Thursday, April 30

The campaign to allow the Gurkhas to settle in Britain has been completely mishandled by the Government.

The tough little fighters were as much a part of the Medway scene as the Royal Engineers are until they moved to other parts of Kent a few years ago.

But they are still remembered with pride and affection in the Towns.

It is understandable that the Prime Minister might wish to avoid having another 100,000 people seeking homes in Britain.

But if we can - and do - accept millions of people simply because they are Europeans living in a free trade area, we surely can for the people who bravely lived (and died) alongside our own lads?

They are prouder of being part of the British Army than most people are these days of being British.

The way this has been handled has covered this government in shame.

***

I see David Royle, the next Mayor of Medway, is getting off to a quick start once he is invested as our last Queen's Representative on Wednesday.

The former teacher will be representing Queen, Gown and Towns from 11am the following morning, and by the weekend will have been to eight other functions including cleaning up Walderslade in the company of the Mayor of Maidstone and the Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling.

The Conservatives are keeping their cards close to their chests on who will chair which scrutiny committees (like the mayoralty from next year, they control who examines what and when, if ever).

However the whisper is Mike O'Brien will chair the children's and adults committee now that Cllr Royle has been elevated.

If we get scenes like last month's meeting, I wonder if he will remonstrate with the argumentative element - or produce a good old-fashioned cane?

***

There was a packed breakfast meeting of business leaders at the Thames Gateway Chamber of Commerce this morning but no sign of anyone from the council.

The Chamber - which has its headquarters just round the bend from Gun Wharf - represents around 1,000 businesses directly or indirectly. Many are in Medway.

It is a mystery to me why it is never recognised by Medway Council, especially with the impending problems of Chatham's road reconstruction, recession, and attracting businesses. It could use all the friends and advice it can get at the moment.

-----------

Wednesday, April 29

There could be a new direction for the board of the Medway Renaissance Partnership.

If you exclude the three councillors and their staff, there is a number of leading lights in the community (professors, Deans, government people, environmentalists, developers, voluntary groups and so on) who sit on the board.

But if you thought the board made decisions, you would be wrong. It's simply a talking shop.

It goes through what is happening, mutters about communication, considers this and that - and makes no decisions.

And there's the problem.

It is one of five bodies in Medway seen as important to the role of the Local Strategic Partnership. These LSPs - in Medway and every other community across England - are increasingly taking the decision-making away from elected councillors.

But none of them has any official standing.

They were set up as think tanks, to advise the council.

Now the government wants the LSPs to set the targets for the police, the council, the medical services, indeed the whole range of activities undertaken in the name of the public.

Not that it wants to elect them. Heaven forbid the public could have a say in the way things happen - they might choose the wrong people!

It emerged this week that the renaissance partnership has no formal constitution.

Yet it has been shown where the flood threats are across Medway's development areas, has government briefings on various issues, all to rubberstamp the decisions that have been made. where?

There is a degree of accountability: the three councillors (one chairman, one his deputy and the third his official opponent).

I cannot recall an occasion where its actions (or those of the other four bodies) has been scrutinised by the elected representatives of the community.

Yet in the next two years there will be chaos as the roadways of Chatham town centre are prepared for its impending city status

You can guarantee that it will be said that "oh - it's been to the Medway Renaissance Partnership!" It has and it will do again. But the partnership doesn't take the decisions.

Nor does the elected council. It endorses decisions that have been reached behind closed doors involving - whom?

Now that's the interesting one.

-------------

Tuesday, April 28

The image of Cllr Howard Doe contritely apologising for the way a homeless woman was maltreated by the housing department has stayed with me ever since that last full council meeting in the Corn Exchange.

The Ombudsman's investigation highlighted an enormous lack of care and consideration for a woman - simply identified as Miss J - who had been forced to leave home by her partner's behaviour.

He ordered that she should get £500 compensation. And the council should sort out the numerous failings.

That apology was the least the administration could do. The very least.

They haven't yet paid her the compensation. Nor have they written to apologise - or to send her the cheque.

And they didn't tell her there would be the public humiliation.

But some day she will get it.

The problem for the council - indeed any council - is that there are thousands of homeless people. There aren't the properties to be able to house them all.

Look at Medway's many housing sites.

Few are active. Part-built properties lie untended behind the hoardings, waiting for an upturn in the economy to make it worth the while of builders to build.

Yet the estate agents are doing OK, and after a short trough prices are going up.

It's worse in some areas.

In Gravesend the council has just been paid compensation by a national developer after years of waiting for one of its long-term development sites to move ahead.

On the Thames foreshore, plans for a massive multi-storey flat development have been dropped after massive local objections.

"Iconic buildings" have been the in-phrase to provide a focus for the developers - and their customers. That it's also been a useful way of hiding inadequacies in the adjacent developments is a further benefit.

What none of it does is provide the homeless with a home.

In Medway, no matter what the council says, there are hundreds of people who tonight will be dossing on mates' sofas, sleeping in tents, or huddled together in stairwells, out of sight (and out of mind).

If they can't afford a bag of chips, will they find the minimum half-million price tag for a riverside apartment?

------------

Monday, April 27

Never mind what the estate agents tell you - if you want to know the real price of property in the Medway area, look on the Land Registry web site.

Almost daily the people who set the prices for houses go on the air telling an increasingly gullible public that they know what the average price is.

The Land Registry knows precisely how each area is doing: they receive all the details from the lawyers and record the prices without needing to be concerned about market trends and competition.

I make this comment after talking to a friend who had just sold up.

His home went for more than his agent thought it would attract - and was surprised by the level of interest.

Meanwhile, prices for the high life in the Medway Towns are also showing no signs of coming down (rather like fuel).

The Quays is rumoured to have a £1.8 million price tag on the penthouse of the K5 development (the taller of the two turquoise towers).

Meanwhile a four-bed apartment at The Hamptons - a development at Gillingham Marina - was on offer at £580,000 last week (though the price is now 'on request', which might imply a rise or a fall depending on your offers).

The March House Price Index will be published on Thursday at 11am.

Go to http://www.landregistry.gov.uk if you want to know the average price being paid despite the recession.

I'm fairly confident that the price in Medway is holding steady.

***

The Greens are turning up everywhere at the moment.

Last week they were asking questions of the Leader of Medway Council about sustainability (which is...?) and this week they are campaigning to bring down the speed of traffic in Maidstone tio 20mph.

I suspect more areas will soon be lined up in Medway for the crawl.

With the Liberals confirming their candidates for the General Election, the Conservatives lined up, UKIP having rallies, the BNP holding out the begging bowl, and the Labour Party having decided its Medway trio, you would think there was an election in the offing.

***

I took last Friday off to look at what is happening elsewhere in the Gateway.

Woolwich Arsenal looks appealing, Erith a revelation, Dartford is thrusting, Ebbsfleet is stunning, Gravesend is endearing..... and Medway?

It still looks like a building site waiting to happen.

-------------------------------

Thursday, April 23

Angry officers are trying to work out why three in five planning appeals are getting approval from government inspectors.

It's costing the council a small fortune.

Getting planning right is essential for the future of the Medway Towns - for its realistic dream to be a community of culture and good taste. New buildings are literally falling apart because developers ignore the rules (see the Medway Messenger for where that is happening).

But you despair when the government's judges - planning inspectors based in Bristol - repeatedly ignore logic, safety and planning laws they are supposed to enforce.

That is happening at the present time.

It hits Medway's finances: achieving planning targets gives the council a big cash boost from the government. Missing those targets costs - around £500,000 a time.

It also undermines the drive for top tier, four star, status.

Councillors were told last night two sets of plans had been correctly rejected by the council, only for them to be overturned by a planning inspector for no good or valid reason.

Angry officers asked barristers to advise whether to go to the High Court. That scheme was rejected because of the sheer cost.

Now the inspector has set a precedent.

Once someone manages to get approval for a block of 10 storey flats in the middle of a piece of protected countryside, say, it opens the flood gates to other loony schemes that ultimately destroy the local environment.

It's why we have green belt and brownfield land.

But that doesn't seem to matter to some inspectors.

***

There is little love lost between Medway Council and its big brother in Maidstone.

But Kent County Council could soon be sharing part of the massive computer room at the unitary council's new home at Gun Wharf.

The Cabinet gave its approval to the plan to share the facility with KCC when it met this week.

Observers witnesses thumbs being scratched beneath the tables as the combined Medway power team felt mutual itches break out around Gun Wharf Committee Room Two.

Cllr Alan Jarrett, the Medway Chancellor, had proposed renting out part of the room to KCC, and the rest of his gang agreed.

"I am particularly pleased to welcome our brothers from over the hill." Said Cllr Howard Doe.

What's this? - KCC being welcomed back into Medway 4,038 days after they lost all control and influence over the Medway Towns.

Can this really be true?

No - there was a big qualification.

"..particularly if they are coming with their cheque books open."

KCC will be expected to pay through their nasal passages for the pleasure of sharing facilities built for Lloyds of London.

Which means that as the two councils only handle £2 billion a year there will probably be some room left to rent if you want to find a bit of privacy to use your laptop.

*******

Wednesday, April 22

One of the most popular attractions in Medway should finally get the right to operate tonight - four years late.

Diggerland was given planning permission to become a construction plant theme park in 2002, but was refused permission for a snow park a year later.

Despite that, the snow feature went ahead - on top of an 11 year accumulation of household and industrial rubbish.

Other theme park and snow park planning applications were rejected in 2006, and a year later enforcement action was taken.

I recall some time ago having a heated interview with a PR lady for the company who insisted that everything they were doing was legal while the council said most of it wasn't.

They were right, and eventually - faced with the likelihood of defeat, I suspect - Diggerland asked if they could negotiate a way out of the impasse.

The irony is that it is a popular attraction unlike any other, it clearly caters for a real need, and it brings money into Medway.

The trouble is, that rubbish tip is a poisonous cocktail of explosive methane and asphyxiating carbon dioxide.

That's not a reporter trying to egg up a story. It's what the report to councillors has repeatedly said, and which is said yet again in this week's agenda.

Who actually said it? - the Environment Agency.

One of Medway's great problems is that the council often talks up what it will do, but acts down whenever it suits.

The development control committee gets a regular report on what is being done to stop shoddy house extensions. Or whose garden is such a disgrace that even the rats are forsaking it?

The trouble is, it is done behind closed doors.

They control the numerous illegal structures, what enforcement action is being taken against those who flaunt the planning laws, and how many residents have been ordered to get rid of the rubbish heaps that frequently go under the dubious title of "garden amenities".

Rarely does a court action follow - for example, Diggerland was served with enforcement notices to remove the illegal snow features and to close down the entire operation 23 months ago.

Never (or virtually never) does the public get told what really is going on to clean up the major environmental issues which the planners tackle.

Oh, we hear about CCTV camera cars and dog foulers.

But how do any of us know that the planners are doing the enforcement job that the majority wants in order to ensure we have a clean - and safe - environment?

--------

Tuesday, April 21

Vanity is spreading down the political ranks and increasingly into the council chamber.

One of the features of the new debating place that has proved fascinating has been the use of screens to show not just the name but the face of the speaker.

It's a good idea.

I suspect that, come the annual meeting, when the council's photographer will be on hand, there will be a queue of councillors waiting for their annual mug shot.

Certainly, we have had a couple of members send in their own pictures (not that we take much notice as we have our own "snappers" and a useful collection of smileys, grumpies and in-betweenies).

But wouldn't it make more sense to follow the example of KCC and put the debate on screen - and on the council's web site so that the eager millions can hear the pearls of wisdom?

At least then one would know that the images are for real, and not the outdated shots that some of the more vain glorious of the elected members currently accept in preference to age.

***

This afternoon, it's back to Gun Wharf, to enjoy the views of the Medway City Estate and the dubious sound system that exists there.

The Cabinet is meeting to make the sorts of decisions that were once reserved for the entire council (even if the controlling group would always outvote the remainder).

The key item of discussion will be the delayed decision to cut council house rents just a few days after they were forced up.

The changes are largely out of the control of the Cabinet.

It's the government that has caused the repeated changes as it tries to force up council rents "in line with the private sector."

It will have cost a few thousand pounds of public money in Medway - replicated across Britain - to bring the rents in line in the current recession.

*******

Monday, April 20

After a weekend of cogitation and consideration I have failed to decide whether I agree or disagree with the government announcement on Friday to reduce the use of council's spy powers.

I hate and detest the CCTV cameras.

I do not believe they are worth the millions they have cost.

I do not consider that they do much to reduce crime - only to move it on.

And occasionally they miss the bloody obvious (like the three banks that were bulldozed in Gillingham High Street one night and no one saw or heard anything).

The Medway system is based on one that I had a very minor involvement in launching in Gillingham in 1997.

If memory serves me, the council put up seven along the High Street (including in the vicinity of those banks).

The council has always (and I believe it) strenuously denied that it is one of those which puts spy chips in wheelie bins to see what people dump. But some do.

Now - if it helps the council to prove to auditors that 99 per cent of the waste in a brown bin (or whatever colour is appropriate) is rot-able weeds and garden rubbish, and that 99.99 per cent of the stuff in blue bins in plastic, paper and card for recycling I see no problems with it.

But it is the Big Brother routine that annoys everyone.

I do not like being watched as I walk along the High Street, pop into a particular shop, purchase something that is recorded by a store camera and then is recorded on the credit card details held by the store's super computers.

After all, that is how stores like Sainsbury and Tesco are able to send me teasers to spend a bit more on this or that product that I bought for the second or third time in bulk on my last visit.

It is also exactly what George Orwell forecast, that we would accept these things - and then someone in authority would abuse the rights that we had given them without thinking through the consequences.

The trouble is that none of us know whether (or not) terrorists are really at large in Britain, or Medway, or in the house next door.

I doubt it.

I also don't think I have done anything wrong.

Should people therefore be allowed to pressure me into doing things that I don't want to do?

Or track me whenever I step outside my home or go on the computer, thanks to CCTV, microchips and the increasing number of registration-identifying cameras on main roads like Maidstone Road, Rochester, or at the Medway Tunnel?

They don't have my permission - but does anyone care?

********

• Friday, April 17

Suddenly Medway has become the transport battlefield of Britain.

In 24 hours we saw the Transport Minister, his Shipping Shadow - and our very own resident Under-Secretary.

Between them they avoided talking about bus services, traffic congestion, road building and flyover demolitions.

Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis of Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden, was not chuffed to be in Gillingham.

Lord Adonis, Labour's Minister for Transport, ex political writer, Fellow of Nuffield College and former Liberal Democrat councillor, chuntered happily about his trip.

He's got a £375 Seven Day Rover ticket he was enthusiastic to promote to students and young travellers (they are cheaper for teenagers, but he didn't know how much and I forgot to ask when I got off in Gravesend).

He wrote on his Times website: "My south-north journey from Gillingham to Ipswich yesterday via five trains and a virtually deserted Tilbury ferry, which deposits passengers in the middle of a freight terminal in Tilbury with a 15 minute walk to Tilbury station, is not one I would recommend widely."

Paul Clark, the local man, was keen to promote the rebuilding Gillingham station - as soon as the council (via Medway Renaissance), Network Rail, and SouthEastern trains - comes up with a viable bid for some of the £150 million currently available.

Then yesterday, on a suitably soggy morning with a ship repeatedly sounding in distress somewhere close at hand, Julian Brazier, the Conservatives Shipping Minister-in-waiting, spent 90 minutes without any of the local Tory hopefuls listening to moans from the river's shipping firms.

He hoped for complaints about the seven-fold increase in business rates faced by some.

Sheerness firms were hit, but Medway's businesses were more concerned about lost wharves - and places to build up their businesses.

Medway Renaissance seems to have no idea (or wish) to solve the problems they caused by closing three wharves to create the desert that is Rochester Riverside.

***

I still have some reservations (like what will it look like in 2019) about The Quays - Medway's own Two Towers.

The mayor shoved a screw in the last window in a penthouse suite rumoured on the market for £1.8 million to formally top them out this week.

The views of the buses at the back of the Dickens Centre, the piles of rubbish behind the fences on St Mary's Island, and the litter behind the paper wharf in Chatham Dock vie'd with those of the Universities at Medway campus, the castle and cathedral. And lost.

Change really is happening in Medway.

***

There was some loss of dignity last night.

Cllr Stephen Hubbard (Lab) publicly apologised to the Mayor after earlier shouting at him to "Shut up" when he was having a political row with the Leader, Cllr Rodney Chambers (Con).

Cllr Howard Doe (Con) made an unprecedented and full public apology to a battered mum identified only as Ms James.

She went to the Ombudsman when the housing department treated her disgracefully - and arguably illegally - over her homelessness application.

It cost taxpayers £500 - cheap considering the circumstances.

***

Finally, as predicted, last night's sound system was inadequate for the pearls of accumulated wisdom from elected members to be heard by the general public.

But -

Don't miss the two screens showing New-speak images.

And -

Look out for Mr Burns and other (often aged) photos of your favourite ward councillors.

And it's all free.

• Thursday, April 16

It promises to be an interesting meeting of the council tonight.

Everyone is moving to the St George's Centre for its first outing as a council chamber in about 12 years (if memory serves me right).

The seats are out.

The Big Brother image screens are hanging.

Hopefully our respected elected members will remember that if they stand any chance to be heard by anyone they now must use microphones (but they probably won't).

And biggest hope of all is that the sound system will relay their pearls of wisdom to the rest of us waiting with breaths abated.

And there, I fear, is the rub.

The St George's Centre was built by Royal Engineers at the beginning of King Edward VII's reign with the intention of being a church. It was never consecrated - and it was never built with thoughts for mikes and loudspeakers.

The old building - one of the least known gems of the Medway Towns - is notorious for its shocking acoustics.

I was in there yesterday, having a look at the layout, and I hope I am wrong - but I fear that the problems have not been overcome.

Several people will be signalling to the controllers of the sound system - otherwise known as the clerks - to let them know if the verbal jousting is reaching the audience.

And if it isn't?

This is one occasion when I really hope I am wrong.

I expect a few sparks over the mayoralty (nothing compared to what may come at the annual meeting now that it is has been admitted by the Conservatives that they believe it is a political position and no longer the representative of the Queen in the Towns).

It's going to be interesting to see what comes of the questions to the Leader of the Council on Sustainable Communities (something which I am pretty sure the administration fears to open up in Medway) and the latest permutation in the ongoing battle to save the former Aveling and Porter headquarters of the world's biggest steamroller manufacturer now that it is no longer used as the Civic Centre.

Ahh, some things never change.

• Wednesday, April 15

It may be something to do with my age, but the idea of divers clambering out of the River Medway as an art statement is something that.....well, leaves me spitting blood.

Yesterday a startled colleague returned from Lower Upnor where just that had happened.

A boatload of strangely-attired individuals clambered off a boat docking at the local pier to launch the Fuse Festival of street art about to hit the Medway Towns with the vengeance of a bad curry.

Though encouraged by the usually acerbic portfolio holder, Cllr Howard Doe, they left my colleague, Hayley Robinson, spluttering, and wondering by what judgement of value the Arts Council was lavishing £100,000 of taxpayers money.

I pondered this as a press release from Hazel Blears arrived on my desk.

The Communities Secretary believes converting empty shops into social enterprises, learning centres or local art displays (argh) will help innovative communities prevent high streets declining.

She chaired a seminar with Culture Secretary Andy Burnham on tackling ‘recession in the high street’ and is throwing in another £3 million to find ‘creative ways to reduce the negative impact caused by empty shops on the high street’. In plain English? - throwing good money after bad.

Among schemes they are supporting is Brighton and Hove council working with Useful Arts (an organisation made up of individuals who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction) to find 50 photographs of a local street.

In Thanet a scheme called The Windows of Opportunity involves regional artists Total Pap, creating “fun, but representative, images of shops” that could be in Margate.

God forbid.

Look to Gillingham’s Sunlight Centre?

Some cash and lots of willingness has turned a former laundry into a thriving centre for the whole community, created jobs, and done a dozen other good things.

That is far better than getting a Latter Day Hope-to-be Artiste in a wet suit flopping off a boat in a quiet peaceful village - and far more practical.

• Tuesday, April 14

Back after a week’s break, and what news greets me? - More on the housing crisis at Medway Council.

This time a battered woman who moved to a Medway refuge to avoid her violent partner has won the right to £500 compensation from the council after they treated her with what appears to have been little short of contempt.

They ignored correspondence from the refuge and from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, they also couldn’t be bothered to tell her what her statutory rights were.

Then they got her priorities wrong (not surprising given the 50 or more bands that existed for those seeking housing from the council).

The council will be expected to approve the compensation when it meets at the St George’s Centre for the first time on Thursday night.

It will also be an opportunity for councillors to raise once again the problems that have dogged that secretive team in the days when it was given total freedom to do as it liked.

Yes, it is one more of the tales creeping out because of the appalling mismanagement permitted when the team was at the Municipal Buildings.

There have been major changes since Deborah Upton took management responsibility for the team and Howard Doe once more became the portfolio holder.

There have been away days to build up the team.

There have been reorganisations (that continue) to improve the service.

And there is the ongoing battle: sorting out what went wrong with the Erinaceous contract to bring up to a decent standard the largely appalling council accommodation.

There remain ongoing problems that started during the old management days.

Problems the Erinaceous Three highlighted, but which eventually led them to sue for unfair treatment after two were made redundant and a third was disciplined.

And people like this single mum who turned to the council for help - and was ignored.

• Monday, April 6

If you are a Mum or Dad on the school run, and you ignore the parking restrictions near your child's school, you are asking for trouble.

The council's lone CCTV car is catching about five parents parking in the approaches, on yellow lines, or in the bus stop outside their children's school twice a day.

The council has issued 1,491 penalty notices for breaking safety parking rules.

Councillors will be told on Tuesday that a second Smart car is being bought - because injuries and abuse to staff dropped by 40 per cent after the first car began running a year ago.

"The CCTV vehicle was not brought into force in Medway as a money generating project," Rubena Hafizi insists in a report to the regeneration committee.

However, she adds: "The income stream that has been generated from the Penalty Charges Notices is reinvested and ring-fenced into the highways, road safety initiatives, the road network and the maintenance of car parks."

More than half the successes have been in the vicinity of the Grammar Schools in Maidstone Road, Rochester where more than 800 people have been booked.

A further 110 parents have been booked outside Byron School in Gillingham while 81 have been caught on seven visits to Temple school.

And more schools are pleading for action.

The second car will ensure that four schools a day are visited.

Meanwhile - in case you think they only pick on Mums on the school run, think again.

They've raked in £200,000 from law-breaking car drivers who have been booked 9,518 times since the first car arrived on the scene.

Now the school holidays are on, the car is being sent to keep the traffic flowing in congested areas.

I am taking a break until after Easter so, if anyone fancies a coffee break in the centre of Chatham, running the gauntlet of the Smart Car now's the time.

• Friday, April 3

Strood hit the headlines this week.

Medway Council is setting up an advisory board to help the Cabinet plan the regeneration of the area.

A proposal for a pleasure arcade was duly approved despite loud local objections.

Both demonstrated - from either end of the community - there is a growing aspiration to change the entire image of the Towns.

Not that that message seems to have got through to some of the planning officers.

This week they recommended approval for a two storey house that would block out what little light gets into a cottage in a remote Rochester mews.

And they wanted to allow an aggregate haulier to dump thousands of tons of ground-up rubble along the edge of one of the few fields that remain in the east of the borough.

I can understand a difference of opinion over the arcade.

But not the rationale behind the planners' thinking on the other issues.

The description by councillors of tank traps, Maginot Line defences and the Somme trenches sums up the barrier that has already been built without planning permission in Lower Rainham. If you or I did something like that we would immediately have an Enforcement Notice slapped on us.

So how could council officials supposed to protect our community and (most importantly) guide its improvement recommend this monstrosity?

What was planned - and is already partly created - is a five feet high, 26 feet wide, 657 foot long wall of ground-up debris in the middle of the Rainham countryside.

The logic of the planners completely escapes me.

They made a mistake. It could have irrefutably changed the whole character of this orchard-surrounded area.

The trouble is, this is not the only case where planners have seemed to ignore the desire of the community to see the Towns enriched.

The message about change and improvement really does seem to have passed by the very people responsible for turning that into a reality.

***

With more than 400 CCTV cameras watching our every move, you must forgive me for thinking that (quarter of a century on) 1984 has finally arrived.

The other night scrutiny councillors were looking at the subject of 21st Century Schools, which you may think takes that analogy further ahead.

What sparked this grouch was a paragraph by Zoe Barkham, the Healthy Schools Manager.

She wrote: "An extended school is one offering parenting support, and a healthy school is one where vulnerable families are identified and supported."

Eh?

I thought an extended school was one that had an addition to the basics - you know, extra classrooms, or did things outside school hours.

As for healthy schools, I thought they were the places where you didn't catch asbestosis or flu or chicken pox.

And schools themselves? - where they teach, among other things, plain old English.

News-Speak has arrived.

• Thursday, April 2

It was party time in Rochester last night as Medway's youth celebrated 10 years of their own parliament.

Among the many guests were ex-chairmen who came from university to be present, adult and aspiring MPs, local politicians and council officials.

I remember when I first became involved in the organisation.

Reporters, I thought, have a busy time, and kids are a nuisance that should be seen as little as possible and heard never.

What a view - and how wrong!

Anyone who thinks that way should go and see the Youth Parliament at work.

It is a serious debating chamber.

Issues are discussed with at least the same intelligence as in the council, and without the petulance, political infighting and point scoring, that sometimes mars the adults.

What's more, they know they have the full backing of the other 40,000 youngsters in the community.

It was typical of the maturity that the Youth Parliament engenders that the two representatives invited to the conference on changing the police image in Medway should see them put together an excellent, if unduly short, presentation to the packed audience.

They may have been Tail-end Charlie, they may have had far less time than any of the other speakers, but they made the same points that the adults repeatedly make: young people are equally scared of gangs, and dark streets, they want coppers to have a higher profile, and they don't appreciate adults who snap and snarl at them simply because they are talking to each other on the pavement. (And why shouldn't they? - we are quite happy to stop and chat in the street, or the centre of supermarket aisles or anywhere else where we meet someone we know)

But they are often moved on by objections.

To be frank, I believe that the Youth Parliament should have at least two representatives on the full council, able to take part in the debates and discussions in exactly the same way they do on the Children's Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

They should be elected (as they are to the Youth Parliament) and they should be heard.

Anyone in any doubt should go and see some of their debates.

Or wheedle an invitation to the Try Angle awards which they run as well as any professional production.

You'll come away stunned at their expertise, bowled over by their entertainment, and humbled by the winners.

Then you'll understand why they deserve elected places on the Medway Council.

----------

• Wednesday, April 1

The new £100 million waste management contract due to start at Medway Council in September and a flu pandemic are seen as the biggest risks facing the Towns, councillors have agreed.

Councillors are worried that there are 90 authorities all competing for contractors - which gives the businesses a stronger negotiating hand.

They fear the council will not get value for money, criticisms from residents, staff and councillors and poor services if the seven year contract is not tight.

***

The lights blazing across the River Medway from Gun Wharf are giving the council a real financial headache.

They moved to the Wharf to save money, but the all-Conservative Cabinet was told on Tuesday the costs are £571,000 over budget, mainly because of hyper energy inflation for lights and heating.

Despite this the council expects to underspend more than £2 million of council taxpayers money when the final accounts for the year are approved.

Currently £2.38 million is sitting in the bank, but Cllr Alan Jarrett (finance) said he expected the underspending to be even greater. The financial year ends on Monday, April 6.

"This organisation is developing into one that seizes every opportunity for innovation," he said.

----------

I don't often praise the council - sometimes it makes it difficult.

But while many communities are welcoming free swimming for anyone who is not aged between 16 and 60, Medway has been doing it for months.

Not that it paid for it with council tax cash.

It got the Primary Care Trust, NHS Medway, to splash out.

Not bad, especially when you consider it emerged this week the council is likely to end up with a few extra million in its coffers thanks to ultra-tight spending controls and good housekeeping in many departments.

Mind, the situation would have been even better for Medway if the council hadn't ended up with a £1 million bill as a result of transferring the mental health community support service to the PCT.

***

There have been some widely divergent views about bus pass funding in Medway. The government has been accused of under-funding the over-60s, and the Tories suddenly found cash from a secret purse to fund under 16s half fares.

Now it emerges that the Twirlies aren't costing the community anywhere near as much as people were saying.

Almost £1 million allocated to subsidise the Codgerers travels was not needed, and is being used elsewhere - to support 17 and 18 year olds getting half price bus fares before 9am from next week.

I worked as a manager in the bus industry for many years and I never agreed with the "full fares before 9am" regime.

It has been in force in Medway for many years. It goes back at least to the days of the BET Group's ownership of Maidstone & District before the National Bus Company was created and before Arriva was even a glimmer in the eye of Tom Cowie on Tyneside.

If you lived elsewhere - for example in Hampshire, Gloucestershre or anywhere that the Tilling Group operated the services, children travelled for half fare - and caused no problems on the smoke-filled buses.

Times have changed. But not if you lived in a BET operational area, even in the enlightened days when National Bus supposedly brought unified services across the country.

And Arriva (who have a very healthy balance sheet for their shareholders) have no intention of letting the youngsters go for a fraction of the cost they say they need to provide the buses. Not even in Medway where the fares are among the dearest anywhere in the country.

But now the under-18s can get a half price bus ticket - providing they fork out a fiver for the privilege.

And the Twerlies continue to enjoy free travel from 9am with little subsidy needed from the council.

How come some councils can still moan with justification about the costs?

Well, the council pays for the journey that starts in their area - not for the return journey. And if you are a holiday resort - or have an attractive shopping precinct (such as the one being planned for Chatham) - you have more people than just your residents to pay for the ride.

Did I hear someone ask about Twerlies?

It's the nickname the drivers have given to the White Heads who repeatedly try to get on before 9am with an "Am I too early?"

--------

Tuesday, March 31

The sale of the Medway Tunnel to the local council for a quid could still go ahead despite reassurances from Jonathan Shaw, the Minister for the South East and MP for Chatham.

Several news organisations this morning grabbed at the idea that the Charity Commissioners have not given it the go ahead.

But the fact is they are still considering the idea.

The tunnel is currently owned by.... well, that's the curious feature.

It may already belong to the council.

It has possibly been theirs since April 1 1998 when the council was created.

It was certainly major funded by Kent County Council, with financial support from the Rochester Bridge Trust. Gillingham Borough Council would have nothing to do with its finances (they didn't have the spending power of the others), but Rochester-Upon-Medway City Council had - and did.

KCC mastered the legal agreements.

These saw the local highways authority (originally KCC but nowadays Medway) taking responsibility for the upkeep, with the Bridgewardens making contributions towards those costs.

That was fine. Except the Bridgewardens' commitment is voluntary. They claim they can pull out at any time.

Medway can't afford the suddenly soaring costs of maintaining the tunnel.

Those costs have been incurred at least in part by years of under-investment.

Meanwhile the government, which funds almost every other major road in the country whether it goes over, across or under land or water steadfastly refuses to take on the finances.

The simply answer would be for someone - say Medway - to take responsibility for the tunnel. Then close it for repairs - when they have the cash.

It would put the pressure on the Bridgewardens to build a new Rochester Bridge.

The existing ones (there are actually two) only have 40 years before their design life comes to an end and they have to be replaced. With the additional traffic over those bridges, that life will become somewhat shorter.

Why should the Rochester Bridge Trust have responsibility for the tunnel and the road bridges? - because that was what it was first established to do in the 14th century.

It has to provide and maintain the road crossings over the tidal lengths of the River Medway.

The tunnel was odd. For a start, it was not a Bridge - and the Bridgewardens accept that's bridges are their raison d'etre.

And the government will not accept any responsibility, even though it is the busiest crossing after the M2 Bridge.

The tunnel is going to be busier. It is also clearly going to be too costly for Medway Council to continue to maintain.

Rumours are mounting that the tunnel could be closed for six months for essential maintenance. Though that could be spin from someone.

But you can guarantee that the 40,000 vehicles a day that currently use the tunnel will quickly increase, especially once the promised jobs and homes to be created by the Thames Gateway are there.

Just think what Chattenden will bring in the way of additional traffic once that town is built.

--------

Monday, March 30

There was a time when a couple of gifted and skilful journalists relied on a mysterious man dubbed Deep Throat to reveal what Richard Nixon and his cronies had been doing. Nixon was engineering his re-election as President of the United States with a host of dirty tricks known as the Watergate Affair.

The mystery man eventually turned out to be the assistant director of the FBI, W. Mark Felt.

I discovered the other day that I had so much information about the mismanagement of the council's housing maintenance contract that at some point council officers nicknamed me Deep Throat. Apparently, according to Geoff Ettridge, a former head of Medway's housing department, I knew more about what was going on in his housing department than he did.

Curious. Amid the overspending that he in part admitted contributing to, I considered it only right that before I wrote the stories, the council should have the right of response.

Houses were modernised and updated, and bills were passed by Mr Ettridge and others without being properly checked.

The trouble was that Mr Ettridge never responded to many of the issues that I put to the council.

His comments about Deep Throat at the Messenger came at the beginning of an employment tribunal that could cost the council unlimited damages if it loses the current fight taking place at Ashford.

This tribunal - and a previous one - has heard tales of troublemakers among the staff, employees who gambled on web sites when at work, at least one visited inappropriate sites, others threatened each other, and overall there was a totally unsatisfactory way of dealing with members of the public.

But the real story is what happened to the money allocated to Erinaceous. It was supposed to carry out vitally necessary repairs to 3,000 shoddy council-owned homes, mainly in Gillingham. Its task was to bring them up to a decent standard by next year.

Two surveyors claimed they were picked on and eventually made redundant after daring to raise concerns about the way Erinaceous behaved, and charged for work.

The council accepts they were whistleblowers. It also accepts a third member of the team (still employed) was a whistleblower. He was suspended for three months and is still under a final warning after a row in the office. It does not accept that it couldn't get rid of them.

Erinaceous was checked out by an evaluation panel before it won the contract at Christmas 2006, said Mr Ettridge.

In fact, the company that was to be awarded the contract - Spring Grove - was bought out by Erinaceous three days before the Cabinet awarded it the job. Erinaceous was not considered for the contract.

The three surveyors repeatedly raised concerns about the firm's financial and work capabilities. Much of the information was - and is - on creditable web sites. But the council was satisfied it was a sound organisation to receive £25 million from the council's rent payers.

Mr Ettridge had no concerns about Erinaceous.

"I think if there had been any concerns I would have heard about it long before.

"The correct reference checks were made," he said.

"The accountants found the company was in good financial condition.

"For the surveyors to say there were concerns was very soft and weak for me to work with."

Yet within a year it went bust with £220 million of debts.

A look at Erinaceous on the internet should have sounded the sort of loud warnings the QEII used to make as she sailed through dangerous fog-bound waters.

Meanwhile, the council might wish to reconsider the ability of all managers to become experts overnight in new fields. Mr Ettridge was a social worker like his own boss, the former Director of Community Services, Ann Windiate. They both took early retirement shortly before Erinaceous went under.

The council is satisfied that two social workers should know how to run a housing department with its own peculiar legal rules.

Certainly the present portfolio, Howard Doe, considers it is right. When I asked him if he was still convinced that transferable management skills benefited the community, Cllr Doe angriling snapped at me: "Yes!"

He may be right.

But would you put a head teacher (no matter how skilled and well supported) in charge of a nuclear weapons plant?

Mr Ettridge was due back in the witness box this morning to answer some of the points raised during the examination of the three whistleblowers on Friday.

Considering he left the council last year, he is spending a lot of time in the tribunal's court rooms representing the council.

------

Sunday, March 29

Just when should a manager think for himself - and when should he accept the advice of his underlings?

Those questions came to mind while the former assistant director responsible for Medway's housing department was giving evidence at an employment tribunal.

Yes, this blog is returning to the issue of the housing maintenance contract that was supposed to turn 3,000 rundown council properties into decent homes.

Geoff Ettridge - whose skills he was at pains to explain were in social care - blamed his staff for the problems that occurred with the housing repairs contract.

Tenants were left half a million pounds in the red after accounts were signed off without the bills being considered.

Many of them were over inflated - how or why may never be known.

But three council surveyors who tried to draw attention to the overspending claim they were either unfairly dismissed or punished despite laws designed to protect whistleblowers.

Two of his former staff claim they were selected for redundancy by him in revenge for trying to stop the mismanagement in his department.

A third, suspended for three months then disciplined for alleged rudeness to his line manager, is claiming it was actually bullying - but for the same reasons.

Mr Ettridge denied there was any truth in their claims. He insisted the mismanagement was by other staff.

We should not blame him for signing a bill that was £12,000 inflated, he said. He was told by his own managers it was all right to pay it. So he did.

Erinaceous had been allowed to spend around £500,000 more than was allocated for the whole year. It took just seven months to spend the year's budget.

By then Mr Ettridge had left the council. So had his boss, Ann Windiate. And also his housing manager, Steven Sitch, who he claimed had given him wrong advice.

Mr Sitch was not present to defend himself from the allegation.

********************

Thursday, March 26

Alan is taking a blogging day off to recover from spin exhaustion. More tomorrow...

*****

Wednesday, March 25

The BNP says it faces a huge problem coping with its rise in popularity.

Then they won a council seat at Swanley from Labour.

I am not sure the other parties were left in a state of disbelief by the vote as the BNP's chairman, Nick Griffin, claims in a fundraising plea to give him your money.

The truth is - the parties have been expecting a backlash because of the fears of immigration following the enlargement of the European Community.

I have no time for racism.

I do have time for ability - and skill - and willingness to work.

It is easy to create fear of the unknown.

Look at Kingsnorth. Protests continue about the employment of non-British labour on the contracts there. Whether or not they are is a matter I am not qualified to comment upon, but I dare say that among the thousands of workers there will be some non-Brits.

If the Poles and the Ukranians, the Hungarians and the Czechs want to come here (and to judge by the freight traffic on the M2 and the M20 they are certainly bringing in lots of goods that we are clearly prepared to buy) let them.

Let's go out there and take their jobs: our business leaders have the experience, the knowledege and the skills to turn the situation to their advantage.

And clearly some of us have time on our hands to hang around gateways instead of looking for work.

***

I was at the launch of the website of one of the Conservatives candidates this morning.

Mark Reckless, councillor for Rochester West and the man who believes in third time lucky to win the Rochester and Medway seat from Labour - has created his own news and views site, just like most parliamentary candidates.

It has bloggers (so we mere mortals can send messages to the potential God) and various other refinements.

It's also more colourful than, say, the one offered by Paul Clark, the Gillingham MP and Transport minister.

At the same time neither of them has gone down the avenue offered by the council this week, which is to twitter.

Heaven only knows how anyone can keep up to date with the messages, missives and other material that flies in - anyone who has written to me on this site will know how hard it is to get me to respond!

And why anyone would want to be known as a twit evades me...

*****

Tuesday, March 24

My expenses are about to go in. They will be subject to a rigorous examination, just as happens in most businesses.

But not if you are a Member of Parliament.

I cannot claim for the mortgage I pay, either on my own home or my second home (which I would have somewhere on the Dorset coast where I could hide out at weekends if I could afford it, dutifully placed in a trust to benefit my children).

Nor, as now seems to be the case, if my parents were buying a house.

But you can if you are a Member of Parliament.

Tony McNulty is currently in the firing line for paying for a house which, reportedly, is occupied by his parents but is in the name of a trust.

Or rather, he doesn't pay for it: you and I do.

There is something aromatic about such processes which allow elected representatives to have an estate of houses occupied by well, whoever it seems is currently in favour.

In the good, old, bad old days MPs (and a lot of businessmen) had homes where they kept the loving wife and family, and a flat where they kept The Other Woman.

Today it seems that you keep your parents in the manner to which you wished you were born. providing you are an MP.

I suspect that McNulty is not breaking any rules.

And even if he is, the MPs are not going to vote against the allowances. They almost certainly wish they had the same allowances as, say, a minister, and indeed aspire to any ministerial position as quickly as they can get into them. So let's not spoil the possibilities, hey?

The trouble is, McNulty is the Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform.

Isn't he the man that wants to get shysters back to work as quickly as possible, to reduce the payments made by us taxpayers to keep them living in the luxury to which they are (apparently) used, and to cut the state payments to disabled people permanently signed off on medical advice?

Surely not!

***

Things are looking up for Medway Renaissance: at least people are asking questions about the next round of changes to the Chatham road system.

They have so far been consulted by 1,500 people.

Which means that on the basis that all the visitors come in singles (and no husbands and wives or couples take any interest) they have attracted an average of one visitor every two minutes.

Given the chaos which they freely expect to happen in Medway when the road work starts, seems a paucity of public concern.

Can you imagine what the traffic situation this summer will be if there was a serious accident on the motorway - or the tunnel had to be shut?

--------

Sunday, March 22

A new train service enabling thousands of Kent commuters to leave their cars behind and travel to London on high speed trains will lead to faster, more convenient journeys for rail passengers and boost the local economy, Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said this week.

He was talking about the Javelins (or as Southeastern prefer to refer to them, the Class 395s) that will run to St Pancras from December.

He is also looking at the possibility of extending Crossrail to the Thames Gateway area. It makes sense - his predecessors built the platforms and lines to take the Crossrail trains, then dropped the idea.

What nobody did was build the roads to enable passengers to get to the super new domestic rail platforms and 9,000 space park-and-ride facility at Ebbsfleet station.

Mr Hoon said the Government had promised £51 million to develop transport in the region, including Fastrack buses which now carry more than 1.5 million passengers every year and a number of local road improvement schemes.

Kent County Council will soon be complaining about the lack of roads, people will be killed and injured in crashes on lanes, as drivers surely cut through the lanes to catch the trains to St Pancras. And why?

Because no one has bothered to do anything about improving the east - west road system.

Just as the late Freddie Cooper used to lament that Medway is dogged with a Roman road (and its derivatives), so the areas between Maidstone, West Malling and Kent Thameside have no major roads apart from that same Roman road.

The villages will rise up, and seek out the train opportunities from Ebbsfleet.

That was evident when I drove round the station boundaries the other day, where there is already busy traffic.

KCC has known of the potential problems for years. It need not squawk. It has 12 years and did nothing whatever to solve the problems.

Now they are about to come home to roost.

****

I thought it was an early April Fool's Joke.

The embargoed press release from the Department for Health read: "Travel insurance required for visits to the Channel Islands from 1 April."

It came as I was watching television report the Scots are cutting the cost of prescriptions, though it is just possible that could have something to do with the English rugby team hoping to restore some pride on Saturday after losing last year's Calcutta Cup match.

But it was a serious statement.

From April 1 the Channel Islands will have their own charges for medical care. And that means you need travel insurance to pay for treatment - even for the ambulance to rush you to hospital.

Now you might think that the beneficent British government would continue to provide Islanders with free medication. But surprisingly, no.

Instead of giving away services as so often seems the norm, it was the British who precipitated the action. They told the Channel Islanders last year the reciprocal health agreement set up in 1976 was to end. As it happened, you already have to pay for some treatment in Jersey.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to know who runs what - and where - and how much it will cost.

The British Government has introduced bus passes. They are valid anywhere - providing you qualify and only travel in England. Cross a boundary and be warned: you'll probably find armed bus inspectors ready to slap a fine on you- or worse.

Travelling in Essex the other day I saw a bus had a sign that said the standard fare was £20, but you could buy a ticket at a discounted price for cash. The standard fare is only charged if you are caught without a discount priced ticket.

Don't mention trains: the situation is complicated by operator, route, your age, the journeys you want to travel.

The Scots have different ideas to the English, the Welsh has different ideas to both, and the Irish -they think it's all most wonderful.

I wonder how long it will be before the regional bodies start introducing differential pricing and servicing.

Imagine the chaos that would cause.

Of course, it would never happen ....would it?

******

Do you go to Europe often - even occasionally?

Have you a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) to get help if you are suddenly taken ill, or are hurt in a car accident?

Apparently they are about to run out.

From March 31, 3.3 million EHICs will be out of date - and you won't be covered if you want to go to France for the weekend.

Just don't try to renew in advance. The computer ignores your pleas!

-------

Friday, March 20

I live in an area where crime is pretty insignificant. It's one of the best wards for no criminal activity.

I've only been burgled twice since I moved to Medway at the start of the Nineties, oh -and one of my neighbours recently took a gun to his wife which brought a lot of police, blue "no go" tape and a few armed coppers.

Yesterday I heard the local police chief, Steve Corbishley, say he wanted to concentrate policing in the four wards where most of their work is concentrated. It was part of a campaign to reduce crime still further.

The trouble was that most people don't believe the figures - including, as I pointed out in yesterday's blog - the government's own auditors.

Now the police want every infringement, misdemeanour and nasty act to be reported to them, and not just the batterers, the killers, the post office robbers and so on.

Within a year they plan to have local bobbies investigating all anti social behaviour and assuring people they are concerned and interested.

And if they catch the villains they plan to tell everyone involved.

But they seemed to stop short of endorsing the views of the Chief Executive of South Tyneside where there is one of the two worst wards in Britain.

Brother! Do I applaud what Irene Lucas told her audience: Troublemakers were photographed and then their pictures plastered everywhere by the council.

It tells the victims that the bully boys - and girls - who have made their lives a misery are getting their desserts.

Their faces appear on the outside of buses, in local newsletters to residents, on billboards and on police web sites.

"You cause us trouble - you'll get it back in full measure" seemed to be her message.

She's even refused solicitors demands that she stops publishing their details.

I wonder whether they will do that in Medway?

I suspect there will be caution.

Meanwhile, what of the campaign to target the four worst wards in Medway?

Well, it certainly doesn't have the support of the Council administration who have publicly expressed concern that the good wards - like mine, for example - would become the target of the yobs once they are moved on.

I suspect the reality is that taking away protection - whether it is needed or not - is a swift way to lose votes. That is something which until now the police have not had to concern themselves with.

But with closer partnership working with local PACTs (Police And Community Together), Local Area Agreements and the like, the plods will have to be aware of the political implications of their actions in the future.

And how I would love yto be a fly on the wall when that starts happening!

***

I'll bet there are some very pleased members of BAE Systems at the moment, following the revelation that the British government has ordered three American Joint Strike Fighters.

The F-35B is a STOVL - or Short Take Off and Vertical Landing aircraft - which is to replace the Sea Harriers on the new two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.

It's also a Stealth fighter, and has a famous name among British and American fighters - the Lightning.

BAE's involvement was questioned at one time after allegations about possible illegal behaviour over contracts.

Nothing was proved, and orders are finally starting to flow.

Meanwhile, if you want to see one of the earlier Lightnings, there's one on the side of Maidstone Road, Rochester. It is beautifully restored in the Saudi Air Force colours.

***

I remember one on after burners going through the sound barrier - and my ear drums - at an air display many years ago at Farnborough. I can still feel the pressure on my head, and the pain the noise caused. But what a plane!

The Dartford Bridge is to be closed to Kent-bound traffic on most Sundays between tomorrow and April 18 so that bearing components can be replaced.

Traffic will be diverted through the east tunnel between 8pm and 10am.

___

Thursday, March 19

It is fascinating to see whether we get glib answers, or a grim determination to do something positive, at a crime conference taking place today in Medway.

It is too soon for this sceptic to give firm answers as the conference is still on as I write.

But the cops are concerned that the rest of us don't believe Medway is as safe and secure as they say.

Maybe we are wrong.

Or it maybe we are right.

The problem is that everyone knows of local problems.

The minor, yet often heartbreaking, crimes are frequently not reported.

As the lady behind a petition in Chatham a few days ago told a council committee: "There's no point reporting them. You ring 999 and are told to ring a local number. You then wait for 20 minutes and if you are lucky it is answered. Too often people don't bother."

All that frequently follows is they are given a crime number for the insurance. There is none of the old-fashioned concern to catch the yob who nipped into your house, trashed a room or nicked a bike. You're now simply a statistic.

It may be costly to have coppers on the beat, but stores are demonstrating that their security plods in the aisles are helping to reduce shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.

I am old enough to remember the bobbies wandering around the streets (yes, and having a sly fag in a doorway).

They might have been fat and ungainly, but they also had peddle bikes… and most importantly a knowledge of their streets that was second to none.

Then panda cars were invented - and the whole ethos of policing changed.

The criminals also changed. They knew it was easy to get away with things, providing they didn't leave clues lying around.

The police had no idea who was doing what and when and where.

Eventually initiatives like targeting and intelligence-led policing came in.

Targeting was where they would pick on a particular misdemeanour and get high arrest figures for catching those without tax or insurance, or drug houses, or kids cutting school for the day.

Intelligence-led policing, it seemed to me, was simply doing what had been easy when there were coppers on the beat: you found out who was a likely villain by listening to what others told you, and then set out to prove whether he was the local Mr Big.

The public aren't interested in that.

They are interested in knowing that they won't have to put up with drunks waking them at night, scrotes breaking into their sheds to steal tools, owning vans that can be safely parked without padlocked doors, or prozzies plying their trade to fund drugs by working on their doorsteps.

If you consider I think the old days were better, you're right.

We had coppers without criminal records.

We had drunks moved along (or found a safe doorway where the beat copper would check they were still all right an hour later as they slept off the worst excesses).

We had plods who were respected, because they knew their beat, they knew their community, and they sorted out the minor crimes that underlie the present-day alienation for the police.

And we didn't have press officers pushing out statements that ended with messages like the one I received this week reminding me about the conference: "Medway has never been safer -the percentage of residents within Medway who fear being a victim of crime has reduced by six per cent in the last quarter, the largest reduction in Kent."

*****

Wednesday, March 18

The art of holding an organisation (or an individual) to account is beginning to develop in Medway.

Whether it is the way that the administration would wish is less certain.

Last night it was the turn of the Leader of the Council to face the kittens in the Business Services scrutiny committee.

The trouble was that one or two of them are turning into aggressive toms - a trait which in the case of Glyn Griffiths, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, has been there since he was weaned.

It must have been the journey back from London, but he wasn't a happy cat last night.

The Leader - Rodney Chambers - got a few barrels discharged in his direction. So did the officers - but more of that on another occasion.

Cllr Chambers had started his 30-minute dissertation on his past year's work with a pas de cinq with his committee chairmen.

Then Cllr Griffiths and an increasingly assured Cllr Vince Maple arrived after a hurried race from Chatham station where their train had arrived late.

GG arrived just at the point where Cllr Chambers was exhorting members to take a more active role in scrutiny. Have a look at the Cabinet, he said. We tell you what we plan to do over the next three months (if any of them bother to read the forward plan). There's no reason why you shouldn't give us your advice on any of those subjects.

Of course, it had nothing to do with the decision of the Conservative Chief Whip and chairman of Business Scrutiny to advance the committee's own forward plan from tail end of the agenda to immediately after Declarations of Interest. Purely coincidental. of course.

Nor did it have anything to do with the fact that the next time the committee sits will be July - and no one knows what the Cabinet will be discussing by then.

Cllr Griffiths grabbed a cup of tea as he composed himself for the fray.

Cllr Chambers, meanwhile, pushed ahead with the role of scrutiny.

It was about to get a more important role, he said.

(None of the scrutiny committees has attempted to hold the administration to account since the last chairman of the children's committee lost his chairmanship - bestowed by Cllr Chambers - and then his electoral re-selection in 2007.)

In future it would have the opportunity to hold to account the partners to the Local Area Agreement (a mystical load of indicators which have been chosen in secret conclave by councillors, police, health and voluntary groups - all chaired by Cllr Chambers as the Local Strategic Partnership).

"We will be judged in the future as an area and not as a local authority," he said (meaning the administration is less likely to take the blame than it does now).

"It means increasing work for overview committees. They will undertake more important analysis and scrutiny of partnerships against the targets we have set ourselves," Cllr Chambers purred.

Cllr Griffiths finally stretched his claws.

Why, he asked, had Cllr Chambers ignored the role of the local MPs in bringing Armed Forces Day to Chatham Historic Dockyard?

"I don't know what part the MPs played," he responded in his silkiest voice.

But he had personally agreed with the chairman of the regional development agency they would jointly guarantee the cash to cover the event.

Cllr Griffiths retorted: "I am not disavowing your role at an earlier stage."

But it was getting him nowhere.

He turned to the failure of the scrutiny committees - frustrated to a man and a woman - to have anything meaningful in the budget plans each year to be able to scrutinise, and offer their advice from the backbenches.

And he at last drew blood.

"You need more than one pot at it," Cllr Chambers hinted

"What are you undertaking to give us?" the jubilant Tiger quizzed.

"You will have the information available to you at the time the budget is on," promised Cllr Chambers.

"Yes - but what? And when?" his opponent demanded.

"You will have everything - the same information that is available to the Cabinet at the same time."

Now that was a victory of sorts.

Having got his deer, the victorious Tiger retired to enjoy the dish.

Unfortunately, it may be a hollow victory.

Cllr Chambers knows full well that the Star Chamber will have sorted everything out months before. All that is left at the end of the annual Inquisition led by Cllr Jarrett is the briefest of lists that conceals a multitude of acts and omissions: that's the budget.

The challenge for Cllr Griffiths and the other councillors (most of whom don't understand the process anyway) is to find out what is hidden away and what its import will be to the community - and to influence it in a positive way.

Good luck! This administration never gives anything away.

The Star Chamber, incidentally, needs some explaining.

For one thing - it doesn't exist.

It also doesn't sit.

And the financial Inquisitor General, Cllr Alan Jarrett, does not bring in racks, whips and blazing braziers to the cellars deep beneath Gun Wharf.

The screams we all hear emanating from deep underground each October are, I am assured, merely the sound of the wind whipping through the autumnal trees.

And if you believe that, you'll believe anything.

Star Chamber is more in keeping with a medieval torture chamber than the real thing was. Officially, it does not sit, doesn't exist and anyway isn't open to oiks like opposition councillors, friendly backbenchers, the media or the public.

But as the new school year begins, you see grey-faced senior officers and portfolio holders begin to quiver as they realise that their pet projects need a lot more work if they are to convince the Deputy Leader in October that his hard-gained cash should be spent on alley gates or caring for the elderly or one of a multitude of other things Medway's half billion pound budget gets spent on.

So good luck to the Opposition as it tries to convince everyone it can now scrutinise the spending plans - or anything else the administration really doesn't want exposed to possible public, press or political ire.

*****

Tuesday, March 17

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the opening of Bluewater - is it that long ago?

I recall when I came to Medway from the Midlands, Eastern Quarry at Swanscombe was still thriving.

Western Quarry was a big hole in the ground, the rail tracks and the steam locos recently removed.

Today Western Quarry is at the heart of the Great Dream that is the Thames Gateway - it is the home of Bluewater Shopping Centre.

And Eastern Quarry is about to become a great parkland populated by villages.

What a change from the traditional prospect of being a massive rubbish dump. Which was what happened to most chalk pits.

If only something like that could happen in Gillingham.

There is a former pit that helped create concrete in the 20th century.

It became a massive waste pit when the riverside dumps were finally abandoned.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But the result is the environmental mess that is dubbed Queen Elizabeth Field off Castlemaine Avenue.

The railside rubbish pit closed years ago and was eventually capped. Flares were supposed to burn off the methane created by the rubbish fermenting deep down. They have packed up.

Everyone is cautious about what they can do to solve a growing environmental problem.

They also have a social problem to solve.

Alongside, the Vineries housing estate has been developed.

The Vineries was so named in a bid to create a marketeer's image based on the idyllic Archbishop's palace vineyard that supposedly grew on the site in medieval times.

It is a strong community.

Underlying it, is a mess equal to the buried debris a few yards away. It is the massive lack of facilities for young people.

They have had scheme after scheme after scheme proposed, even promised, by politicians and successive councils.

Yet all they have got is a social club supplied by the local housing association using a house that should be providing a home for one of the hundreds of homeless families in Medway.

It suffices for one night a week - then another age group has the run of it.

They all need somewhere to play; to unwind after school, to congregate and just let their hair down in safety. Instead they sit in their bedrooms, trawling the internet - or go on the rampage through the estate, using ill-lit hedgerows and gardens as hideaways.

None of the schemes has come to fruition.

And so Queen Elizabeth Field (another name given in hope rather than reality) silently ferments while the troublemakers foment.

At least at Riverside Country Park, the buried filth has turned the fields into a sea of spring flowers each year. At Queen Elizabeth Field the grass has an olive tinge unlike anything you expect to see in the spring.

What is really needed is for the whole lot to be dug out and incinerated, just as it should be at Temple Marsh and as it ought to have been done in Bloors Lane. But that would cost money, and it's cheaper to leave the occasional blemish in the hope of achieving the greater Thames Gateway dream.

Have no doubts about it. I believe in the radical changes the Gateway Vision offers.

Schools are changing the mind-set of the East Thames corridor.

Universities are springing up everywhere - and nowhere more so than in Medway. At the last count, we had four contributing to a massive educational campus on the site of HMS Pembroke - plus the prospect of the Mid-Kent College and the Army's new educational regime.

But there is nothing to match what was possible at Bluewater.

I recall when I arrived in Kent 19 years ago there was scepticism about the ideas for that enormous disused pit.

There was a determination to achieve something unbelievable.

It was not the first time such a development had been tried. Lakeside at Thurrock demonstrated - and still shows - what can happen if you don't have the dream, the commitment and the determination to match it.

What they did at Bluewater when it opened 10 years ago is more than offer a new shopping experience. They showed what can be achieved. And they have kept those ideals going.

Bluewater had training camps for "colleagues" (a terrible phrase for those of us who are merely customers), and support for people such as had never before happened in England. You aspired to work there.

You had a wide range of leading shops, cars could be left free in extensive parks that had room for every user and not just families, and a bus network that was extensive and linked to the trains

A few months ago I looked into Eastern Quarry. I knew how that would change from the sandy expanse being relaid after the chalk had been removed.

Last weekend, I looked again.

An enormous lake has already been created. Tracks are being opened up, and the creation of the five villages is under way.

Whatever people might think about the recession, in the Thames Gateway it doesn't appear to have diminished much of the enthusiasm to spend on development.

The cranes are working on both sides of the river, particularly in north Kent and especially in Medway.

If politicians are prepared to maintain the support for the infrastructure they will change the Thames Estuary for ever, and for the better.

But it is something the Conservative Shadow Cabinet currently seem remarkably loathe to do.

If the Gateway is to merit the billions pumped into it none should forget Queen Elizabeth Field.

Generations of young people who simply need somewhere they can say is theirs are waiting. And their disbelief in the Gateway and the politicians is mounting.

Monday, March 16

One thing about the Medway Towns is that no one knows where they are. You'll be lucky to find them on a map (though if you google, you can find a trace or two).

One of the five towns is Rochester, a city from the days of the Norman conquest until the council failed to renew its status in 1998.

What few people know is that the Bayeux Tapestry was made in Rochester.

And just like Will Shakespeare, it is subject to numerous interpretations, depending from whose viewpoint you look.

Dr Carola Hicks, a former Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge and a prolific author of many books on medieval history and art history, will be pondering this week why it is subject to so many interpretations, especially by dictators.

She is discussing why the Tapestry was appropriated by later regimes, who sought to their own interpretation of the past in the light of contemporary political and military goals at a public lecture at the University of Leicester on Wednesday March 18.

Her research has revealed Himmler coveted the tapestry as a key piece of evidence to link contemporary Nazi ideology with the Viking past (and the conquest of the British Isles).

And Napoleon Bonaparte also realised its propaganda value in support of his military ambitions against the English.

Though it was made in Rochester, the tapestry tells a pro-Norman version of the events that led up to Duke William's victory against the Anglo-Saxon armies in 1066.

I shall be unable to attend, but if I was there I would suggest that to the victors goes the right to interpret success.

***

It must have been difficult for the planning chairman, Cllr Diane Chambers, to approve plans for the former Bingham Road post office in Strood to become a residential property. She was urging the council a few days ago to tell the government to order closed sub post offices be reopened.

***

Cllr Howard Doe, the leisure overlord at Medway Council, is no fan of the Labour government.

So when he had to explain to colleagues the other day why it was the libraries had performed relatively badly in a three star council rating he was quick to respond.

"I could have closed two libraries, and that would have immediately changed the percentages on which the stars are awarded," he said.

Whether you are going up or down (Medway has held the same position for six years, rather like the Grand Old Duke of York) three or four star ratings seem a pretty crude way to judge local authorities - or anyone else come to that.

****

Sunday, March 15

One of the dubious joys of reading local government reports is the way English is corrupted. It seems to be a modern response from local government officials to campaigners for plain english.

My colleague, David Jones, frequently highlights horrific aberrations in his Between the Lines column.

But there has been a backlash this week from councillors.

The Leader, Cllr Rodney Chambers, has barred the use of the word "cohorts" which has appeared with increasing regularity in reports from (of all people) the educationalists in the council.

I suspect it has the full support of the Director of Children's Services, Rose Collinson, to judge from the big grin which spread across her face when he raised an eyebrow and a query over its use in a report about school admissions.

It was, said one of his Cabinet colleagues, a reference to "year groups".

The Wit of the Cabinet, Cllr Howard Doe (who was on top form that day) suggested that teachers in future should be referred to as centurions.

"Hmm," growled Cllr Chambers. "It would be more helpful if it said year groups."

I can see the red marking on the exam paper now: "Would have got top marks bar for some pretentiousness in terminology."

But if you think that was an isolated bad case, think again.

The Audit Commission of all things has decided to invent new verbs for our delectation.

The latest would appear to have been used in their annual Audit Letter to Medway Council where "to evidence" has been unveiled.

One appalling paragraph reads: "The council should now develop its approach to evidence how value for money is secured over time, particularly where projects and partnerships deliver social and economic benefit in the longer term. It should also systematically evidence how value for money is secured through the business planning process, demonstrating the effectiveness of services as well as efficiency."

And if that wasn't enough the auditors have found a new use for those American devices for hurrying us from one floor to another.

"There are isolated instances where risks could have been escalated to senior management."

Still not had your fill of corrupted English?

The new carers strategy has been "informed by carers, key partners, health and social care professionals and providers."

God help us!

-------

Friday, March 13

Nottingham council is about to hear whether it can charge its business workers by introducing workplace parking levies in a bid to force them on to public transport.

The man who would make the final decision should be the Secretary of State for Transport, Geoff Hoon.

But because his constituency is close by it looks as though the final decision will be taken by Gillingham's MP, Paul Clark, one of the junior ministers.

He told the House of Commons this week the Transport Act 2000gave several options for local authorities to address traffic management, one of which was the workplace parking levy.

"We are just completing consultation on the offences and enforcement procedure," he said. "Until we have done that, we are unable to consider the levy order, but we shall do so as soon as possible."

It's a bus ride to a Rolls Royce he's gnawing away with frustration at the way Medway's traffic problems increase all the time.

But, hey! - the council will soon be pulling down the Sir John Hawkins flyover and closing the waterfront to traffic.

Then we'll see why there is a desperate need to concentrate of providing an inexpensive, bus-based public transport system at a sensible price.

In the meantime, think about using the M2 as a short bypass round the Towns - the Medway Towns Relief Road will really come to a standstill if the piping work is still ongoing in Pier Road when the flyover closes.

As Mr Clark told the House of Commons: "We cannot ignore the facts about congestion. If we do not do something now, the cost to businesses across the length and breadth of this country will be some £22 billion by 2025. We need to be innovative in our approach, and allow local areas to introduce schemes that will maximise their attempts to deal with congestion."

Medway wants to give buses and cars equal rights. That's a certain way to disaster.

There comes a time when nature can influence the outcome of a political debate.

***

Planning committees (or those that are run like Medway's) are pretty non-political.

But there is a rule: if any member of the committee has to "pop out" (because nature is calling) they cannot vote on the item under discussion while they were absent.

But they will wait until a councillor returns who has left because they have a specific interest in the subject under debate.

This week Cllr Val Goulden left while a discussion took place on the conversion into a residential property of a closed sub post office.

Then nature demanded her further absence as the debate was ending.

Cllr Goulden - last year's mayor and an excellent ambassador to boot - has made no secret of her anger at the Conservative decision this month to control the selection of all future mayors.

So when on Wednesday one of her Conservative predecessors, Cllr Sue Haydock, started muttering about her delayed return, Cllr Goulden was ready to boil over.

"Don't mind me if I spend a penny, do you, Mrs Haddock?" she stormed.

The lady known in Japan as Medway's Mayor did not react either to the resumption - or to the completely coincidental slip of the tongue by the fiesty Labour councillor.

*****

Thursday, March 12

There have been some high tides over the past few days.

Nothing unusual about that. They happen from time to time.

But new research by the University of Copenhagen says we are under-estimating the flood risk from rising sea levels.

They estimate by 2100 sea levels could be more than a yard higher than at present.

Anyone who has seen the flood defences around Medway City Estate or along the sea wall at Lower Rainham in recent weeks will know that at Spring tide time the defences have held - just.

If they overtop the bank at the bottom of Ito Way the disruption to traffic might be the least of our worries.

Dr John Church of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, recently told a conference: "The most recent satellite and ground based observations show that sea-level rise is continuing to rise at three millimetres a year or more since 1993, a rate well above the 20th century average.

"The oceans are continuing to warm and expand, the melting of mountain glacier has increased and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are also contributing to sea level rise."

***

When they say Life in the British courts, we often get angry that life doesn't really mean that.

There are many who still feel that the death sentence should be reintroduced.

One man convicted of murder was Sean Hodgson.

For him life has meant that ever since he was arrested and repeatedly admitted murdering a Southampton barmaid, Teresa de Simone.

Yesterday, just two days after a review of the evidence began, the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred his conviction to a Court of Appeal hearing in six days time.

It is 27 years since the trial took place.

At his trial in 1982 he pleaded not guilty to a single charge of murder and has been in prison ever since.

DNA testing on samples collected at the time of the murder have been carried out, and the results have clearly caused furore because his case will come before the Court of Appeal next Wednesday.

In suitably calm phrasing, a press statement from the Commission says: "In light of new evidence available, the Commission has decided to refer Mr Hodgson's conviction to the Court of Appeal because it believes there is a real possibility that the court will consider the conviction unsafe and quash it."

The review and decision took two days, making it one of the fastest in the Commission's history.

The Commission also wants to review similar murder cases arising from the time before DNA testing where testable forensic evidence still survives which could confirm or cast doubt on the safety of a conviction, and where the defendant is still alive.

Those who believe death sentences are right should reconsider.

How many more innocent people are going to be found to have spent time locked in prisons for murders they did not commit - even when they insisted they did?

We may find out that our legal system is not infallible.

But we may never know how many were hung really were right when they said "I didn't do it" as Albert Pierrepoint put the black bag over their heads, tightened the noose and dropped them through the trapdoor.

***

Kent Police have also admitted they made a mistake by secretly filming reporters as they went about their lawful duties reporting on the protests at Kingsnorth last year.

I have no problem with them filming me if they like. I have nothing to hide.

After all there are nearly 400 CCTV cameras (sorry, the number seems to increase every hour) watching our every movement around the Medway Towns with police and council officials able to pan in tight to see who it is we are talking to, what we are eating or drinking, and where we are going - or just come from.

Big Brother has been with us since the mid Nineties.

What angers me is that if you or I take a photograph of a policeman in the street going about his lawful (or is it unlawful?) duty, we shall very soon be guilty of a criminal offence.

The government is pushing ahead with legislation to ban us from taking photographs of police.

But of course they can film any of us, thanks to video cameras on their helmets (for onward sale to the late night TV companies), and street CCTV cameras, and simply apologise…

Hmm.

----------

Wednesday, March 11

It can be hard being an earnest young politician.

Take Reh Chishti, the enforcer on Medway Council's Conservative Cabinet.

He was eagerly explaining to colleagues yesterday how safe it is to wander the streets of Medway.

"You can't judge a community by wandering its streets at two o'clock in the afternoon," he said.

"It is at night that you can."

Now - it may not have been the statement least open to question, especially from a barrister, but Cllr Chishti told colleagues: "I will walk the streets of Medway at 3am with anyone."

Rainham's other Cabinet member, Howard Doe, immediately drew gales of laughter as he muttered soto voce about Gladstone.

Few people stump Cllr Chishti. This time, however, the housing portfolio holder's intervention brought a strangled gasp from his lips.

Some minutes later he sought to intervene "on a matter of clarification".

It was too late.

Cllr Chishti's chance for the one line crack-back had passed.

No Gladstone bag - or baggage - for Reh last night.

The only bag he planned to carry was a change of football gear. He was playing in a five-a-side match - keeping fit for his next charity half marathon.

Meanwhile, Cllr Tom Mason was living up to the reputation smeared at the council a week ago by the Labour Whip, wit, angry ex-Mayor and one time lead guitarist, Cllr Tony Goulden.

Two of his alleged seven speeches were rolled out at Cabinet which may be why the relaxation therapist and former hairdresser didn't need his microphone switched on.

***

Anti social behaviour (or yobbishness) is rife in the Medway Towns. But should it be a policing matter or a council issue?

Councils can hand out fines for minor misdemeanours like yellow line offences, litter louting and dog messing.

But anti social behaviour - that's a difficult one.

Councillors at Cabinet were at pains to say the public knew it was the police's responsibility.

It had everything to do with new targets to be achieved across the community by partnerships.

Anti social activities are being dropped by the police to a minor (eg, yellow line) offence, and councillors are worried the only people who will be held to account will be elected councillors.

***

Shock at the news that a Canterbury councillor has been charged with corruption, along with a local golf club owner.

That arrest follows that of two Stoke-on-Trent councillors (one their elected mayor who has since resigned his office) earlier this month, also in connection with corruption in public office.

***

Why should Gordon Brown want to fast-track bankers into teaching jobs within six months?

Is it to clear the way for money lenders who will do his bidding or to encourage youngsters to seek super bonus jobs, mega pensions and mismanagement skills?

***

A few niceties to close.

Joy at seeing Muslim protestors on Luton's streets yesterday welcoming home our boys from Afghanistan with abusive placards.

It's wonderful that we libertarians allow people in our country to protest about things that we hold dear, instead of shooting and torturing them for having a view counter to our own.

Ex-councillor John Ward (one of several Tories who have resigned to save the Conservative Party from embarrassment, but still sits behind his friends at council meetings) is a regular correspondent to this blog. He has introduced A Ward Awards on his blog site (gerrit?). I shall not.

If you live in the Medway Towns you may not have heard of Tracey Crouch, the Tory Parliamentary spokesman for Chatham and Aylesford, but she is pleased Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has delayed a decision on moving the Maidstone A&E to the new Pembury hospital until it is opened in 2011. Strange - I thought she had been campaigning against its departure.

And finally, I loved the story about the Bournemouth councillor who wrote to his local paper to praise himself under an emailed nom de plume - only for the paper to expose him.

***

There is a curious email going through the Conservative ranks at the moment.

It purports to come from Cllr Craig Mackinlay and relates to his bid for leadership of the group.

The Medway Messenger gave it meritorious coverage back in early January.

His recollections of how the story appeared in the paper are somewhat at variance with mine.

Certainly when and where were as he said (at a Christmas office party in Rochester: he gatecrashed ours with some of his friends and we duly returned the greeting to sing carols with him.

His other recollections are somewhat different to mine which were written up (as the police would say in court) contemporaneously.

For instance, he does not mention to members that he was happy for the story to appear after he had told Cllr Chambers "in the next few days" he was planning to challenge for the leadership.

Nor does he mention that he didn't think he would win this time, but that he was putting down a marker for next year or the year after.

Maybe he has changed his mind.

"I have every confidence in Rodney as leader; he has undertaken the role over many years extremely well, we could not have been better led through difficult political times," he apparently wrote to members on March 5.

Cllr Mackinlay has made no secret of his political ambitiousness. Perhaps he is hoping to become Cllr Chambers' campaign manager. Or maybe not.

Certainly the councillor reveals the petty squabbling that goes on within the group.

He says: "The size of any 'whispering network' expanding out from group members