Workshops for community cohesion
Workshops for community cohesion
Plus the silence continues from Medway Labour, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner launches a newsletter, news in brief, and more
Three weeks ago, as part of a nationwide wave, Medway saw a far-right demonstration in Chatham. It was largely uneventful, mostly consisting of anti-racism campaigners and the demonstrators staring at each other across a dual carriageaway. Now, Medway Council have put together a report to decide how to deal with such things in the future. Further down, we check in to see if Medway Labour has said anything about the offensive tweets of Rochester and Strood MP Lauren Edwards yet, the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner has started his own newsletter, our usual news in brief section, and more.
Editor’s note: Look, we’re not going to lie. Between the bank holiday weekend and the general summer holidays, it’s a bit of a slow period for big news, so today’s edition isn’t the most packed. That said, we have some great editions coming up, with a feature on the completion of St. Mary’s Island and some rather mixed views on what it is like to live there coming up this week for our paid supporters. In the near future, we’ll also be publishing our first column from one of our new MPs (you can guess which one it won’t be), diving into Medway’s crime statistics, and exploring under the surface of Rochester, and lots more. To make sure you receive all of those (and lots more), hit the big orange button below.
Workshops for community cohesion
Earlier this month, Medway had a brush with the far-right ‘protests’ sweeping the country, leading to a stand-off across a dual carriageway between anti-racism campaigners and whatever the opposite of that is.
Compared to some parts of the country, Medway fared reasonably well. There was no significant outbreak of violence here, and the entire evening passed with two or three arrests, depending on whether you use the figures given by Kent Police or Medway Council.
Following the incident, Medway Council have put together a report reflecting on what happened and what could be done to avoid it in the future. As council reports go, it’s a little on the light side but does include some interesting observations.
The first item on the agenda is to recommend that the cabinet recognise Medway’s ‘excellent record on community cohesion’, which seems like a slightly odd first response to a far-right demonstration in our towns, but here we are.
Beyond that, the report is effusively positive about the response to the demonstration, revealing that a ‘local authority tactical command and control structure’ was implemented ahead of the event. High-level briefings were undertaken between Medway Council, Kent Police, our MPs, and community leaders, where views were ‘freely and frankly shared.’
The report effectively says that they were prepared for all eventualities, and happily, things didn’t get too ugly on the night. Of course, it’s hard to gauge how well the response would have gone if things had kicked off on the night, but thankfully, we don’t need to find that out.
The risk management section of the report is perhaps the most interesting.
One risk on the document is that Medway Council lacks the capacity and ability to respond to similar incidents in the future. To mitigate that quite concerning situation, Medway intends to conduct a ‘reflective exercise’ with key partners to see if any lessons can be learnt from the 7 August demonstration.
Another listed risk is that ‘the events of the 7 August 2024 deteriorate wider community cohesion in Medway’, which is a valid concern given some of the scenes we have seen nationwide. As such, Medway Council rates this as risk B2, which is likely to happen and to have a major impact.
Still, there is a plan to mitigate this by holding a workshop with key stakeholders. Quite how this will avoid the risk of a deterioration of community cohesion in a world where conspiracy theories and misinformation are flying around Telegram groups remains to be seen. This isn’t to say a workshop with stakeholders isn’t a valid idea, but it feels like something deeper might be needed to try and stop the rot that has got us to this point.
Has Medway Labour said anything about Lauren Edwards’ tweets yet?
Nope.
Three weeks ago, new Rochester and Strood MP and sitting Rochester East councillor Lauren Edwards had to apologise for old tweets where she referred to “fucking Estonian retards” and bragged about elbowing a homeless person in the ribs. Strangely, there has still been no word from Medway Labour on the matter.
We don’t want to keep dedicating space to this, and there’s only so much we can say, but it seems very odd that Medway Labour doesn’t consider these tweets a problem or worthy of any disciplinary action.
One can only imagine their position if these had been from a Conservative councillor. As is often the case, though, it seems you don’t need the moral high ground when you have the power.
Kent Police and Crime Commissioner gets into the newsletter game
Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott has launched a newsletter here on Substack, the platform we use for our own dispatches.
So far, he is proving alarming active on the platform, with articles on supporting young people, scooters, and the perils of social media. He even found time to write about his support for Kent MP Tom Tugendhat in the coming Conservative leadership election.
It’s an interesting move in a world where politicians are increasingly moving away from Twitter, as its power as the dominant social platform continues to wane.
Regardless of the politics involved, it can only be a positive thing for politicians to write more thoughtful, long-form pieces rather than the cut-and-thrust that comes from microblogging platforms.
You can subscribe to receive free updates from Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott below:
In brief
🥇 Nominations are now open for the Medway Sports Awards across various categories. You can submit your favourites until the end of October with the awards being given out in December.
⚽ Three games into the football season, Gillingham is currently at the top of League Two. They just need to hang on for another 43 matches.
🚗 Parking charges start at Medway’s country parks this Monday (2 Sep). It will cost £2.50 per day to park at Riverside Country Park and Capstone Farm Country Park, or an annual ticket is available for £60.
🚧 Chatham Hill and the Luton Arches roundabout are being resurfaced overnight this week. The news will come as a relief for anyone who has endured the mountrain trail-esque drive on either in recent months.
More Authority
Our interview this week is with Medway Council Chief Executive Richard Hicks. Richard has worked at the council since its inception, working his way up the ranks to the top position last year. We discuss how he came to the role, running elections in Medway, and his thoughts on the ever-controversial city status for our towns.
“Anything that impacts negatively on Medway I feel quite personally”
Footnotes
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: We Love The City by Hefner, You Might Be Right by Happy Accidents, and Happy Birthday by Her Parents.