November 19: Kent slips down poverty league
The Kent
Partnership bills itself as "is the countywide local strategic
partnership made up of representatives from the private, public,
voluntary and community sectors."
And believe me, it’s a big partnership
– as I saw this week when some 200 delegates crammed into Oakwood
Manor at Maidstone to get all strategic about the challenges
facing Kent – (lack of parking being one of them, as those
attending will testify).
I’m sure it has its heart in the right
place but it strikes me as a hugely unwieldly creature and the kind
of organization where mission statements, visions, memorandums of
understanding, concords and compacts tumble out of brain-storming
sessions at an unstoppable speed. (I did note at the conference the
presence of the inevitable wall where you could plaster ideas on
Post-it notes in that time-honoured tradition of what I believe
management gurus sometimes call 'brain dumping')).
Nevertheless, there were some
interesting speeches, not least from KCC leader Paul
Carter who talked about the need to bridge the gap
between the less well-off east Kent and the more prosperous west
Kent.
Read our story
here>>>
His most startling revelation was that
in ten out of Kent’s 12 districts, the county is slipping back in
terms of the indicators used by the Government to measure
deprivation. Only Canterbury and Dartford are moving in the right
direction.
In other words, most of Kent is
showing signs of becoming less prosperous rather than more.
The other worrying statistic is that
in Kent’s poorest areas – like east Kent - the population is rising
whereas in other parts of the country, it is falling. The south
east might have a reputation as the engine room of the national
economy but something seems to be happening in Kent that rather
suggests not everything is going in the right direction.
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What’s this? Kent TV raised in Parliament?
There must be an election looming.
Dover MP Gwyn Prosser
has put down an Early Day Motion condemning KCC’s
expenditure – (alright we’ll remind you – it’s nearly £1.8million)
– on Kent TV.
Here it is: "That this House
abhors the plans of some Conservative-run local authorities to sack
public service workers and cut services while protecting their
publicity machinery and enhancing the conditions of senior
executives; and in particular condemns Kent County Council which
proposes to abolish 700 posts while continuing to fund its own
self-promoting television service, Kent TV, paying out over £5
million a year on self publicity and providing its Chief Executive
with a higher salary than that of the Prime Minister."
Only three signatures so far though –
Gywn and fellow Kent MPs Dr Steve Ladyman and Derek Wyatt. I don’t
imagine County Hall’s big beasts are exactly cowering in their
bunker.
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If KCC does press ahead with Kent TV, there’s an
intriguing way in which it might be able to boost audience
figures.
Apparently, the contract to broadcast
the council’s webcast meetings has been incorporated into the Kent
TV contract, with would be bidders being told that such webcasts
would be broadcast on Kent TV. It’s unclear whether they might
still be shown on the council’s website, as they are now.
Perhaps, in the same vein as the
recent soap "Hollywould" made for Kent TV, viewers will be able to
determine the outcome of votes – that would certainly push
audiences up.
The total subsidy for both operations,
by the way, comes to £750,000
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Here's one press release I very much
doubt I'll be following up:
Regional Minister welcomes Queens's Speech
Here's a small flavour:
"South East Regional Minister Jonathan Shaw welcomed the
Queen's Speech as providing a framework for the Government to
address the big issues that matter to people across the
region."
Labour MP welcomes Labour Government plans? Hardly
news.
Thursday, November 19 2009