Reform wins Medway by-election and takes its first seat from the Tories
What the Cuxton, Halling & Riverside result tells us about Medway politics, plus news in brief, planning, events, and more
Reform has won its first council seat from the Conservatives in Medway, taking Cuxton, Halling & Riverside with a first-time candidate and reinforcing the party's growing presence on the authority. We were at the count as the result came in and examine what it tells us about local politics, alongside our catch up on this week's reporting, council business, planning, events, and more.
Reform’s Medway advance reaches the Conservatives
Reform has gained a seat from the Conservatives in Cuxton, Halling & Riverside after first-time candidate William Burvill won Thursday’s by-election by 112 votes.
Burvill received 838 votes, defeating Conservative Richard Thorne on 726. Turnout was 37.5%, up from 30.9% when the ward was first contested at the 2023 local elections.
The by-election was called following the death of Conservative councillor Phil Filmer. Burvill will now represent the ward alongside its remaining Conservative councillor, Matt Fearn.
Burvill, a private carer who has also worked with children with special needs in Medway schools, had never previously appeared on a ballot paper.
Cuxton, Halling & Riverside by-election result
➡️ William Burvill (Reform) - 838 - Elected
🌳 Richard Thorne (Conservative) - 726
🟢 Trish Marchant (Green) - 482
🌹 Iain Childs (Labour) - 269
🔶 Ron Gillett (Liberal Democrat) - 35
“Unreal. I’m speechless,” he said, speaking to Local Authority moments after the result. “I’m shocked. It’s amazing.”
He attributed the victory to focusing on local issues and knocking on doors across the ward.
“I think I was honest,” he said. “I focused on the local issues. Me and my team went round and knocked on as many doors as we could.”
Burvill claimed residents had told his campaign that Reform was the only party to have knocked on their doors. He also promised to represent those who had supported other candidates.
“Not everyone did vote for me, but the people who didn’t vote for me, I’m representing them,” he said. “I’m still there to work for them.”
Reform now has three members on Medway Council. David Finch and John Vye took two seats from Labour when they were elected together in the Rochester East & Warren Wood by-election in February 2025. Burvill’s victory is the party’s first gain from the Conservatives on the authority.
Despite the group’s modest size, Burvill said the result sent a message to both of Medway’s larger parties.
He accused the Conservatives of taking residents for granted and claimed the party was now “on life support” in an area it had regarded as its heartland.
The result confirms the volatility identified in our pre-election analysis, although not by the route that had appeared most plausible.
The Greens came within 44 votes of winning the ward’s second seat in 2023, creating the prospect that Reform could divide the right-wing vote and allow Trish Marchant through the middle.
Instead, Reform went straight to the front. Burvill finished 356 votes ahead of Marchant, while the Conservatives held second place by 244 votes.
Direct comparisons with the 2023 vote shares need some caution. That election filled two seats and allowed electors to vote for two candidates, while Thursday’s by-election offered each voter a single choice. What is unambiguous is that Reform persuaded more people to vote for Burvill than either of the ward’s established challengers managed.
The defeat will be particularly uncomfortable for the Conservatives because Thorne was neither a political novice nor unfamiliar with the area. He has lived in Halling for nearly 40 years and represented Strood South between 2019 and 2023.
Thorne had briefly been a UKIP member in 2015 before becoming disillusioned and moving to the Conservatives. A decade later, he has lost to the latest party seeking to displace the Conservatives on their right.
For all the national political significance being attached to the result, the candidates were remarkably consistent about what residents had raised with them.
Congestion on the A228, traffic using Bush Road, overdevelopment and inadequate infrastructure appeared repeatedly in our conversations. Candidates also mentioned buses, potholes, fly-tipping, pedestrian crossings and access from the growing Medway Gate and Riverside developments.
Burvill said residents felt their villages were losing their identity and were tired of being taken for granted.
Marchant described the ward as a collection of distinct communities connected by the A228, while Thorne said development was placing infrastructure under increasing strain. Labour candidate Iain Childs was more direct, expressing concern about “that flipping A228”.
All five candidates attended the count with their agents and supporters, although Reform, the Conservatives and the Greens had rather more reason to watch each bundle of votes closely.
A Labour activist reported detecting a “Burnham bounce” during the campaign. It did not bounce far enough to lift Childs above fourth place.
The Liberal Democrats brought a degree of honesty to proceedings. Ron Gillett described himself as a paper candidate and acknowledged that he had not been campaigning. His 35 votes did little to complicate that assessment.
Two ballot papers were rejected, one because the voter supported too many candidates and another because it contained an identifying mark.
A further ballot featured a vote for Marchant and a drawing of a penis beside Burvill’s name. It was accepted as a valid Green vote. The voter’s choice, if not their opinion of the eventual winner, was considered sufficiently clear.
For Reform, the victory provides further evidence that it can take council seats from both Labour and the Conservatives in Medway. For Burvill, the less theatrical work begins now.
Campaigning as the voice of residents who feel ignored has proved successful. Getting the A228 moving may be rather more difficult.
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Catch Up
In case you missed it, we went inside the Brook Theatre to see why a planned £6.8m refurbishment has become a £21.5m restoration and a two-year closure has stretched to five. The answer involves five miles of scaffolding, trapped damp, failing drains, a wall removed decades ago that left the building pulling itself apart, and 126 years of accumulated problems. It also involves staircase tiles, wartime graffiti, a Morse code machine and what may be Medway’s most historically significant toilet.
Ed Jennings
We also published the first part of our interview with photographer and researcher Nikki Price, whose PhD explores the creativity people turn to after a death. She speaks about grief, estrangement, photography as a way of expressing what words cannot, and the Weetabix tin found in her father’s house that contained fragments of a family life she thought had been lost.
Steven Keevil
In brief
🏚️ Foot Locker, Coffee Republic, and Select have all closed at the Pentagon Centre in Chatham, with the British Heart Foundation due to follow shortly.
🏥 A disabled man spent 19 hours stuck in a wheelchair at Medway Hospital after transport services failed to collect him and take him home following an appointment.
🚫 Gillingham Football Club's new food and drink policy is proving very popular.
Council matters
Meetings next week:
- Planning Committee meets on Wednesday to decide on three HMOs in Gillingham, a betting shop, and the details of the 450 home Gibralter Farm development.
- Audit Committee meets on Thursday to do audit committee things.
New planning applications:
- 35 bed care home on Walderslade Road adjacent to the village centre.
- 9 self-build homes on Sharnal Street in High Halstow.
- Conversion of three shops into eight flats on King Street in Gillingham.
- Change of use from educational to offices at the Joiners Shops in Chatham Dockyard.
Property of the week
From the street, this architect-designed 1950s house on St Margaret's Street almost looks as though someone forgot to finish building it. Then you step inside and discover one of Rochester's more intriguing homes. On the market for £900,000, the detached Modernist house embraces light, space and river views rather than period flourishes, with generous reception rooms opening onto terraces and mature gardens overlooking the Medway. It somehow manages to feel both unmistakably of its time and surprisingly timeless. Then there's the wine cellar. Not a cupboard under the stairs or a few racks in the garage, but a spiral cellar capable of holding around 1,000 bottles, disappearing beneath the house like the entrance to a particularly middle-class Bond villain's lair. Even if your budget falls some way short of the asking price, it's worth a look simply because there aren't many houses like this in Medway.
Events this week
💬 Mon 27 Jul - The History of Folk Horror // Talk exploring how folk horror blends history, myth and imagination. Glassbox Theatre, Gillingham. Tickets from £13.50.
🎙️ Thu 30 Jul - Iain Lee: Imposter Syndrome // Broadcaster shares stories of his 30 years in showbusiness. Three Sheets to the Wind, Rochester. Tickets £16.
Footnotes
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