What you’ll find in Local Authority

From council meetings and planning applications to regeneration projects, public services and local politics, we cover the stories shaping Medway.

Alongside breaking developments, you’ll find long-form reporting, interviews, investigations and analysis designed to help you understand not just what happened, but why it matters.

Recent stories

A few of the stories we’ve recently covered, from fire cover and planning battles to public services, politics and the future of Medway’s towns.

Medway’s future is North Kent

What the government’s decision means for Medway, plus a chaotic council meeting, HMS Saxifrage’s departure, planning, events, and more

Local AuthorityEd Jennings

Theatres Trust calls Royal Function Rooms plans ‘unserious’

Heritage bodies say the case for conversion has not been made, and the final stop for Medway’s missing rail monument

Local AuthorityEd Jennings

He defected to Reform. Eight months later, he wants out

A prominent local recruit leaves Reform with questions about what the party is becoming

Local AuthorityEd Jennings

“It’s a constant battle to pay everything”

What Steven asked Jody Carrington, general manager of Poco Loco and project manager for the Intra Community Trust

Local AuthoritySteven Keevil

Upnor Castle was open six days a week. Now it opens once a month

The cost of thinning out public access, plus school exclusion data, and a new Kent-branded party

Local AuthorityEd Jennings

The Rochester pub that kept getting it right

After surviving bankruptcy, covid and everything else thrown at the trade, the Who’d Ha Thought It has taken CAMRA’s top local award

Local AuthorityChris de Coulon Berthoud

If it affects Medway, we probably have questions about it.

What you'll get

A free subscription gives you regular reporting and analysis from across Medway, without needing to chase council papers, social feeds or half-heard rumours.

• News briefings - The main local stories, decisions and developments explained clearly.
• Original reporting - Stories dug out properly, not rewritten from press releases.
• Interviews - Conversations with the people making decisions, challenging them, or affected by them.
• Context - Not just what happened, but what it means for Medway.

Why we exist

Medway is too big, too complicated and too important to be covered only when something goes badly wrong.

Councils spend public money. Developers reshape towns. Services change. Decisions are made that affect people’s lives long before most residents hear about them.

Local Authority exists to keep watching.

Independent, local, accountable

Local Authority has covered Medway since 2021, is read by thousands of local residents, and has won multiple awards for its journalism. We are regulated by Impress and are a member of the Public Interest News Foundation.