a dedicated team of 33 colleagues with those values, I’m proud to have the opportunity to serve our residents as council leader, and I’m proud to be Medway.

Cllr Vince Maple is the Leader of Medway Council, and Labour councillor for Chatham Central and Brompton.