Sunday, March 14 2010

You are here: Medway Messenger News Tales from Gun Wharf

 

by Alan Watkins

awatkins@thekmgroup.co.uk

Friday March 12 2010

It's been fun and games on the local political scene this week.

One or two of the candidates have been practising mixing earth and water to prepare missiles for the forthcoming campaign season.

Getting in some early net practice against the young Tory batsman, Reh Chishti, has been the new spin bowler in the English Democrats team, Dean Lacey.

He tried an early yorker by demanding Cllr Chishti came clean on Lord Ashcroft's contributions to his battle fund.

The youngest councillor on Medway cabinet (and one of the youngest barristers on the local scene) played a straight bat.

"Ashcroft has given us no money," he said.

"We do our own fund-raising."

Cllr Chishti could end the week by winning the First Test: the Ee-Dee's blog played on to his own wicket by resurrecting the saga of the E on the hill.

This was the Conservative administration's test run to see whether emblazoning "Medway" above the bridges carrying Eurostar and the M2 motorists over the river would finally tell the world where we are.

That it would cost £12,000 to put up, that the "E" did not have the requisite planning permission, that Hollywood had already got there first, and that the readers would be fleeing the country anyway, didn't matter to the administration.

But Mr Lacey told his readers: "Recently it spent £2,000 erecting the enormous letter 'E' from MEDWAY to get an idea of what the whole sign will look like.

"But engineers pulled it down after four days because the council has yet to achieve funding or planning consent."

Trouble was - it happened a year ago.

If the candidates are going to have a go at the Cllr Chishti's colleagues, they really should identify up to the minute things.

Heaven's above - Someone could next resurrect concerns that the Short Brothers have started flying boats off the river!

***

Whispers have it that the darling of the Liberal ranks, Andy Stamp, has upset his party faithful.

There is even talk that he could have the whip removed.

Bit rough - just as you are entering the election campaign, and bringing out the party Noddies.

***

Our two ministerial faces, the transport minister Paul Clark and Jonathan Shaw (the Chatham and Aylesford MP who is also Minister for the South East) have already taken the austerity message to heart.

As Mr Clark's boss announced 250mph trains taking 30 minutes to Birmingham, the Medway twosome have begun sharing press officers.

***

Not that there isn't party politics at the council.

The "Other" Party - also known as the council's officers - ignored the elected members and made their own housing policies, it seems.

Not surprisingly, given their long history of independence, that the housing team are the ones accused of setting policy.

The claims came at a planning committee after it emerged last weekend they had told mhs homes there was no need for sheltered housing in Rainham - what was needed were houses.

It hasn't sat well with councillors - notably the Conservatives who want more sheltered accommodation provided especially in Rainham where they dominate the local scene.

Medway Council's Renaissance arm is planning to sell off a large plot of land in the heart of Chatham, as soon as it gets planning permission for the first new housing in the so-called city centre of Chatham.

Five tower blocks (or as the planners insist on calling them, "podiums") are proposed along The Brook. That the 118 families will have children is not to be doubted (except if you are a planning officer: One let slip that there wouldn't be children in the one-bed flats.)

There will be landscaped gardens on top of the tweeny garages and (beneath them) the stores that will line The Brook.

The gardens will be secured by gates, so the kids can play. But they will only be able to ride bikes up and down, kick balls against walls (can you imagine the delight of the householders!) or spray messages to each other. There will be no play facilities, or swings.

As someone pointed out, play facilities were more important than 202 cycle racks which probably won't be used by the residents who will soon be demanding additional parking spaces to the "one per flat" rule.

***

Last night they elected a new chairman of the Audit Committee - and that caused a few smiles among the opposition congnoscenti.

He's Dickie Andrews, who succeeds the out of favour (and out of party) Nick Brice.

They had to find a chairman who was not getting a special responsibility allowance.

And that was the problem.

Virtually every member in the Conservative ranks is responsible for something (except the blame when the opposition finger is pointed). So they get paid an allowance.

And the chairman of Audit is not allowed to get responsibility payments.

Veteran Dickie has said he wants to stand down at the next local election, but he was pressed into service after a quick rundown on what the role demands.

Now he, too, gets a special responsibility allowance - as chairman of audit.

___

Tuesday March 9 2009

The Delce schools' fate may not be as clear cut as the Cabinet would have us believe.

The two schools face merger.

The council agreed last week (in the midst of an acrimonious row with opposition members, staff, governors and members of the public) to provide Medway with a Strood-based super primary. This gem of educational attainment (not recommended by officers such as the children's director, Rose Collinson) will have more than 600 screaming youngsters trying to learn in a single school environment.

The benefits? - saving less than £70,000 and ending the "trauma" of changing from an infant to a junior school.

One might almost suggest that (in the highest traditions of Henry II and that damnable Kent priest, Thomas A'Becket) it would also rid the children's portfolio holder of one troublesome head teacher.

However, there was a whisper that it's all one big act to do down the Labour candidate for Rochester and Strood, Cllr Teresa Murray, raise the standing of the Conservative candidate, Cllr Mark Reckless, and protect the standing of the Cabinet which ignored officers advice to create the micros' academy.

Apparently the Tory backbenchers firmly believe that it will be rejected by the schools adjudicator when faced with the views of the school, the teachers, the governors, the parents and the local community.

There were some gems in the debate where the most difficult task was that shown by the chairman of the scrutiny committee which twice threw the plan back to the Cabinet. Cllr David Brake somehow ended up proposing that the debate was over, and the council should now support the 10-man Cabinet.

Several of its  members were missing ...along with the Tory candidate. It reminded one of a famous call of nature some time ago.

Cllr Brake was told now he would never be selected for the Cabinet because he had blotted his copybook.

Another, ex Mayor David Carr, a veteran of nearly two years on the council and one of those to vote both ways, lectured the Labour ranks (and his successor in the chair) on the reasons why they should ignore the opposition and vote for the merger.

Cllr Glyn Griffiths (the dabbest voice in the opposition) thanked Cllr Carr for giving them the benefits of his weeks of experience. What a put down on the eve of his Golden Wedding!

But what a sad reflection on the administration: it is completely satisfied someone outside the borough should make the "right" decision for the children of Strood.

I recently visited the school to talk to a couple of the classes. The youngsters were interested, bright and not prepared to back down in an argument. In other words, there are some budding journos at Delce.

The idea of 600 of them racing round the playground, burning off energy accumulated in the classroom, and supervised by a horde of teaching assistants, should fill you with dread.

___

Wednesday, March 3

Now where was I before my holiday? - ah, yes...

***

The disruption to wildlife at The Paddock has been greater than many people thought.

The ancient pagan character, the Green Man, reappeared on the bus station site in a valiant - if futile - bid to stop the destruction of the trees.

Pigeons lost several favourite roosts in the past few days as the buzz saws sang. So they buzzed him in their bid to find a fresh place to roost.

Not that the objectors lack a sense of humour.

Several gnomes reputed to roam around their Paddock home have been looking for fresh lodgings at nearby Gun Wharf.

One found its way into the arms of press officer John Staples.

He tried to present it to one of the objectors, Tracey Coutts, only for her to deny it was any of her missing miniatures.

Last heard, Mr Staples was wandering the corridors of power seeking someone - anyone? - prepared to give it a good home.

Rumour has it there is at least one more gnome hiding in the council gardens.

Meanwhile, what were Medway Renaissance doing the other day advertising for treeloppers and crane operators?

Two placards suddenly appeared either side of the regeneration unit's swish doors next to Eastgate House.

***

It could be interesting on Thursday night (more so than the budget meeting when my colleague tells me there was more childish putdowns in a couple of hours than you would see in Medway's schools in a year).

Several objectors plan to tax Rainham's champion quiz kid, Cllr Rodney Chambers, about the way the council acted over the bus station development.

Rather like the buses, his renaissance guys have been running very late getting the bus station approved. Now they have suddenly slipped into top gear, put their toes down and are racing to get to finish before April 5 next year.

I suspect someone will propose cutting public question time short - it is helpfully allowed under the council's rules to spare anyone's blushes. But whether it is consulting with the people, communicating and being open is another issue altogether.

Also there will be the head teacher of Delce Infants School. She is publicly demanding an apology from the education portfolio holder, Cllr Les Wicks, over comments he recently made about her school and that of the neighbouring junior.

The merger of the two schools was something the Cabinet approved on Cllr Wicks' recommendation against the wishes of Rose Collinson, his director.

***

Good news for the vast majority of Medway's 11-year-olds with nearly 95 per cent getting a place among their first three choices for secondary school placements.

Cllr Wicks is already working on merger plans to create co-eds. And if his party wins the General Election it is reported all local authority schools will be removed from their influence.

***

Another of his colleagues, Cllr Reh Chishti, was in the limelight at the weekend.

While David Cameron spouted his six key points for the campaign to try to recover some of the ground lost to Labour in recent weeks, Cllr Chishti was in a favoured position on the stage at Brighton.

It resurrected thoughts that he might be a future Home Secretary, bringing lots more CCTV cameras, cars and enforcers onto the streets of Britain in the future.

Certainly he was striding the pavements of Medway again on Monday morning armed with his barrister's wheelbarrow - or was that his overnight kit from Brighton?

___

Monday February 15

THE present government has a history of changing the rules after tempting everyone to compete. It's been the modern day Whitehall Farce.

The classic is council tax levels: local authorities are given a broad guide, they set their tax and then find out whether the guide was wildly off target.

Two of the lowest funded, Medway and York, fell victims of that a few years ago when they tried to push the bounds for a few extra pounds.

Medway has fallen victim to another comedy of errors. This one is called Academies.

Schools chiefs saw a great opportunity to improve children's education.

They could get rid of five secondary schools with poor results, free up land (that could be worth a lot of cash to a developer), get £90 million-worth of new schools, and offload the responsibility for future funding to the government.

It was too good to be true - and they grabbed it.

That's when the Whitehall wallahs sprang their little surprise.

They would ensure each Academy started life with a clean slate. No debts, no blame, no responsibility for what went before.

To do that, they stopped funding the schools that were closing. But they were still trying to teach, they still had commitments and they were still running up bills that would have been funded by the government if they stayed open.

Five secondaries are closing (two already have). And the council - hoping to save money - has suddenly discovered it has to fund £1.7 million.

The thinking went something like this: "These were losses incurred by the schools - the remaining schools should fund it. After all, they have the government's allocation of school money."

The budget is controlled by the Schools Forum - not the education authority.

It is an unelected body. It has a responsibility for alloting money to every school.

It does; it has: Medway's 39,902 school children are to get 2.1 per cent more spent on their education from April than they had this year.

Or they will if the money isn't taken by the council in what might not be a legal move. That's something that was being considered over the weekend.

One should not forget that another £700,000 is being funded by the Forum for Special Educational Needs.

Where Medway was caught in another financial trap was its willingness to give more money to the schools than simply the government grant. That top-up (from another government grant) is used by some councils to provide a nest egg used when times get hard.

Some officers called it a loan. That's the problem. It wasn't. It was cash to improve children's education.

There are several other problems that feed the crisis.

The schools had to find people with a financial skill to manage their budgets. Some were pretty cute.

Then there are wages.

Teachers are expected to get a 2.1 per cent increase in wages. But underlying that, most school staff - about two-thirds - are entitled to an annual increment. It means they will get around six per cent more in their pay packets.

It is similar to the rest of the council's staff.

They are not going to get a pay rise this year. But the council will still have an increased pay bill this year thanks to the annual increments due to more than half the staff.

Some of those increments run for decades before you get to the top of your grade. It's not often mentioned but it does help local government officers to cushion inflationary problems.

So where does the council go now?

There are three options.

The first is just to hold on to the allocated cash - but that may be illegal.

The second is to cut other council services.

The third is to declare social workers, planners, leisure staff (and others) redundant to make the savings.

Last Monday finance chiefs were quietly content. They had managed to engineer a small surplus on this year's budget, and announced a balanced budget would be debated this week. That was what they said last Monday.

Harold Wilson said a week is a long time in politics. Given Thursday night's bombshell, half a week is pretty lengthy, too.

***

This blogger is taking a break until March for holidays. 

___

Friday February 12

The saga of Ken Bamber, Brian Kelly and the extremely flat Irish joke has attracted considerable support for the councillor who was left out of pocket.

How much may never be known, but I understand the council has to pay the same sum to Mr Kelly after he took them to the employment tribunal.

What is annoying many people is just how much the council paid out.

After all, we hear the mixed claims of under-funding by the nasty old government - and yet the administration will once more boast that it has the lowest council tax in Kent.

It would have had several thousand pounds more if it hadn't maligned Mr Kelly's Irish roots. Precisely how much the council refuses to disclose to the very people who have had to suffer the consequences.

***

George Washington said there's many a slip 'twixt the lip and the cup.

Watch that budget.

***

The Community Safety Partnership comes under the spotlight next week.

It has achieved quite a bit over the past year including the successful introduction of the SOS Bus that provides a safe haven for drunk and otherwise administered abusers to chill out and get assistance at the end of a heavy night of clubbing.

What it has so far failed to do is reduce the perceptions of anti-social behaviour in the Medway Towns.

Around one in 12 people still consider it is a very big problem even though the police try to tell us that crime is down.

Their problem is that what you might consider anti social may not be what your neighbour believes it to be.

It covers a multitude of sins.

For example, graffiti, spitting, swearing, litter, fly tipping and so on.

Where do you draw the line?

Is there any difference between the contractor who dumps a load of rubbish in a green field to avoid paying land tax and the postman who repeatedly drops rubber bands on his rounds? One spoils the countryside. The other leaves a risk underfoot, a potential hazard for wild animals and a trail wherever he goes.

You might not agree: I am angry at the number of times I have to pick up red bands outside my home that my postie can't be bothered to take.

But I am also angry at those who ruin a country walk or a lane.

___

Monday February 8

Next year's council tax is likely to be up 2.95 per cent - providing the government doesn't change the ball game and cap Medway.

The next two weeks should be interesting times as the Conservatives administration practices its lines at Cabinet, and the opposition struggles to guess what surprises the finance portfolio holder, Alan Jarrett, will unveil.

There is a joke that does the rounds from time to time that the Chief Executive will, in the not too distant future, do everyone's jobs. The signs are there.

At the moment there are 8,000 people working in schools, social care , finance, planning, regeneration, and transport. Not all of them work fulltime. Around 3,600 are part timers.

Now another "fundamental" review of jobs is under way - the fifth in 11 years.

It promises to be a none too jovial time for the staff.

No pay rises, job cuts (service managers being in the firing line), cuts in fuel allowances (with buses passing the front door every minute or so you'd think they could go anywhere by public transport - but they can't), and all they have to look forward to is annual increments (paid to about two in three staff).

What is so worrying is that to keep the services going these cuts are already being made.

Everyone expects really tough times to come, though the really tough time probably won't happen for a couple of years.

___

Wednesday February 3 2010

Hush, hush, whisper who dares….

Tonight's meeting of the Standards Committee at Medway is going ahead with the most interesting matter once again behind closed doors.

The digging continues to find out what it is all about.

The odds are now on a third councillor could be in trouble, and not the one done for fraud or the other done for kerb crawling.

Ahhh - it's good to know that Medway's councillors can hide behind closed doors when washing their dirty linen.

But I wonder why the officers are the ones so keen for it to stay secret.

***

A big row is breaking out over the way Kent County Council's Tory administration dealt with the snow crisis.

At the centre of it is Nick Chard, the county's transport portfolio holder, who appears to have tried to pass the buck to the districts when people complained.

Senior Tonbridge and Malling Conservatives did nothing last night to protect one of their own when an opposition councillor, Liz Simpson (Lib) called for his head.

It followed allegations that officers were saying one thing and Cllr Chard another.

But the classic was the failure to keep pavements clear. The county accepted responsibility for that task - but decided to do nothing, according to Tories at T and M.

He has a chance to redeem himself.

He's been invited to the joint transportation board he missed a few weeks ago. The next meeting is on March 8.

If he is truly brave, he might also attend with his officers the meeting of the local Parish Partnership.

But he should watch out.

The local hospital reported that in the five day spell of snow before Christmas they had over 250 additional cases in the accident unit…. and several of them were council members and local government officers.

***

In a few days we should have a clearer idea of what the council tax rise in Medway is likely to be.

In Tonbridge and Malling the borough council is setting a 2.94 per cent increase. I suspect something similar for Medway could be revealed on Monday.

In any event the Medway Messenger website will bring you the information.

Amid the rhetoric and blasting of the Labour Government for its handling of the economy what will definitely not be revealed will be the little extras.

These are what have successfully annoyed opposition councillors denied any part in Medway's budget setting.

Things like the money that suddenly appeared to fund the students cut price bus fares a couple of years ago.

It was a Labour idea but the Tories did a neat job of pinching the idea, finding the funds and stealing the coup.

There should be a bit of extra cash available for transport, given that the under 65s are about to be excluded from having free bus passes.

The kids have their Tweenies. Now the Boomers are being dubbed the In-Betweenies.

***

One of my old jobs was to argue the case for coaches to retain the same rights as cars when driving on the motorways. Coaches are the safest form of road vehicle.

I am proud to say I played a major role in keeping those limits at 70 mph and use of the outside lane.

Only after I left the transport industry in 1990 did the parliamentary campaigners manage to change the limits, ban coaches from the outside lane, and impose a 60mph limit.

Now the Gillingham MP, Paul Clark, better known these days as HM's Junior Transport Minister, has proposed cutting the speed of smaller wagons (those under 7.5 tonnes) from 70 mph to 60 mph - and upping coach speeds to 65 mph.

It gets my full backing.

___

Thursday January 28

Two decisions this week have left people stunned and questioning the logic of councillors.

One was reached last night, and that was the go-ahead to build Chatham's new bus station on the tree-covered area close to Dock Road.

The other was the peculiar decision by the Cabinet to ignore everyone's advice and arguments, and push ahead with a super primary for 630 children between five and 11 by merging two good Medway schools.

Repeatedly at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday members said it was for the children's better education.

But observers were left with the very clear impression it was being done for the betterment of the council's finances.

There was no talk of how a bigger school would improveme the academic achievements of the children.

Instead, repeatedly it was economies that emerged as the reasons for ignoring the scrutiny findings of the backbenchers, the advice of the education director, Rose Collinson, and her team, and the rational arguments of head teachers and governors.

There would be one management team, one budget, one assessment system, economies of scale, teachers would be able to move around…. oh, and (as an after thought) teachers should get a chance of develop areas of education.

These reasons were all advanced by Cllr Les Wicks, the children's portfolio holder, who proposed the merger.

Where were the answers to the poor education results of other schools?

Where were the action plans?

Could it be that Cllr Wicks has seen his amalgamation policy slowly shredded since St Peters Infants, St Nicholas and All Faiths were excluded by councillors from the merger plans?

***

And so to the bus station.

Councillors have been quizzed (and have in turn questioned their advisors) about whether it should be built at the Chatham rail station, to form a modern transport interchange, or in front of the Pentagon shopping centre.

No one has been able to answer why the existing bus station was not given the facelift that seemed logical to many.

Apparently the centre's owners want the buses out so that they can create an extra store site. But they have never said it publicly: it comes from sources within the council.

The interchange idea was rejected following public consultations.

Voters didn't want a long walk from the shopping area to their buses: it should be close to the shops.

Nor (so the same sources said) did the Pentagon want their customers making long walks.

But where can you put it?

The most suitable location would have been where the Sir John Hawkins flyover (of unlamented memory) once stood. That was also rejected.

And so the plans came down to that large expanse of land between the river and the shopping centre… the very place once identified as Chatham City's open waterfront parkland, the leisure area that would draw in the shoppers from Canterbury, Bluewater and Maidstone (especially the county town if you listened to the frenetic speeches of some councillors last night).

English Heritage have wimped out after objecting to the plans. They now say  it shouldn't affect the council bid for World Heritage status for the Great Lines.

What should have happened is that if the Pentagon bus station is no longer wanted, its replacement should have built on the flyover site. It would serve the High Street shops as well as the station, the Pentagon and the parkland overlook Rat Bay.

Better still, the bus station idea should have been scrapped.

Some of the money given by the government should have been used to carry out a modern transport analysis, to develop bus routes that go where people want to go, and meet where it makes sense to change buses. Instead the future routes will go where the bus station is built.

It was touching to hear two councillors say they had ridden on buses recently. Slumming with the electors, heh?

As soon as the snow lifted they were back to their cars, taxis or 4x4s.

The reason buses don't work in Medway in the way they do in Brighton or Belfast (or London in Red Ken's day) is because they are expensive, and because the council won't face up to the fact that our roads cannot cope with the growth in the population unless we change our travel choices.

If the buses won't go where I want to go, why should I (or anyone else) use them?

***

Just round the corner from the new bus station is Chatham and Rochester High Street, full of fascinating buildings and lots of good restaurants.

The historians tell us two great fires in the first half of the 19^th Century destroyed many of the buildings in the area.

But the archaeological evidence is that not only did Sir John Hawkins' almshouses survive, there are many fine buildings from that era to the present hiding behind cheap and not so cheerful frontages and layers of paint.

The street (it is, after all, just one road) is coming out of the depressive state that saw it steadily go downhill from the 1970s onwards.

That is because of an excellent regeneration project that has attracted private money as well as hundreds of thousands of pounds of Heritage Lottery cash.

The project has been masterminded by the council which matched the Lottery and insisted on top quality restorations along the street.

What may be the last buildings to be restored under the scheme were formally unveiled this week.

And what a magnificent job it is, using local skilled carpenters, builders, and architects to restore the buildings.

Cllr Jane Chitty, the strategic planning overlord, said she had started to look above the shop fronts since she became involved in the project some years ago.

The big lesson is if you want to see the majesty of the building legacy left to us by past generations raise your head and your eyes - and your spirit could follow.

Medway's towns - all of them - still have considerable gems if you look.

The trouble is commercial interests have made many towns look blandl simply because they have adopted the little box mentality, the one-size fits all perception.

Boots the Chemist is Boots the Chemist. WHS is WHS. Tesco is Tesco (their clock tower at Twydall is identical to those at a dozen other Tesco developments in the Eighties and Nineties).

None of them is guilty. It comes down to what planning authorities have allowed.

The High Street restorations show what can be achieved in partnership and with willing determination.

___

Tuesday January 26 2010

Someone in the police is being a bit naive to suggest that they didn't know they were attending a political rally when David Cameron came to town.

Kent's Boys in Blue lined up for photos for all the nationals as well as for the officially more humble publications such as the Medway Messenger.

A senior officer was quoted in the national media as saying they thought they were going to a road safety meeting after accepting an invitation from the Medway community safety portfolio holder, Cllr Reh Chishti.

***

That gathering was interesting for the way another of the Conservative candidates was apparently not recognised by his Leader.

Cllr Mark Reckless is hoping to wrest back Rochester (and Strood) from Labour when Bob Marshall-Andrews stands down.

Somehow Medway's tallest councillor ended up on a press seat - with Mr Cameron asking him for questions.

It was pretty innocuous, too, from a politician and barrister: would the Tories restore licensing to the courts instead of councils?

The great issues of the days paled into insignificance.

***

Alan Cherry, chairman of Countryside Properties, died last weekend,.

He was a key Thames Gateway influence, particularly across the Medway Maritime development.

He established the concept of mixed housing at the former dockyard to end ghetto estates.

He was respected by politicians of whatever hue, and every journalist who encountered him liked him.

***

It won’t be long before the National Identity Card for 16 to 24 year olds is rolled out in Kent and Medway.

London has been selected for the next run, so the South East won’t be far behind.

The carrot? - the £30 card is acceptable across Europe in place of a passport.

But why should people be charged to prove who they are using a card none of us wanted?

___

Friday January 22 2010

There is growing evidence of stress in the Conservative administration.

Recently the man who expects to become their next Rochester MP stepped out of line over school mergers.

Cllr Mark Reckless had already won the case for saving St Peter's Infants. Then he stood up for St John's in Chatham.

The diehards bristled.

Now the Conservative Whip Cllr Ken Bamber has done a U-turn over the Delce schools and - joined by last year's mayor Cllr David Carr - has ensured the children's scrutiny committee is finally 100 per cent behind saving them.

Which could make for some very interesting discussions in the Bamber household. Cllr Ken Bamber's wife Janice is one of the cabinet members and last December voted for the Delce infants and juniors' mergers despite advice against it.

The Cabinet will make a fresh decision on Tuesday.

The recommendation to them in the officers' report is intriguingly worded. Approved by the education director, Rose Collinson, it asks the cabinet to reconsider its previous decision.

The Independent councillor, Val Goulden, made a very pertinent point during this week's debate: "If the overview and scrutiny committee is to be overruled by the cabinet, what's the point in having it?"

There are some on the Cabinet who would agree: what is the point in having scrutiny?

The answer is that to stay where they are in the Cabinet they rely on the support of the backbenchers who serve on those scrutiny committees.

The odds should be on the Delce schools winning.

***

There were angry faces at that same scrutiny meeting. They belonged to five representatives of the four NHS trusts serving Medway.

Words like disgusting and appalling were thrown at them over the results of a government appraisal of their services for children and young people.

Their problem? - nine months after they had been found to be underachieving or completely failing, the chief executives and directors of the trusts were unable to tell the politicians what they were doing to rectify the faults.

Medway is a partner with the trusts and the elected councillors now have responsibility for making sure the NHS bosses do their jobs correctly (whether or not they like it).

It was pretty evident they certainly weren't happy being publicly ticked off.

They had better satisfy the councillors pretty quickly. The world of politics - and public services - is changing.

***

Housing chiefs have been told to delay moving sheltered housing wardens around.

It upset a large number of tenants who have got used to "their" warden.

The wardens used to be counsellors, tea-makers, friends, guides and entertainers, working much longer hours than they were paid.

Two and a half years ago there was a reorganisation. Jobs were readvertised and it was decided to move them around so they had wider experience.

The tenants should have been consulted but apparently weren't. Their organisation - MERGE - also denies it was consulted.

Now the more vociferous tenants have kicked up a fuss.

Health scrutineers called a halt to the process until the tenants have all been consulted. It will be done by Deborah Upton, the housing chief and legal eagle who took over after the re-recruiting took place.

It was a management matter but councillors agreed they will now make the final decision.

The residents may be in their 70s, 80s and 90s but there are plenty with experience of the barrack room and dockyard to make it a minefield for the professional lawyer.

__

Tuesday January 19, 2010

Just what is the role of Sir Terry Farrell in the Thames Gateway?

The man considered the Guru of the Gateway, and design champion for Medway, is also a member of the Thames Estuary Airport Board.

Members of the Medway Renaissance Board recently learned of his involvement with a scheme to which the council - and in particular the regenerators - are vehemently opposed.

It is curious that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was quick to issue a press release saying Sir Terry was on the airport board. Yet Sir Terry's colleagues are claiming his remit had not been clarified, he had expressed no support for the airport, and the press announcement was issued before sufficient consultation had taken place.

Both the Leader of the Council, Cllr Rodney Chambers, and the Opposition Leader, Cllr Paul Godwin, are clearly not happy at the oblivion displayed by their respected Guru's conflicting interests.

If he is uncommitted to the the airport, and is treated as one more feather for the tonsorially-improved Boris, perhaps he would do well to say Up With The Planes I Shall Not Resort.

***

A fresh warning about the growing problems Kent councils are facing while trying to do their basic tasks has been given by the Audit Commission.

It recently raised concerns about the difficulty which Medway - with a half-billion pound budget - faced in fulfilling its duties.

Now Tonbridge and Malling's annual audit has thrown up an even greater warning.

The senior auditor praised the council for the way it had acted quickly in the past few months to identify and tackle the effects of the recessive downturn.

It's got £1 million salted away in the Landsbanki. That's one which the Icelandic government has taken over - and is now refusing to pay back. It has also wiped off £1,691,000 from its land and building values as the recession has savaged Britain. It was what the auditor liked to call "an impairment".

The auditor has given T&M a three star rating.

But he warns: "The downturn may have a significant impact on the ability of public sector bodies to fund the delivery of services and capital programmes.

"A continuing strong framework of financial and performance management will be essential if the council is to meet these demands."

___

Friday January 15

It would not have been unrealistic if someone had heard Ethel Merman's gravelly voice belting out: "There's no business like snow business….." at last night's council meeting.

A string of questions about the winter weather was posed by opposition councillors, but none criticised the administration over the state of the roads and pavements.

The portfolio holder, Phil Filmer, was politeness and pleasantry. He talked about learning the lessons from the way the Winter Weather programme operated - or didn't.

There were hints of things amiss, however.

Like - were the salt bins in their places (or had they been nicked - and had they been topped up?)

The pavements were unsafe. So sue. You won't win: we never promised they would be cleared, did we?

Oh, and praise for lots of people who got stuck in to keeping the roads cleared. So be grateful.

And the staff doing their jobs should be congratulated (after all they did work round the clock).

Looking at it from the sidelines (or if you prefer the back of the Chamber) the state of Medway's snow-covered roads was not up to the standard one expects in a thriving business community, the biggest conurbation in the South East of England.

As the sun burns off the last vestiges of snow today, the few inches unacceptably became inches of hard-packed ice, causing chaos for almost two weeks.

The salting was not as effective as it should have been.

The back roads - over 1,000 miles of them, apparently - were abandoned. This was where the taxpayers live. Just because you pay your taxes and/or rents on time, that's it: you shouldn't expect to go out if it snows.

The deliveries from the salt mines of Cheshire were at best iffy.

There was some valiant work undertaken, not least by two bobbies spotted salting outside Gillingham train station. Those gentlemen can expect a nomination for a Pride in Medway award, we learned.

But there were also some falls.

A woman broke her leg in Gillingham High Street.

A man is suing the council after his ankle snapped.

Oh, and Cllr Glyn Griffiths dislocated his shoulder when he fell over in Rock Avenue (not that he sought any sympathy).

Like many, he decided not to trouble the hospital. Instead he looked after himself. Yet the vision of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition merrily doing a Martin Riggs (a la Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon films) to slip his dislocation back into place is not one to pursue.

It was a good meeting - full of the usual.

Poor sound system (mainly because councillors will not use their microphones), dogma ("We can't afford it - and even if we can we won't bother to look!"), and frustration ("What is consultation supposed to be if the public are ignored, promised meetings never take place, and there is no information from which we can make constructive proposals").

Is it good to know that things will only get bitter the closer we get to an election - especially when most of the candidates not yet in parliament sit in the council chamber.

Heaven help us!

***

At least the meeting went ahead.

Tonbridge and Malling's Cabinet decided to call off their gathering this week - but forgot to tell the public.

One of the cleaners couldn't help.

"I thought it was supposed to be last night," she said.

"Never mind, luv. Help yourself to a coffee."

Monday's meeting of Medway Planning Committee is the one delayed from last week.

Unlike that, Tonbridge and Malling councillors are going to merge this week's agenda with the Budget meeting on February 2. Let's hope the snow stays away, and the councillors turn up.

***

This week's revelations that a councillor had been caught kerb crawling sparked some interesting backroom comments, and almost all of them offering sympathy.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if someone came up with a proposal to support legalised brothels in Medway.

It is something which has been mooted on the odd occasion over a glass of sherry or drop of vino.

I suspect that there might be more support around the chamber than people would credit.

***

Talking of councillors it was sad to hear the former Gillingham Labour councillor, Rod Clark, had died.

However, Ray Maisey was back following a bout of illness, and ex-Mayor Angela Prodger is recovering after a fresh bout of surgery.

And of course Cllr Griffiths warmed up for the budget debates next month.

___

Wednesday, January 13 2010

The sacking of the chairman of the audit committee from membership of the Conservative Party effectively ends Cllr Nick Brice's role as its financial whizz kid.

His views on spending often clashed with those of his own administration.

Some saw him as a potential key figure in any campaign to change the Conservative leadership in Medway.

He had strong views on spending.

It would have been an austere administration for which he would have worked. He made no secret of that fact.

The next few years are going to be financially difficult for any administration as the government (of which ever hue) cuts spending. It will be difficult to win votes with a cut - cut - cut philosophy.

***

The demolition of two well-known Medway buildings is underway.

After a long drawn out - and frequently very public - battle to save it, the Aveling and Porter Building's final days have arrived.

It served for years as the headquarters of Rochester-upon-Medway City Council and more recently Medway Borough Council (let's give it its legal title) until the Unitary team floated downstream to Gun Wharf.

The demolition team is now in, ripping out bits and pieces and then clearing it.

Why? So that it can become another car park area until a developer can be attracted to build homes, shops and possibly even offices on the former flood plain.

The last time that happened was with Rochester Riverside.

It took 20 years, millions of Government pounds, and a million tons of estuary gravel to raise the ground and make that attractive for building. And what have we got? - beneath the snow and the thin grass, a million tons of estuary gravel and a developer unable (or unwilling) yet to start building.

But what a car park the absence of the Civic Centre will provide! Its views of the castle, the Cathedral and Rochester Pier are unmatched.

The other demolition is at Sun Pier where mariners have now been warned to stay away.

A giant crane has been brought in to remove the pontoons. They provided a floating landing point for passengers. It failed 18 months ago.

Now the council is ripping them out, with no hope of restoring the pier to a working mooring in the foreseeable future.

It will be one of the bills that a Chatham waterfront developer will face in the next few years.

Gillingham Pier is becoming a no go area.

Strood Pier has closed.

Rochester Pier is accessible to few working boats.

Ship Pier at Chatham is now the last remaining mooring for working boats.

Medway City Estate's quays are privately used.

Upnor's two MoD piers are occasionally made available to visiting craft - but not to working boats.

A thriving river?

Someone said the river is the beating heart of Medway. At the moment it's suffering from arterial blockages.

***

If you wondered what had happened to the giant horse intended to stand on the hillside overlooking the approach to Ebbsfleet station - it's beginning to champ at the bit.

The planning application was filed by the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project team with Gravesham council yesterday.

It couldn't be more appropriate at the moment: a big white monster perched on the big white hillside....

___

Thursday January 7, 2010

The cancellation of last night's Planning Committee a couple of hours before it was to sit reinforced the old journalists' mantra - "Never take things for granted".

Having forewarning of the cancellation of the discussions over Holy Trinity Church, this blogger was ready to brave the elements for the rest of the plans.

Now they are on hold. For the first time since the recession began the councillors' next planned gathering promises to be pretty long.

***

The 3,000 council tenants in Medway have each set aside £10 to enable a handful of them to downsize in the interests of the homeless.

They didn't know it - and most of them probably don't have any intention of moving.

The tenants incentive scheme is a longstanding one, and Medway's budget - £30,000 a year - small.

The idea is that for every bedroom you release you will get £500 - plus a one-off £500-maximum payment to cover removal costs.

There are hundreds of homeless families, and dozens of tenants whose children's (and maybe partners) have left home or died.

It is a simple answer - move the small family into a smaller property, and the homeless family into the vacated home.

Solid socialist principles being cautiously supported by the Conservatives with dire warnings to any housing bosses who might consider steamrollering the elderly tenants.

There are two problems.

One is that the smaller family unit (to use council-speak) is almost certainly older - and are they going to want to leave familiar people, places and shops for somewhere they will have to build new relationships?

The other is that the government has provided £50,000 for a temporary officer to develop an overcrowding action plan for Medway's families.

The incentive scheme is part of his (or her) remit, and could attract up to 12 tenants a year.

It's a drop in the ocean - but 12 families housed is 12 less in bed and breakfast accommodation.

The really good news from the Cabinet this week was that 155 affordable houses - for renting, part-ownership and so on - will be built as part of the Temple Waterfront scheme.

And all the signs are that it could buck the recession and be built very quickly.

***

Whether as children by the Big Bad Wolf or as adults by TV murders, mayhem, autopsies and hospital drama "realities", we all like to be frightened.

And we laugh when we realise it is all fictional.

A new monster has appeared on the scene.

He's wild-eyed, and his hair refuses to stay in the right place at the right time.

That's right, the 21^st Century answer to Dracula and his fellow bats is the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

But there are real reasons for Medway, Kent and Essex residents being scared.

Big Boris, ex-newspaper editor, TV news goon and a man able to oust Ken Livingstone from a position of enormous power wants to spend a cool £40 billion (which probably means at least double that) to build an island to house a massive international airport.

It would be in the Thames Estuary between Shivering Sands and Sheppey.

Heathrow could then close, and Hounslow would vote for Boris to do just that.

We are all encouraged to think big.

This is certainly big thinking.

But what right has Boris to choose to despoil two counties and (after London) the biggest conurbation in the South East region?

None.

He has woken the slumbering tiger of Medway Conservatism, Socialism and Liberal Democracy, and they seem ready to man the barricades and raise the RSPB once again in defence of the people, the few remaining vestiges of greenery in Medway - and the birds of the Thames Estuary.

It defeated Alistair Darling when he proposed Cliffe International Airport.

Is Boris a more serious challenge?

___

Wednesday January 6, 2010

A happy New Year - and an immediate grumble.

The snowploughs and gritters were out in force again around Medway last night.

All the council's contractor's fleet was on standby, the weather was not as bad as many feared, and today the main roads were open.

But not everything this winter was as good as we have become used to expecting.

Before Christmas pavements were not cleared.

Buses stayed indoors (certainly at the beginning of the pre-Christmas falls).

There has been a shortage of the visible clearers.

Council car parks were covered.

Grit bins were in short supply - and even today were still empty from the pre-Christmas battles by residents to keep their roads clear.

A lot more snow is being forecast by Michael Fish and his colleagues over the coming days, but in 2010 Medway has been lucky … so far.

It is true. The service is not as good as in past years.

It is down to the privatisation of the service.

In the past, the various councils (Rochester City and Gillingham to 1998, Medway since) relied on their direct labour organisations. These were the street cleaners, the refuse removal operatives, the pavement sweepers.

Their philosophy was one of public service: get out and do it, then argue about the cost afterwards.

It may not have been the best way to manage finances.

But it was the best way to ensure the public was happy that it could walk on pavements, drive on roads and park in car parks.

There were no demarcations.

There is probably still the willingness among today's workforce. But they are privately employed, and working to a contract.

That imposes different criteria. The "They work for us" syndrome also brings the "They want it done this way - that's the way it will be." And anything else (like a suddenly disruptive snow storm or 10) must be negotiated and agreed, and a price fixed.

And that hasn't happened yet.

***

Tonight should have seen a fresh round in the growing saga of Holy Trinity Church, Twydall.

It is a stylish building: indeed, it is a unique building from the Sixties. But it has its problems, its detractors - and their solutions.

Permission to demolish it was rejected three weeks ago after it was Listed as a Grade Two building of special architectural merit.

Tonight a fresh application - this time to demolish a Listed Building - was to be discussed.

The church authorities have withdrawn the application.

It will give them time to consider the opportunities offered by the Planning Committee. Most said they would not object if the building was replaced by less new homes squeezed into the proverbial pint pot.

That means less income - and less to spend on the new church hall that is among the ugliest structures to be proposed to the committee in a long time.

***

What did Santa bring the Finance Portfolio holder of Medway Council?

Cllr Alan Jarrett has been fighting to cut costs and bring the council budget into line with his party's aspirations in an election year.

Seems Father Christmas must be a politician too.

Seems he's been cutting budgets as well.

Cllr Jarrett turned up for Cabinet this week unshaven and bearing a vaguely passing resemblance to the image at the top of today's blog.

Obviously the budget didn't stretch to a razor for the august deputy leader of the council.

___

Friday December 18

The Christmas jokes were flying at Wednesday's planning committee meeting with the usually straight-faced Cllr Ian Burt doing a superb imitation of Jack Dee.

His perception of some of the plans before the committee was not quite in accord with the officers or the developers who had proudly brought them forward for approval.

But he brought the house down when he described one property as more reminiscent of a guard's box than a house.

The property is the sort of place where the estate agents' traditional corruption of reality leaves everything to be desired.

"Bijou residence…suit a single person…easy to manage…." all sprang to mind.

Cllr Nick Bowler wiped the tears from his eyes, gasped for breath and congratulated Cllr Burt on the best comment of the night.

It was certainly the funniest - and most apposite.

Though Conservative veteran, Ted Baker's hope that Paul Clark has taken out a short lease on his new constituency office in Rainham did not sound 100 per cent genuine.

***

I sided with the planning manager, Dave Harris when he said he loved the unloved Holy Trinity Church in Twydall.

It is facing demolition by the church authorities so that they can build a tiny housing ghetto to fund a new community hall.

The existing church has its problems, not least the lack of care and maintenance which the unique Sixties building has received.

Mr Harris was kind when he described the proposed community hall as lacking architectural merit.

It looked similar to the breeze-block buildings thrown up in the desperate rush to provide homes after the Second World War - but lacking their grace, style beauty and architectural elegance.

No-one said it, but demolishing the church would be killing the soul of Twydall.

Surely the work of the church involves not just ministry but providing aspiration and inspiration… not destroying it.

***

If you expected riots, and campaigners chanting, banners waving, choirs praising their schools (something that has dogged the relentless drive to close a number of schools in Medway in the past year) you would have been disappointed at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.

There's been a hint of that throughout the battle to save Ridge Meadow and St John's.

St John's now clings on while a review of places available at CofE faith schools is undertaken.

Ridge Meadow's fate was formally sealed on Tuesday.

It's closure - and goodbye to a number of popular staff whose redundancy packages will add to Medway's financial woes.

St Nick's and All Faiths were saved despite officers' recommendations - and a number of councillors sighed mutual cries of delight that were probably shared by the parents, pupils and school staff.

But no-one will know - because there was a distinct lack of attendance at a meeting which saw 14 schools officially set to close (in reality merging together as seven primaries by 2014).

Cllr Les Wicks has taken an unrelenting pounding from critics in the past year. He must have been delighted to race through the agenda with so much speed (just 35 minutes) that by the time he got to the business case for the Strood Academy (a bit late if there wasn't one, given it began in September) he needed just two minutes to get it approved … all 809 pages.

***

Last night the Audit Committee pontifcated (all three and a half members).

Thoughts that they would approve the new rules for whistleblowers in the wake of the embarrassing defeat the council suffered this year with three of the housing staff proved wrong.

The key thing in the new rules is to stop whistleblowers talking to the press. They want staff to havet he opportunity to talk to councillors if all else fails.

Ironically, the Erinaceous Three studiously refused to speak to the media throughout the saga of the hundreds of thousands of pounds needlessly thrown at contractors supposedly turning council houses into Decent Homes.

I know. I tried repeatedly to talk to them.

One eventually did talk - but only after he had lost his job (and thereby laid the foundations for winning damages for his dismissal).

Medway has a lot of good managers and workers, but it seems to me these rules protect the bad bosses from embarrassment. They will certainly keep council taxpayers away from knowing about any possible fraud, certainly crass incompetence and mismanagement, and needless spending of our money.

If councillors had any guts, they would throw out the new rules, and insist that the managers were exposed to the public when they fouled up.

***

It was a bad day on Tuesday for workers.

Three hundred are to go to the BAE site, and three hours later it was announced an unspecified number will also go at the council in 2010.

Don't think the worst recession in Britain's history is over. It isn't.

***

That's my last word until the New Year, so all the season's greetings to you from all involved with Tales From Gun Wharf.

We'll be back in the New Year as the battle to find millions of pounds of savings at the council goes on.

It's also the time when we may find out whether Rodney Chambers, the Conservative Council Leader's forecast that whatever is said by the Men in Opposition (such as giving greater freedom to councils) is not necessarily what happens once they gain power.

___

Monday December 14

The most extensive alteration to schooling in Medway is expected to be approved by the Cabinet in a public meeting at the Corn Exchange tomorrow.

If everything goes the way the officers plan it, 16 junior and infants schools will become eight primaries over a period of several years.

And the fate may well be sealed for Ridge Meadow and St John's Church of England School.

The administration would argue that is the cake. If so, they might agree that getting the outline business case for Strood's new academy approved (three months after it started teaching the children of Chapter and Temple Schools) is the icing. Late maybe, but finally there in time for Christmas.

***

This week Holy Trinity Church in Twydall is likely to be saved for posterity, if not for its congregation. Councillors are being recommended to reject its demolition.

It might be a short-lived reprieve.

A fresh application to demolish the now-Listed Building is expected to appear before the same committee within weeks.

***

One of the strangest positions in the council is that of the monitoring officer.

It is a legal position and the holder now tells everyone from the chief executive and the Council Leader down what is acceptable and what is not.

It has, among many responsibilities, the duty to protect whistleblowers from victimisation.

The post is held by the council's legal chief, Deborah Upton.

Some months ago Ms Upton was also appointed head of housing.

She also gave evidence against three housing department whistleblowers, action that she had previously approved but which ended with a costly defeat for the council. It has never revealed how much the costs of the action was but in round terms the trio got over £70,000 in damages from the council for failing to heed their advice, and the lawyers probably got more.

On Thursday a new whistleblowing policy is to be discussed by the audit committee.

It talks of the importance of whistleblowers raising their concerns internally.

It sets out "conditions necessary for raising a concern direct to the media and emphasises that premature contact with the media may be a disciplinary matter".

The new rules state any employee considering contacting the press should seek professional advice first - and tell the chief executive.

Which doesn't sit very well with the problems that the Erinaceous Three encountered when they blew the whistle to their employers.

The men were unwillingly put in an unwinnable position. They didn't talk to the press, but we uncovered that payments were worthy of investigation were being authorised.

If the new rules are approved, employees will be able to talk to the press and be protected, provided they do it in good faith, their allegations are substantially true, and they don't act for personal gain.

But they also have to believe they would suffer if they went to their boss, the actions could be covered up, or they had already raised it with their manager.

Otherwise they face disciplinary action …. if none of those conditions is met.

___

Friday December 11 2009

There was good news for council officers this week despite the government salary cutbacks were announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling: they could be crying all the way to the bank.

Councillors were warned that despite the government cap of one per cent salary increases, it doesn't cover Medway's contractual arrangements introduced in 2002.

Staff were merged from three councils in 1998 to create Medway. and they all had different pay scales and salaries even though they were doing the same jobs.

A long drawn out process was agreed seven years ago that would bring them all into line - eventually.

The chairman of business support, Cllr Ken Bamber, wasn't happy that the deal - still unwinding - will effectively add three per cent to the salary bill next year, even though his administration approved the package.

The Tory Whip said at the employment committee (which he also chairs) that there had been recent discussions about ending the deal.

That would be worse than waving a red rag at a discontented bull.

But as more than one Tory colleague pointed out, many people in the private sector took wage cuts or had no increases - despite what one hears about bankers.

***

There is good news about Cllr Roy Hunter, the chairman of the regeneration committee. Taken ill on holiday in the summer he is now back home in Rainham slowly recovering.

***

The council's housing department continues to take two steps forward and one back.

They’ve just had an audit which (according to Howard Doe, the portfolio holder) showed lots of improvements.

There are now only 6,500 on the housing list and the number of families in temporary accommodation is down to 140.

But two council-owned houses have been turned into Precinct 13-style offices with spy cameras, security screens and a besieged wagon train of vans as contractors with (or maybe without) officers approval have turned them into offices.

Cllr Howard Doe - not a man who likes to be embarrassed - was forced to admit publicly last night that he had only just heard about it and was now investigating.

The adjacent corridors were already slick with blood.

No doubt his assistant director, Deborah Upton, will be donning her new fashion accessory - a "When I am wearing my Pink Hat I am not to be Disturbed" titfer as she quizzes the staff responsible.

Three bedroomed houses being used for offices - when there are people sleeping rough again this Christmas. It beggars belief.

***

It is not fair.

The (largely pensionable) cabinet members next week will have to bring in a mass of papers for their meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

Can you imagine the risk to hearts and hernias as they lumber in with two reams of paper (that's right, over 1000 sheets of paper) that they will of course have diligently read this weekend, understood and be able to answer detailed questions about.

The postage on mine cost almost £9 - and I didn't have the 809-page top secret business case for building Medway's answer to Waterloo Road - the Strood Academy.

Someone - contact NHS Medway to arrange paramedics and surgeons on stand-by.

***

A friend's wife popped into Rainham One Stop Shop the other day for a bus pass application form.

The staff member insisted on going through the form with her."Where it says 'name' you write your name.....where it says 'Address' you write your address....we will need proof of identity such as your driving licence but we won't keep it - we'll photocopy it and give it straight back to you......"

Why one needs to produce - of all things - a driving licence to get a bus pass defeats me - and her.Mrs Friend made it clear she wasn't senile. She actually worked for the council and could complete simple forms unaided.

She turned to leave only to be accosted by a young lady with a clipboard who enquired if she could ask some questions about her visit to the Contact Centre.

The usual range of questions was asked along with "Do you think our opening hours are good? (her response - I haven't got a clue and don't care!)

Was the person who dealt with your enquiry wearing his or her badge (she said 'just a moment', back to the counter to examine the member of staff before returning to state 'yes')

And "Do you think it's helpful that the police are at your service here since Rainham Police Station closed?" (to which my friend responded: "Where?"....there was no sign of any Persons in Blue)

Her husband told me: "It seems a waste of time and money (our money!) to conduct such surveys - clearly designed to provide evidence that, like Medway, the centres are wonderful!"

Gosh, such jaundiced views! And that at a time when the Audit Commission is demanding action to prove we taxpayers think it is Medway is as good as they say it is...

__

Wednesday December 9 2009

It is the role of any reporter to question, doubt and test the information that is pressed at news desks almost every second of every day.

Which means the public service spin merchants are viewed with considerable suspicion.

Today all the apocryphal tales about Medway being a great place to live, of its clean and wholesome air, its streets safe to walk at any time, and its fine homes has finally been proved to be ….. true!

The government’s auditors are a force that makes Harry Potter’s Death Eaters seem friendly souls.

They have ripped and harried at the services provided by the police, council, fire and Primary Care Trusts, examined the way they have traditionally kept themselves to themselves – and have found Medway to be almost flawless.

It won a green flag – the latest resurrection of a silly symbol – and just missed a second “by a whisker”, according to Neil Davies, the council’s chief exec.

The flags (yes, there are also red ones) indicate that every other community should follow Medway’s example.

No, not Medway - the council: Medway - the community.

We are cleaner, greener, lighter, brighter…. almost perfection.

And there is a team at work making sure the message filters out.

A local bobby got a rap over the knuckles the other day for protesting: “I’m not a social worker!”

His Chief Superintendent soon put him right: “Oh, yes you are – and don’t your forget it!”

It’s not the only battle being fought in Medway at the moment.

But they all shrink into insignificance when you realise the battle – identified by the auditors but known by all of us – is really with the rest of Medway’s society: it doesn’t believe the facts.

“You wouldn’t see me walking along the High Street at night!” is almost a Medway mantra. But as Cllr Reh Chishti once ambiguously said to the rest of the council: “I would be quite happy to walk the streets at 3.30 in the morning.”

The point is, if you walk Medway’s streets, the chances of being mugged, beaten, attacked, raped or whatever other misfortunes can be brought on you are much less than anywhere else in Kent – and almost as safe as anywhere in the South East region.

We are getting healthier – whether or not we want to.

We are living longer – which will be a problem for our grandchildren.

And we have lots to entertain us, whether it’s our libraries, our heritage, our festivals, are, sport …. But we don’t believe it.

Medway’s population lives in the Eighties. Our industrial heritage, from which the Medway Towns changed from fishing hamlets into famous shapers of the world, was destroyed in a half-decade.

And many still believe that to be the case.

Medway lost its pride. It was Knox-ed out of it.

So, while the Medway Local Strategic Partnership (which should call itself the Medway Partnership if it is to mean anything to anyone) is tackling the problems of teenage pregnancies, heavy smokers, poor rented homes, inadequate childcare and shoddy childminding, a shortage of affordable homes, and mounting deprivation, it is also setting out to restore Medway’s pride in itself.

I shall still doubt the spinners, and question the tales of achievement, but the population of 253,500 has one less unbeliever.

Things really are starting to change for the better.

***

The message about Magnificent Medway is going to get out far and wide if tonight’s meeting of the International Relations committee is to be believed.

A big delegation led by Council Leader, Cllr Rodney Chambers, is set to wing it to China in February to sign our friendship agreement with Guangzhou.

There’s a Medway schools film unit planning to go to film Valenciennes – and then another school group will come here to film Medway. Then they’ll presumably meet in the English Channel (or is it La Manche? And should it be on?) to edit the films.

And after a long absence Japanese leaflets are being produced to promote the attractions – and presumably the safety – to be enjoyed in Medway.

Ah-h-h-h!

___

Friday December 4 2009

There may be a chance for the Aveling and Porter building after all.

The red stone, Edwardian office block formed the core of the riverside Civic Centre at Strood for many years.

But it became a nuisance when the administration decided to sell the whole site for redevelopment.

According to Cllr Alan Jarrett, the political finance overlord whose portfolio stood to make the biggest gain, it had to come down because it would make the site less attractive for a developer.

What he meant was that it had the attraction of being yet more riverside apartments - this time with the prime view in Medway, of the castle and cathedral.

But the regeneration scrutiny committee came together and supported the view of long-time A&P campaign supporter, Cllr Stephen Hubbard.

He proposed - and they backed - a recommendation to the cabinet that a feasibility study is undertaken to investigate the building's retention as part of any redevelopment of the Civic Centre site - and that should be done before the Strood Town Centre Masterplan is finalised.

I wish them well, but I cannot see the Cabinet backing down in any way... despite the fact that the council's papers indicate the problems are with the adjoining modern buildings rather than the Edwardian part.

***

Comments about the performance of some councillors in debates, their support of Medway's democratic principles and the respect in which they hold the opposing parties regularly emerge from the public.

Thankfully they are as nothing compared to the Argentinean local government group that met early this week.

So there may be muttered comments about parentage and political philosophies in some of the council debates.

So the public may be called names by one or two of the more senior councillors.

But they haven't started throwing chairs and furniture at each other - yet.

Around a dozen were injured when they failed to accept the arguments of their opponents.

Just think what they could have done if they'd been serious.

___

Wednesday December 2

The truth behind the resignation of Labour councillor, Dennis McFarlane, finally came out at Medway Magistrates Court this week.

He was a benefit cheat.

He was suspended by the Labour Group when he came clean and admitted he was under investigation.

Eventually he resigned, his position no longer tenable.

Mr McFarlane fiddled housing benefit, council tax benefit and Job Seekers’ Allowance. He had 17 other offences taken into consideration.

And yet he was receiving a councillor's allowance just short of £9,000 a year.

You might have expected the Conservative administration to be jumping up and down that an opposition councillor with aspirations to higher office than the back benches should have been exposed as a cheat.

But it wasn't there.

Cllr Alan Jarrett, the council's Deputy Leader and its finance overlord, said: "This prosecution sends a clear message to everyone that Medway Council will not tolerate benefit fraud of any kind.

"It is completely unacceptable and we won’t hesitate to investigate, track down and prosecute those who cheat the system."

***

There must be some interesting discussions going on in the dimly lit corners of Gun Wharf's planning department at the moment.

Sainsbury want to take over the undeveloped Medway City Estate site between the Medway Tunnel and filling station.

It was the B&Q site. That was until they dropped when the council was overruled by an out-of-town planning inspector. He had decided the Civil Service sports fields alongside the A2 were an ideal brownfield centre-of-town development site for a super store, and gave them permission to build on the edge of the Gillingham Business Park.

Now Sainsbury are dangling 500 jobs, road improvements and the promise to build the largely aspirational park and ride service as the carrot to get permission for an out-of-town centre supermarket in complete contravention of the government (and the council) planning policies.

If you watch carefully for the clouds of smoke you might find the recommendation to build - or fight - the plan following soon after.

***

Several contracts were approved by the Cabinet last week.

The minutes have now been published and the names of the successful bidders released.

But all we had at the public meeting were comments like "award to contractor A on the exempt appendix".

Why?  Where is the openness?

There should be exclusion of the financial aspects. Publish those and the competitors will turn that to their advantage next time - and probably undermine the council negotiating position.

But excluding the public from knowing that Fred's sandwich bar is bidding for the banqueting contract, or that Tom's tyres is bidding to supply carpet underlays is (at best) petulant. Come clean immediately you award the contract.

For the record, 23 companies were selected to provide the council's print facilities because they were the "most economically advantageous", the bus station builder is still being considered, In Touch gets the Supporting People Mental Health Floating Support Service contract for up to four years, and J Breheny Contractors Ltd has got the next stage of the task of improving Union Street as part of the Chatham road improvements.

***

Is there an element of plain English slipping into the committee structure at Medway Council?

I ask because the development control committee has decided to shelve that title and become the plain, simple Planning Committee from now on.

Which is helpful to this hack: I always called it that in any case.

Diane Chambers, the chairman, couldn't resist pointing out: "What goes around comes around."

When she joined the council 33 years ago she served on the planning committee.

It raised a growl from her colleague, Ken Bamber, a former chairman of the Area Development West Committee. He hoped they would soon rename the employment matters committee to what it used to be - the personnel committee.

Can you imagine the mayhem such a move would cause!

***

More than 600 members of the public have so far helped shape the outline of the Lodge Hill development.

Not a brick will be laid until after 2012, and the Masterplan is not yet ready to go forward to the planners for approval, but from what I have seen so far it promises to be an exciting transformation.

Always providing that the Greater High Halstow project (which has to be included in the emerging Local Development Framework even though every politician and Average Man) seems opposed to it.

***

It's time to pipe aboard the admiral, tourist officer Simon Curtis.

He could save cash in Medway by dropping his team's ludicrous idea to buy a lightship and turn into an art gallery.

While the politicians mutter that no one has come to them with a reasoned business plan showing how much it will cost to buy and then maintain, what its operational life is expected to be, what the insurance costs are - and where it's going to be moored - I hear the Medway Tourism Association (MTA) were told all about it the other night.

It will be moored at that fount of artistic achievement, Gillingham, to its pier (only out-done in dynamic architecture by Wigan's classic), and tied alongside the Medway Queen.

Must be right: the latter day Medway Queen and forward planning supremo, Cllr Jane Chitty, was there and didn't disagree with Mr Curtis' information for MTA.

Meanwhile that paddlesteamer can only survive its refit (thinks - should one more accurately describe it as a new build?) if it trades in and out of London. Its chances of visiting Medway regularly after the reconstruction seem increasingly unlikely.

___

Thursday November 26 2009

It was strange the way the Strood Academy business case seems to have been rushed after all the fuss about the project, and its successful establishment.

Why was the 809 page report only made available to the politicians five days before the meeting?

Who was responsible for its last minute publication and distribution?

And isn't a business case three months after the Academy came into being somewhat akin to putting a cart before the horse?

It was noticeable that Rose Collinson, the director ultimately responsible had her head down and carried on checking papers as normal.

Les Wicks, the portfolio holder, clearly wasn't happy for, as he said, he wanted his colleagues to read it cover to cover and be satisfied they were happy with the document.

I am delighted there are still optimists on Medway Council!

The number of councillors who turn up at council meetings and, from their comments, clearly have not bothered to read the simplest summarised reports put in front of them is not embarrassing: it is a disgrace.

The councillor shouldn't worry: he knows the administration is in support of him.

However, he did slip into over-exaggeration and enter the realm of impossibilities.

"As a council we are 110 per cent in support of it," he claimed.

Come off it, portfolio holder for children's education!

I was the despair of every teacher who tried to educate me beyond the 12 times table. But even I know that if all 55 councillors serving Medway's population voted for the academy, that's 100 per cent.

You can't have 110 per cent.

You would need another five and a half councillors, which of course is impossible because (a) the government cut the number of councillors to 55, (b) you can't have half a councillor, and if you (c) rounded it up (or down) to get a whole number of something like 60 or 61, that would become a new number, equivalent to …. err, 100 per cent.

***

The spending crunch is coming. You could sense it at this week's Cabinet meeting.

There was a flippancy there that a sceptic described as giving it the air of a students' examination room before the test papers arrived.

There were plenty of reasons for the politicians feeling good - budget back on target, national indicators pointing in the right direction (mostly), no bad news.

And they spent far more time discussing the 20 items that I gave them credit for - in all, 100 minutes (or five minutes each).

Which may be why no-one had time to comment on the staggering number of cases of abuse to elderly and educationally-challenged adults being investigated in Medway at present.

Or why they decided to appoint a contractor to build the new Chatham bus station before the plans have been approved - and all without the advantage of scrutiny of the controversial project … or a word from the public which had so strongly criticised it last time around.

The £6 million bus station has to be approved ASAP!

It will take a year to build.

If it's not finished by the end of March 2011 - just 16 months hence - the government (whatever its colour) will grab back the cash.

That could leave someone with a big hole in their pocket.

They are trying to take short cuts everywhere.

Why it should take 12 months to build, however, confounds me.

Close Globe Lane, divert the traffic (again), chop down a few old trees, flatten the surface, put in three platforms, three mushrooms and a toilet block, a few swish departure signs, plant some replacement trees, slap down some tarmac and paint a few lines… not much more than that is needed, and you've spent six million quid.

***

That wasn't the only sign of potential mayhem on Tuesday.

There's the vexed question of the historic grants fund to transform some of the slums and empty properties in River Ward back into the undoubtedly magnificent buildings that they once were.

Cllr Jane Chitty argued for support in principle to providing £300,000 over three years to enable more of the buildings to be restored to their past magnificence.

She was like a waif seeking additional sustenance from the Beadle. And Cllr Alan Jarrett, pockets fluttering as the moths start to mature, had a disbelieving eyebrow raised.

"More - You want more?"

Well, he didn't say it quite like that, but it was definitely hidden behind the words he did use, talking about queues, and waiting to see what was left.

There may be good cause for concern - and not just because in 2011 the three year settlement comes to an end.

It was announced when times were good, but it was parsimonious (according to the critics). Certainly repeatedly fixing council tax rises on percentages only aggravates the problems.

The difficulty is then exacerbated by someone repeatedly looking for continued economies year on year on year.

We haven't got to the stage where the chief executive, Neil Davies, whips round with a duster at the end of his 14 hour day, but it is close to that.

(And in case you disbelieve me about senior managers working long, long days, you shouldn't - they do!)

___

Tuesday November 24

There was a time when staff worked a 40 hour week.

It included Saturday and a half-day closure in the week.

Now we have round the clock shopping, 24/7 - and round the clock staffing.

Which may explain why convenience food is so successful - and why so many people are overweight.

This week the council is running classes in at least two locations where mums are learning to cook healthy food.

Given that politicians and employers expect them to be working, not dawdling around the house looking after kids who should be "on the latch" or in nurseries until school can take them at two or three, it does seem a waste .... doesn't it?

***

Jane Andrews certainly knows how to raise the profile of open prisons.

She arrived at East Sutton Park, just outside Maidstone, on Thursday, went on weekend leave Friday - and hasn't returned.

There may be reasons for that, but when you are a convicted murderess, serving a life sentence, it once again brings sharply into focus the logic of the people running the trust system.

She clearly wasn't to be trusted to return.

But should a lifer have been considered for it in the first place?

A life sentence should mean just that - none of this namby-pamby argument that life actually means five years: a minimum of 10 years, and half off for good behaviour.

If someone is to go to prison for 30 years, then let them go for 30 years.

Only towards the end of their sentence should they start their rehabilitation into normal life.

***

Cabinet today promises to go into numerous major matters in great depth.

On average, my money is that they may give as much as five minutes to the sprint-around bus station, how the budget is currently doing, and how next year's budget is taking shape.

Add into that another five minutes on historic buildings grants to transform Rochester and Chatham high street areas from slums into restored period streets (no, not Dickensian twee!), the outline business case for the already-established Strood Academy, and a series of major contracts, it might be strung out for 60 minutes (if they debate it with their usual in-depth scrutiny of the proposals).

Wait! Duck! The Porcine Squadron is overhead again.

***

You might think that the idea of public transport was to get from point A to point B. You might even think it was to get you there cheaply, quickly, in comfort, above everyone else or simply because you prefer being in a mass than cruising in a car.

You would be wrong.

In Medway, the emerging local transport plan says there are five good reasons for transport... and it is beginning to leave people with vague looks on their faces.

The five objectives people are being asked to give their opinion on has nothing to do with whether you go in a bus or a train, a river ferry or a unicycle - or continue to pollute the atmosphere.

Objective number one is to ensure "a competitive transport industry with simplified and improving regulation to benefit transport users and providers and maximising the value for money from transport spending."

Which after considerable study and great pondering by the transport brains in Kent, the Plain English Society of Rainham and a handful of business experts seems to mean "screw down prices".

The second one is cutting pollution.

Then there is improving transport links in underprivileged areas, environmental improvements - and safe transport (including tackling terrorist threats to Medway's transport services).

You can guarantee that if one word would do you and I, local government needs dozens. The five objectives - intended to be simple, clear and concise - take 191 words to gibber explanations across the back of the voting forms. The answers will shape the future of Medway's transport into the second decade of the third Millennium (in other words after 2010).

The mind boggles at some of the gibberish contained in the forms.

One seeks to improve the health of individuals by "encouraging and enabling more physically active travel". It sounds as though Arriva's buses may be provided with council-funded cardio machines in the standing areas.

There is not a word about improving journeys, speeding up transport, priorities, park and ride (now that was a great idea while it lasted) or anything vaguely sensible.

A friend who was asked to complete the form said: "None of us knew what on earth the man from the council was one about!"

Which is probably what was wanted in the first case.

***

You can catch up with the week ahead with Gun Wharf Briefing every Monday in the Medway Messenger.

___

Thursday November 19 2009

There is a brave new spirit of unity between the medics and the politicians in Medway.

At one time - not so long ago - one sensed there was resentment that councillors could poke their nose into operations, priorities and bed spaces.

But that has very clearly disappeared.

I suspect it may have a lot to do with the health scrutiny committee chairman's style.

Mike O'Brien is no one's fool, but most of the time he comes across as a listener who understands difficulties, and knows how to find solutions.

That's not to say he isn't a rabblerouser, too.

Anyone at last week's council meeting would have seen the other side strongly to the fore as he snapped and snarled at opponents like a belligerent corgi.

There is also a respect from the health managers.

They certainly need to work together. The changes that have taken place in the past couple of years have meant that someone going into hospital is unlikely to spend many days there: as soon as the doctors are satisfied they have done everything they can, the patient becomes the responsibility of social services. As do the charges.

Hard decisions will have to be taken in the next few years.

Today's announcement that a £3,000 a month liver cancer treatment is too costly for the NHS to fund is almost certainly the tip of the iceberg. If ever there was an inappropriate acronym it has to be NICE (the body removing that health treatment - and condemning sufferers to a premature death).

Watch out for more such cases… starting tomorrow.

___

Tuesday 17 November 2009

One of the people at Medway Renaissance that was an inspiration was Laura Wren.

She was deeply immersed in transport having been with Network Rail before coming to Medway, understood the politics and road transport, and earned a lot of respect across the country.

She left Medway Renaissance shortly after she organised a packed two-day conference that was ignored by 52 of our 55 councillors, but attracted the top transport brains.

Last week two things reminded me of Ms Wren.

One was the news that a geography MA with regeneration knowledge has been appointed to head up the South East region's transport board. Her key priorities are to fund transport in the region.

Her experience? - managing a portfolio of housing and mixed-use development sites in Milton Keynes for SEEDA.

The other was the failure of any Medway Council representative to attend a national conference in Chatham Historic Dockyard that was looking at the use of rivers to transport bulk freight.

This is the river where one of the top shipping firms in Europe is based. GPS used to be based at what has become the undeveloped site at Rochester Riverside. Then it was forced to move because the GPS wharf was needed for a public waterfront path, and the offices were needed for .... well, so far dumping a load of gravel and the repeated promise of development.

It's good to know nothing changes.

***

One of the disturbing things about Medway Council at the present time is the way it overlooks things.

It was a classic case of "Oops - never mind!" that led to the the acute embarrassment of the Finance portfolio holder at last week's meeting.

He had to admit that a number of staff in different departments had overlooked contracts that were starting to run out. It led to a bit of constructive needle from the Oppopsition.

It also left one thinking some blood may be spilt in the back corridors of Gun Wharf as the battle to gain control of the council spending seems to be slipping.

It seems fairly clear to me that there needs to be a good old fashioned five year diary on everyone's desk that is responsible for contracts.

In it would be the date the contract expires - and (working back to today) would be the timetable for achieving a smooth transition to a new contract.

But we all rely on computers. And sometimes its diary entries can be changed (or deleted) accidentally. It needs a heavy pen and conscious thought to delete something inked in a big book.

And those pen strokes are still there five years hence.

___

Monday November 16 2009

Developers will find it easier to design road junctions under proposals being considered across Kent and Medway.

They are being advised that the present visibility standards are far too high.

Hedgerows and house walls may be allowed closer to the road than has been the case for many years - and wider pavement at turnings could become a thing of the past.

Kent Highways says the present design guide on visibility is "unreasonably" high.

They reckon it takes drivers one-and-a-half seconds to react to the junction and start making a move.

Apparently there is a formula to calculate the distance (SSD). It is SSD=Vt+(V x V)/2d where time is shown as 't'.

Now they are advising councils that unless there are specific reasons to return to the current standards, designers no longer need to worry so much about children and grannies.

At 30 mph they currently have to allow a minimum of 60 metres visibility. The new recommendation is cut to 43 metres.

***

Drivers in Medway are used to traffic congestion around the centre of Chatham. They blame it on the demolition of the flyover.

But increasingly, other roads are becoming more and more congested.

Pier Road is a classic example.

In the past three months it has gone from a reasonably flowing 40,000 vehicles a day to a stop-start mass.

The daily ritual of racing the lights (and the driver alongside) and seeing who can reach the legal minimum (that is what the red circle around a black number means - isn't it?) is played out by hundreds of drivers.

The problem has suddenly got worse.

Part of it is unquestionably the search for an alternative to the A2 through the Towns.

But much of it seems to be linked to The Flowering of Traffic Lights. They seem to have been breeding more successfully than the weeds in Medway's gutters.

Between The Strand and the new police station at Gillingham Gate there are seven (or is it eight?) sets of traffic lights.

Certainly they slow down traffic. That is to be welcomed.

The evidence seems to point to a  marginal drop in speeds - and a massive rise in pollution, blood pressure and motorists' foolhardiness.

___

Friday November 13 2009

THERE is always a dose of testosterone in the air when an election is in the offing.

Last night's council meeting, however, was so heady with it that it spread into the audience.

For nearly six hours - a record for Medway Council meetings - councillors heaped abuse on each other, questioners got angry at the answers, and it soon spread to the audience as they sensed a lack of determination by the administration to be straight with anyone.

For about a year a well organised group of parents and school supporters have been vainly fighting plans to close three small schools.

One - St Peter's - was saved a few weeks ago by the cabinet.

A second, apparently no different but in a Labour ward, had its closure confirmed last night. Yet if St Peter's can stay open, it was argued, surely so too can St John's which has served Chatham for over 140 years.

No. According to Cllr Les Wicks, responsible for schools, it had had an Ofsted that was not as good as the last one.

How he knows remains a mystery. The information was supplied confidentially to the head teacher, but has yet to be published.

There were attacks on the officers - Rose Collinson, the director, escaped the verbal assault last night, but not the legal eagle and regular appearer in this column, Deborah Upton.

The attack - by the Conservative candidate for the Rochester and Strood parliamentary seat, Cllr Mark Reckless - was rapidly defended by his Leader, Cllr Rodney Chambers.

But sitting behind the Tory councillors you could almost see the scars from the whipping imposed by the administration on the majority party.

Cllr Reckless' comments were the only ones from the Conservatives to defend St John's.

It almost sparked a back bench revolt.

There were waverers, but eventually they all accepted the lash… with the exception of Cllr Reckless who abstained.

The Opposition parties were almost united on everything - especially the continued lack of willingness from the Conservatives to accept that there might be a justifiable argument against the ones they have accepted.

To the Victors go the spoils. And the spoiling has been going on ever since the last election.

Regrettably, it will continue. Whether David Cameron wins or loses the General Election, the local elections in 2011 seem certain to reduce the voice of the dissenters for another four years at least - unless in victory there is the occasional magnanimity.

The more this seasoned observer watches, the less he is convinced the Cabinet system of local governance can work.

What would be interesting is what happens if the Conservatives regain the Government front bench, and bring in the many cuts they promise.

Services in Medway will be cut. How will a Conservative administration - used to blaming the Labour Government for everything - answer that?

___

Wednesday November 11 2009

There's nothing like washing your dirty linen in public. And Medway knows exactly how to avoid doing that.

Buried in the back pages of your local paper is an area known as the public notices.

It's where things like planning applications, bankruptcies and the like are published, where someone is going to apply to be a pawnbroker or plans to open an off-licence.

They are boring - but frequently they have a major impact on your life.

The last few weeks they have been graced by notices from the council.

Amid the plans and changes to previously agreed policies, there were two concerning the Local Government Ombudsman.

Medway Council had been accused of not once but twice of ignoring the rights of local people to be properly consulted.

They complained to the Ombudsman who - after a detailed investigation - agreed.

There are three Ombudsmen and one of them retired after finding our council guilty of ignoring the people.

They ordered the council to cough up a token sum by way of punishment.

By law they have to tell the community that they had misbehaved.

And they have to publicly consider the reports.

Tomorrow night you can guarantee that there will be a few official tut-tuts.

What got them into trouble?

They failed to consider several families living next door to a school when they approved new sporting facilities. In fact the residents were ignored. Officers gave the wrong advice.

The other was the introduction of the £75 companions bus ticket. This is an annual charge suddenly imposed on severely disabled, blind and handicapped people who have a friend accompany them when they use the buses.

Many places don't charge. Others do - but they make sure everyone is aware and able to influence the final decision.

Not so in Medway.

It was suddenly introduced at the beginning of the year.

Cabinet members had decided there would be massive charges to taxpayers with the introduction of the new national free bus pass for the over 60s so any companion would have a one-off charge of £75. It replaced a nominal charge each time the companion accompanied someone.

In fact Medway got off lightly. The money they put aside was transferred to other areas that were under stress.

There is no question that Medway is under-funded. It is going to get a lot worse.

Councillors are supposed to be the barrier between officers' excesses and what the public expects.

Every time they allow things to go through without considering the impact on the people they are supposed to be serving, their own standing in the community falls.

And hiding your flaws by burying the bad news is only going to earn bad publicity when the faults become public.

___

Tuesday November 10 2009

A national conference is to take place a short Pooh Stick ride downstream from Gun Wharf tomorrow.

It has been organised by Freight by Water and is hoping to raise the profile of the nation's waterways to save carbon emissions, shift freight, and easy the burdens on our roads.

Among the speakers will be several Medway shipping personalities and the Shipping Minister himself, none other than local MP Paul Clark.

It will be interesting to see whether anyone from the council is there.

After all it has said the River Medway is at the heart of the community.

Only problem is, this council has successfully failed to recognise that the river needs to be worked, and that there were plenty of skilled local rivermen - until they did away with all the wharves.

A handful survive in the traditional urban reaches.

But most have long since gone.

One of the classic shipping areas was opposite the Medway City Estate.

It wasn't the best cared-for area, but the ships moved in and out, the tugs bustled up and down and the river was regularly churned.

Then Prestcott, who was the great God of Housing Mammon, spoke with his servants, Rodney of Medway and Paul the Clerk, and said: "For many years you and your forebears have dreamed a dream for the marshes.

"It has become land, and that land has had wharves. But now it is waste and scrub, weeds and ruins populated by badgers, foxes, and probably great-crested newts.

"But it could be useful once again."

And the God of Housing Mammon waved his wand, and conjured up a few million shekels to compulsorily buy the land and raise that which once was marsh.

And gravel to a million tonnes - maybe more - came by ship to raise the land above most floods.

And a developer was found.

But when the God of Housing Mammon turned his back to such things, there were wailings and lamentations, much gnashing of teeth but no money was available to continue His good work.

Yea, the developer was forced and recessed, and though he signed many notes of intention, still the land lies bleak and windswept.

In the meantime there are few ships, and our roads become ever more congested, and the people cry out for action.

But the sailors are gone, no more to return.

And soon a Ship of Light - called a lightship - shall be found and turned into an art gallery, and they shall say it is good, and will attract the people to spend their money.

And if enough Ships of Light can be found then shall the riverside be built upon, providing homes for the masses, for there shall be money once again in the community.

And Rodney of Medway shall say: "Thus did I see it in my dreams. And so it came to pass."

But said Paul the Clerk: "Even then there will be nowhere for the ships to ease Medway's traffic congestion, and the roads will become increasingly clogged."

Thus endeth the lesson for today.

___

Monday November 9 2009

There was a very good reason why cash-strapped Medway Council spent thousands of pounds delivering 11-plus results: Mums were cross because there was a postal strike.

It seems someone was worried about votes and took a political decision to lavish our lolly in this way.

Several ideas were conceived, agreed and then over-ruled before the decision to reached to spend £4.31 on each and every letter delivered.

On the Wednesday it was decided to use the St George’s Centre as a distribution point. Mums (or Dads with Little Wayne or Dainty Jorja) would be able to go along and collect the results. Anxiety over. Truth known. Distribution done.

Then someone decided there would be too much congestion at the St George’s Centre. (It’s right next door to the emergency flu centre chosen because "there is plenty of available parking".)

They could have got a junior member of staff to deliver them to the schools. It could have been done with a couple of gallons of fuel, a few hours of staff time, and much more cheaply.

But of course they couldn’t ask someone to do that or for the school to send a teacher to collect their pupils’ results.

So the schools would have the couriered envelopes.

That was until the following afternoon when it would appear the politicians feared for their votes.

That was when it was decided to get the courier company to deliver each and every result on the Saturday.

Price tag - £9,000.

But several families were left waiting until the kids came home in the evening with the envelopes that had been redirected to the schools - just as someone had suggested the previous Wedmesday.

***

There were very rational arguments about the safety of mobile phone technology at last week’s Gun Wharf Summit.

That was until one of the representatives of the Big Five spoke.

He was Jim Stevenson from O2, one of the firms that in the past have been accused of steamrolling the masts across the coutnryside.

He told the joint gathering of health and children committee scrutineers: "We have masts on school buildings. We do some very good work with those schools by providing money for them to do great things with it."

He seemed incapable of recognising that that was precisely what people fear: Big Business charging ahead with profit-seeking at the expense (possibly) of people’s health.

There was no evidence that phone masts, base stations and mobile phones do cause health problems.

But equally there was no evidence that they don’t.

And there was plenty of apocryphal arguments that both could be true.

Mr Stevenson boasted: "You can’t prove there is any danger from base stations."

There was evidence from objectors that one phone mast is deliberately aimed at Gillingham Station passengers "to give the best signal".

If there was something catastrophically wrong with the technology the attitudes being demonstrated by the proponents would be viewed at best as cavalier and at worst as ..... definitely actionable.

But we don’t know.

The government has raked in £23 billion in licence fees - and spent £6 million of investigations.

There is a striking reluctance to ease people’s fears about brain tumours and concentrations of cancer groups. It is almost as if the government has something to hide.

Would they hide it?

Could it happen?

Yes.

Remember how service personnel were enticed to go atomic bomb spotting in the Pacific?

Or when Chatham was the guinea pig for nuclear weaponry modernisation?

Or how both the dockyard and Higham were major asbestos centres?

Evidence has now emerged that the dangers from asbestos were identified after the First World War yet successive governments deliberately did nothing until the sixties.

Asbestos was used for fire protection, as pipes and roofs, garden implements, indeed almost anything that could be shaped and baked from it.

The main manufacturer - Uralite - was at Higham. The factory site today is a business park .... built upon millions of tons of asbestos waste too difficult for anyone to remove.

The cause of a mounting death toll from asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma (a rare form where the victim is slowly suffocated by his own body) was more much politicians’ reluctance to come clean about the materials as our willingness to use them.

Of course, mobile phones are safe... aren’t they?

___

Friday November 6 2009

There was a lot of talk last night about collective nouns.

Just as there is a parade of elephants, a skein of ducks or an attitude of teenagers, there has to be a collective noun for Mikes.

It came up during idle chatter surrounding the special meeting that looked at phone mast safety.

A host of experts had been assembled after the committee chairman, Cllr Mike O'Brien, decided to examine the facts about mast safety.

The chairman invited a local campaigner, the Health Protection Agency, the Radiation Research Trust and the Mobile Operators Association (MOA) to Medway to speak about the dangers - real or imagined.

Which was fine... until Chairman Mike came to address them. The campaigner was Mike Evans.

The protection agency's spokesman was a doctor, Mike Clark.

The Trust sent along the erudite Michael Bell.

Thankfully, the MOA was a bit more imaginative. It sent Nicola Davies, and senior managers from Vodaphone, O2, 3 and T-Mobile who, with Orange, have paid the government over £25 billion for their licences to put up masts without councils interfering with their locations.

The trouble was that Chairman Mike had planned the discussion as informal but informative.

No formal titles - it was down to Mike .... no, the other Mike..... to amplify the points they wished to make.

Surprisingly there was a tiny audience (half a dozen members ofthe public would be stretching it) who bothered to attend.

It did demonstrate why titles sometimes have a use.

And why you sometimes need a mike to hear all that was being said.

So what is the definitive collective noun for Mikes? - the news room came up with a megalomania of Mikes, a boast of Mikes, a mast of Mikes, a muddle of mikes or even a multitude... 

Meanwhile, if you think today's blog is late - blame it on the kids!

The Year Six students at Bligh Junior School turned the tables on your scribe, and gave him a two hour cross-examination about newspapers, journalists and truth this morning.

Refreshing (and terrifying) to be on the receiving end of the questioning.

___

Thursday November 5 2009

Lord Laming's report into the social service failings he identified across the country have had a big impact in Medway.

His report was commissioned in the wake of the  killing of Peter Donnelly - known for a long time only as Baby P.

Let me ask: would you want to be held responsible if - God forbid! - there was a Steven Barker or a Jason Owen practising their evil in your street?

Think of the outcry there was after Haringey's social services team was exposed as overlooking little Peter, the child tortured to death while his mother did nothing to help.

This was a social team which was overstretched, under-resourced and not seen as politically high up the agenda. Most councils have problems prioritising what is right and what is wrong.

Medway has been criticised on several occasions for the way it failed to care adequately for the weakest in our society.

It responded quickly each time.

That included the way it supervises foster children and its housing service.

And although its social services have not been specifically criticised Lord Laming's words have come at an opportune moment to push through vital improvements.

Medway is stripping its social workers of their administrative duties, and recruiting more staff from a shrinking pool where few wish to swim.

It is also promoting everyone of them - so they get more pay.

Children will be marginally safer. But have no doubt about it. No matter how many social workers you have, no-one can guarantee there isn't a paedophile, a sadist or a sub-human living in any community perpetrating their evil behind "normal" homes.

The pay rise - expected to cost council taxpayers more than £700,000 a year - should help to entice good social workers to Medway (until the other councils do the same).

It is not the only change. There will also be greater support and help for vulnerable adults - those with learning difficulties, physical ailments and age.

But a major weakness exists in what is happening to those who rely on Medway's social services.

Much of the work traditionally done to a reasonably high degree by the council's own workers is now being farmed out. That reduces the council's ability to control and supervise what is done in our name.

It threatens the very people they are trying to help: the latest policy is to provide them with cash to buy the care and supervision they need.

And that was the reason why many of them are vulnerable: too often those receiving council support from overstretched social workers are unable to make key decisions to care for themselves.

It doesn't matter if you have a brain injury or are a 17-month-old like Baby P, sometimes others have to make the right decisions for you.

Social workers are vital in our society.

___

Wednesday November 4 2009

Most of the trees at The Paddock may have been saved in the latest plans for Chatham's new bus station.

But others are still being sacrificed by Medway Council.

Forests have been destroyed in order that councillors, officers and, yes, the public can know what policies are being propounded and followed.

Yesterday there was a formal apology to all the trees that, in the interests of democracy, will no longer wilt their leaves each autumn. The apology came from the very top: the Leader of the Council, Cllr Rodney Chambers, in a fit of remorse, interrupted his Man of History, Cllr Howard Doe, at the Cabinet meeting.

The councillor had been trying to tell colleagues how valuable was a 248-page report that sets out the future for one of Medway's oldest buildings - Rochester Castle.

It has been printed and reprinted in agendas for weeks.

It appeared again yesterday in a limited production run.

Cllr Chambers could not let the opportunity pass.

Mustering his most lugubrious-in-extremis look, he announced: "I just wish to apologise to all the trees for the size of this report."

It's the document that once again resurrects the argument for a roof - corrugated, see-through, plastic, aluminium or whatever - over the 1,000 year old tower.

What anyone who sees the forthcoming film, Ironclad, would think of the mighty keep encased in such fripperies after more than 400 years as a ruin is not clear.

They are currently filming the bloody 1215 Seige of Rochester by Bad King John. But not in Rochester. Oh, no!

The shoot is going on "somewhere in Wales".

But gird your loins! Once the film graces the silver screens, appears on DVDs and TV screens the council expects a fresh invasion by an army of tourists determined to follow in the steps of John, the Sheriff of Nottingham and all the other villains and their villeins.

What they would think if it is turned into a capped column of stone, refloored and available to hire - all ideas contained in the new report - I dread to think.

Meanwhile, on the opposite bank of the river, another historic building is unlikely to see 2011 if the council has anything to do with it.

The Aveling and Porter building's supporters have turned to Private Eye in a bid to dissuade our burghers from bulldozing through its demolition.

Under a heading "Demolish and Be Damned", the magazine's Nooks and Corners column currently extolls the virtues of the former civic headquarters in Strood.

It describes our august Corporation as "blinkered brutes .... not interested in any positive or imaginative uses for an interesting, sound and handsome piece of architecture".

A bit harsh to call them blinkered when their Leader is prepared to speak up for trees.

***

Talking of green authorities, an urgent press release from Tonbridge and Malling council last night announced its meeting had been cancelled.

It read: "Please note that the Council meeting scheduled for 7.30pm today, Tuesday 3 November 2009 in the Civic Suite at Tonbrige & Malling Borough Council offices at Kings Hill has been cancelled due to flooding. The meeting will be rescheduled for Thursday 19 November.

"Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council is committed to tackling the causes and effects of climate change. Please save energy and resources by not printing this e-mail unless absolutely necessary."

One piece of paper could cause a flood?

Medway - beware!

___

Tuesday November 3 2009

One of the things any reporter will tell you drives them wild is the unwanted press release.

That, generally speaking, is about 998 out of every 999 releases we receive.

Among the releases that have arrived on my desk in recent days have been "20-year-old Buckinghamshire rider tipped to make her mark in Rio in 2016", a piece about a sailing boat rescue off Sheerness, an exclusive that quagos cost £1 billion a year.....

They are produced largely to prove that the PR individual that wrote them was working yesterday.

It has nothing to do with whether they are written well, whether they are pertinent, relevant or even local.

I make the observation - one which every reporter will repeat time and time again - as the Audit Commission announces it is considering ways of judging the quality of council communications teams by the number of press releases they issue.

As a reporter who was a PR professional for about 17 years, I feel well able to comment.

Can you imagine what it would be like as they struggle to meet new targets?

"Gillingham councillor has hair cut"

"Rochester Member buys new shelves for council papers"

"Chatham has more rats than....." Well - maybe that would attract our interest!

The fact is, the communications department of any council frustrates many press people because they know when there is a story - and when there isn't.

When there isn't a story, they are all very quick to help.

When there is a good story, they are also very quick to help.

The challenge for both parties is when there is something wrong. That's when the PR person will do their best to dissuade a dogged reporter chasing a potential story that would harm the image of their authority.

But to judge communications teams on the quantity of anything they do - whether it is words, releases or awards - is a ludicrious waste of time. But of course auditors tend to have backgrounds controlled by figures.

The team that manages to revive a bad image, stop a misinformed story from appearing in print, or raises people's hopes and aspirations, is going to do that in a thousand subtle ways. That is their skill. It is the skill of the reporter to uncover the weaknesses, the failings and deliberat misleading.

Medway has a good team. But that doesn't mean to say we reporters don't see eye to eye with them: but at least they don't swamp us with detritus. Producing verbiage is the sign of a bad PR person.

You might as well call to account someone for the number of sheets of paper that are flushed away in public conveniences.

There used to be a programme on Commercial TV - "Never Mind the Quality -  Feel the Width".

The Audit Commission seems bent on following those very principles.

___

 Monday November 2 2009

After a week's annual leave, it's back to the fray - and a fairly hectic week ahead.

For a starter, the Cabinet meets tomorrow.

It has a hefty agenda of 20 items to discuss. They range from new school bus contracts to the resurrection of the politicians' idea to put a roof on Rochester Castle keep after a few centuries of exposure to the rain.

Filling in, so to speak, is talk of upping the budget for on-street disabled parking by 150 per cent and the implications for Medway of the Laming Report into child protection.

The proposal to put a lid on top of the tallest castle keep in England (the second-oldest in the country, incidentally) is nothing short of ludicrous.

One can only hope that English Heritage will man the buttresses, boil the oil and prepare to repel the assaults.

It's a ruin, for goodness sake!

The prospect of corrugated iron sheets dripping rust stains down the walls of the 900-year-old edifice leaves one thinking the proposers are simply trying to find a cheap (and not very cheerful) small-minded alternative to restoration.

Also up for discussion is talk of upping the budget for on-street disabled parking by 150 per cent.

There are 10,500 blue badge holders in Medway.

At the moment if they have off-street parking they aren't entitled to on-street parking bays (even if it is quarter of a mile from their home).

That could change tomorrow.

It is one of a series of proposals to improve facilities for disabled residents in Medway - even though the bay painted outside their home is not specifically for their exclusive use.

Currently there are 1,000 pavement-side disabled bays.

That could rise, but in a bid to control demand it looks like it will be first come, first served.

Once the budget is spent, officers are recommending everyone is told to limp, wheeze and otherwise suffer until the following financial year provides some cash.

Past experience should warn politicians that path leads to chaos.

Yet if the 9,500 drivers with a right to a disabled spot all demand it at the same time, it could be 10 years before the bay is installed outside their home.

You can imagine the rows, the petitions, the political capital to be made from exploiting such a situation.

One almost senses Till Eulenspiegl has joined the council's merry ranks.

___

Friday October 23 2009

CONFUSION continues to surround the less-than-dynamic bus station being proposed for Chatham, even though version number four has passed the scrutiny committee.

It has now been reduced to 13 bus stops spread over three lanes that will transform Globe Lane.

There will be three mushrooms - canopies to keep the rain off the passengers' heads.

They replace the enclosed, glassed concourse where passengers were expected to wait in warmth until called forward to the appropriate door which would swish open to welcome them aboard the waiting bus.

Instead the wind can now howl across Rat's Bay, over the pumping station and straight through the huddling passengers.

At least there will be some shelter for them: the officers have conceded that toilets should be provided, rather than the preserved trees of The Paddock.

The latest confusion is whether there will be motorway services and Medway's long-conceived, but never implemented, park and ride system.

It depends who you talk to.

There will be provision for them, according to the council's communications team.

There won't be in the foreseeable future, if you listen to the latest words from the Medway Renaissance team.

There is a lot of unrest among councillors at the moment.

They are annoyed at the way officers have seemed to treat them as a necessary evil.

And they are starting to flex their muscles.

Which is right …. providing the public doesn't end up suffering.

I cannot see National Express considering running into the centre of Chatham when it is a quick sidetrack from the M2 into Hempstead Valley where there are bus services, car parking, toilets and a shelter. They haven't served Chatham since the late Seventies.

There is absolutely no move forward on the park and ride plans.

The firmest of these was going to be from the Medway Tunnel to the town centre, funded by B&Q in return for the planning permission they got some years ago to build over Whitewall Creek.

The plans keep changing, and the Park and Ride seems to have been forgotten.

Compare what is now proposed for Medway with other places.

Bristol: it has a heated bus station, passengers safely enclosed until their driver is ready to board them.

Bluewater's bus station is similar, except you don't have to cross the road to get to your bus.

Even Victoria Coach Station - once the butt of numerous tales of woe - is bright, warm, dry and enclosed, with toilets, cafes and seats.

As for Park and Ride? You can P&R in Oxford, Reading, Maidstone, Canterbury, Exeter, Carmarthen, Norwich, Ely….. the list goes on and on. Maidstone even has a riverboat service at Christmas!

Medway does have a park and ride. It is unadvertised, but a minibus operates from Horsted to Chatham and Rochester on Saturdays between 9am and 5.40pm.

It's biggest publicity was when the operator's wife celebrated her birthday - and for a day her husband ran a fleet of traditional London buses for her instead of the minibus.

___

Thursday October 22 2009

The clutching of straws took place at Medway's regeneration scrutiny committee last night.

It was chaired by Cllr Matt Bright, who stepped in because of the ill-health of the usual chairman, Cllr Roy Hunter.

He sat over an often vitriolic meeting, if the reports I have heard today are anything to go by.

Ironically, the issue that enabled councillors to create their raft of chaff was that oft-cursed creation, Chatham's replacement bus station.

There has been an air of take-it-or-leave-it from some officers of the council. That has not sat well with the elected representatives of the community, who have been trying to pick their way through an increasingly quaggy mire of confusion, falling aspirations and rapidly reducing days.

Just as they rejected the last set of plans in a cross-party sign of rare unity, so last night they supported the latest proposals because only four trees would now need to be chopped down on The Paddock.

Why the concern for The Paddock? Well, it is the only piece of land in the whole of Chatham that has not - at some point - been dug up, knocked down, destroyed or built upon.

The planners of the bus station thought it was unimportant.

And they didn't expect tree-huggers in Medway.

May be they were right.

Where they were definitely wrong was in misjudging the mood of the public over the changes that they are blissfully pushing through, the disruption they are causing to life and traffic, and they way that they are ignoring people.

And that was why the last plan came unstuck.

The problem with the one that was nodded through last night is that it won't meet the needs of the community.

There are insufficient bus stops for the amount of buses which are being planned in Medway to cope with the growth in the Towns. After all, we are talking about a 25 per cent population increase in 10 years with no possibility of building more roads to cope with a further growth in cars - and they went up in Medway by 25 per cent between 1998 and 2008.

Just look at the way the buses whip in and out of the Pentagon. Then add the ones barred from its bays by Arriva which use Military Road.

Now add a fifth bus for every four you see at the moment.

***

Meanwhile what else has been happening?

Cllr Hunter is being treated in hospital in Yeovil where he was taken ill while on holiday: my thoughts are with him for a speedy recovery.

Plans for a pink picnic are being made for next Friday by members of the council's communications team.

It's to raise awareness of Breast Cancer - while I shall be wearing something pink the same day to support the reporters' own efforts.

What is it about the British that we respond to tragedy with lunacy?

Look at Children in Need as TV stars make fools of themselves to raise millions of pounds to help kids in the most awful conditions.

***

The council has declined to set up a creche for staff.

But if you have got a dog, and you are senior enough, you can order a council employee to go and walk your dog during the day when it is not relaxing in your office.

Certainly that is the case for at least one assistant director.

Hopefully the walkers will use pink pooper scoopers next week.

___

Wednesday October 21 2009

Have you ever seen a panic button pushed?

No?

Visit tonight's regeneration scrutiny committee.

You'll see the thumbs going crazy as the dream of a riverside park in front of the shopping centre of the City of Chatham (my paraphrasing of the councillors' concepts) virtually disappears.

The regeneration committee is being given a revised plan for the bus station replacement for the current Black Hole in the Pentagon.

The plans were rushed through after the previous up after the other was thrown out by planning committee members. They were concerned about the way it would destroy most of The Paddock, a large area of greenery between Globe Lane and Military Road.

The new plans - said to be on "the only possible site" - will see a three lane bus station of mushroomed rain- and leaf-shelters.

It will still result in the chopping down of 12 mature trees in the park that will survive the creation of the bus station. But while four of them will go from The Paddock, the remainder will be chopped down on the waterfront to save the recently enlarged waterfront car park.

It is not the only site, despite what the officers say.

It is not adequate.

And with four pedestrian crossings it certainly does not appear to be safe. Certainly when I was in the National Bus Company such a design would never have been allowed.

There is an air of desperation about the plan.

The time to commit the money is rapidly running out: at that point the £6 million government cash will be seized back.

The "dynamic" bus station (whatever that was supposed to be) will see the bus stops cut from 16 to 13. So - guess what: there will be roadside bus stops as well.

That was just what they were trying to avoid, even if people had to run between stops as the buses arrived and departed.

Once again it is likely to separate Big Brother Arriva from the small independent companies like Nu-Venture.

There is no explanation why the bus station cannot go next to the rail station to provide a modern transport interchange linked to the shops by a covered moving walkway.

There is no reference to the spoiled park plan.

There is no indication that the owners of the Pentagon will ever come up with a development proposal to replace the first floor Arriva bus station.

And it will mean passengers will remain segregated :those with a bus station stop, and those without.

And there is no loss of roads.

Military Road will be reserved for taxis, emergency vehicles and the like.

The short access road from what used to be the foot of the Sir John Hawkins flyover to the High Street will remain - as a service road for the shops.

What a mess!

__

Tuesday October 20 2009

If you want to live off the state, follow the fine example set in Maidstone Crown Court yesterday by two care workers, Michelle and Pamela Bainbridge.

They ripped £102,000 off you and me during the past seven years.

While neighbouring magistrates at Tunbridge Wells are regularly sending benefit cheats to prison, and Medway's JPs are ticking them off, the Ladies Bainbridge showed that if you have enough cojones and are prepared to cheat, twist, lie and fiddle you can live in relative luxury.

Yesterday, at Maidstone Crown Court, they got suspended prison sentences, and were told to pay the court costs of £200 over the next two years.

Court costs? - those are how we ask criminals like the Mistresses Bainbridge to repay some of the £5,000 cost of taking them to court. Think we'll get it back?

Got your hankies ready? - Pamela has so far repaid £320 of the £17,500 she claimed.

Sister-in-law Michelle - who successfully lied her way over seven years to £85,418 - has not paid a penny.

You are going to need those hankies as you hear why they haven't been locked up and the keys thrown away.

Their husbands, Tony and Darren, were reported to be Class A drug users (sniffle).

They go off on drawn-out heavy boozing sessions, don't support the family and generally give Medway a reputation regeneration is trying to end (snuffle).

They have 12 kids. That, too, (sob-sob) is a good reason to steal from you and me.

And they have elderly parents (boo-hoo!) so that, too, is full justification for taking you and me to the cleaners.

The two women said their husbands had abandoned them. (Tears should be flowing)

They hadn't.

Michelle and Darren married in 2002 - and immediately Mrs B started claiming benefits.

They now have five children - but claimed income support, housing benefit, and council tax benefit until she was caught last year.

What was her basic lie? - that she was a single parent.

But when he wasn't off on a spree Darren was snuggled up at home.

Pamela Bainbridge began her fun and games in April 2005 but was caught in December 2007 when her claims that Tony had left her were exposed as lies.

According to their barrister, the Mrs Bainbridges' had husbands who declined to contribute to the upbringing of their children.

Michelle's barrister said she knew the money had to be repaid, but phenomenal suffering would be caused to her children and parents.

Any one thought about the suffering they - and others like them - cause the rest of us?

Mr Recorder: there's a recession on. To get out of it, this country has gone into hock like never before.

You may be saving their families - but what message are you sending to the rest of the community?

Might I respectfully suggest: "Cheats always prosper?"

***

November 4 should be an important day in the lives of all of us. It is National Stress Awareness Day complete with website, press team and hangers-on.

Ye Gods!

What's next?

National Nail Biting Day?

Pick-a-Nose Day?

Or how about Rip Off Benefits Day?

___

Monday October 19

Performance assessments are raising standards in local authorities, according to new research published yesterday.

But bad news for Medway - it's not so good if you have a sizeable Conservative majority, the researchers are saying.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) also found that poor performers were likely to be punished by voters - and senior managers could suffer, too.

But chief executives are fairly safe.

George Boyne, Professor of Public Sector Management at Cardiff University, who led the research, said: "This is a good news story for local government. It shows that local democracy works, with poor performance leading to change in political leadership and management. That’s what is supposed to happen."

The researchers measured election results and managerial change in upper-tier councils over a six-year-period (2001-7) against their ratings under the Audit Commission’s Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA).

They found that if a council were rated at zero or one star, the ruling party would lose three per cent in electoral support. Declining by a star would cost two points.

Ironically, they also discovered there was no benefit from running an authority rated at three or four stars - and Medway is a three star authority.

Professor Boyne said this reflected that bad news was more widely broadcast. A poor CPA performance is likely to be followed by a more rapid turnover among senior management – posts such as Director of Housing or of Children’s Services.

But they said the exception were chief executives, who were only likely to depart if there were both a poor CPA performance and a change in the ruling party.

Professor Boyne said: "Chief executives tend to build strong relationships with the political leadership, which therefore becomes attached to him or her and reluctant to lose them. It also means that a new administration formed by the party that was previously in opposition is much less likely to feel this attachment."

Their findings about Conservative control were not matched by similar findings with the other parties.

Speaking yesterday, Prof Boyne said: "A further finding was that Conservative party control, or a change to it, tended to be associated with higher performance and satisfaction, provided that the Conservative majority was not large."

He admitted it was far from conclusive.

"We are looking at a fairly short period of time, with some political oddities," he explained.

"Because of the unpopularity of the government there were too few incoming Labour councils to provide a proper comparison."

***

Parents who allow their children to go to school with a friend or neighbour - or indeed let them go on holiday - will not have to satisfy themselves that the temporary carer has been vetted by the police.

A new vetting and barring scheme due to come into force next July has sparked fears that common sense is being overtaken by political regulation.

Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, has now made it clear that was never intended.

He wrote to the chairman of the select committee, Barry Sheerman, at the weekend to clarify the position in the wake of the changes brought about by the Soham murders.

"…where people work with children or vulnerable adults on a frequent or intensive basis, or overnight, they should … be required to register. Where organisations lay on activities of this nature for children, then the workers - paid or unpaid - should be vetted.

"Parents who entrust their children to these organisations' care would, I know, expect nothing less.

"The … scheme will not come into play when parents agree to give their friends' children a lift to school or Cubs. Nor will it cover instances where parents work with children at school or a youth club on an occasional or a one-off basis, or when parents visit their child's school, for example to watch the Christmas play."

But he is asking the Children's Commissioner to look at when more frequent involvement requires vetting.

About time.

Maybe he will quickly clarify whether mums and dads can taken photos of their children appearing in the school nativity play - or are they still viewed as so many latent paedophiles?

Don't misunderstand me.

Such pervs should be locked up, and the key lost after they have been given a sandwich and a drink.

But recording our children as they grow and achieve milestones in their lives has been withdrawn by schools and clubs through fear - fear of a real danger, but one not as widespread as we might believe.

___

Friday October 16

Medway NHS Foundation Trust - which includes Medway Maritime Hospital - was among the top performers on looking after the cash according to figures just released.

But like NHS Medway (which looks after the GPs and healthy living centres), it remains rated "fair" as a provider of services for the third successive year.

And that is not good enough.

Some of the problems are down to the hospital's continuing rebuilding.

But some  patients are dissatisfied with the service they receive.

Now this blogger has, from personal experience over the past year, had

• in-care treatment which was exceptional,
• out-patient services that still do not meet my expectations,
• medical care that does,
• extremely swift A&E care (but open to criticism on patient care),
• attended the maternity ward as a grandparent

Some of the targets on which it fell down - an unfair term but pointing to what needs to be done - were stopping mums from smoking when pregnant or breast-feeding, four hour-plus waiting in A&E, gaining patients' consent for treatment, maternity record keeping, and moving patients on to other carers.

The public will be really concerned with the maternity care, child protection (an area which is improving) and the less than satisfactory decontamination of medical devices.

Looking at the ratings, as a patient, I would say overall "fair" is not a true reflection of a good service. It might not meet the auditors' views on management of records, but should that make patients worry?

I think not.

Medical care is going through a range of changes.

Traditional lines are blurring. Social care is no longer the sole responsibility of the councils. They work closer with the medical profession.

The trouble is there are some dyed-in-the-wool people in hospitals who see no reason why they should answer to politicians.

They may be right - but that is what is now expected by the paymasters.

I suspect there have been some interesting discussions behind closed doors at the various NHS trusts at the way doctors and nurses find themselves answering to finance chiefs and political busybodies.

NHS Medway’s performance in improving local people’s health and healthcare is rated as "fair", and the way it manages its finances is rated as "good".

NHS Medway said: "It is not possible to make a direct comparison with last year on the performance for commissioning health services for people in Medway because last year’s assessment on quality of services included some different measures."

But the commission says they can be compared - and there was no change.

But there were some howlers. It is not keeping confidential the information it holds about patients (or indeed any records), it's not doing well in anti-discrimination areas, it's not learning from past mistakes, it's getting worse on maternity care and is now rated as failing in several areas… the list goes on.

NHS Medway Chief Executive Marion Dinwoodie said yesterday: "While I am pleased that we have achieved ratings of fair and good in Medway, we are aiming to do more to improve the health of our population.

"We are, for instance, ensuring that people are getting fast diagnosis and treatment for cancer, and improving stroke care. These are improvements that will help us to increase life expectancy for people in Medway and reduce the unacceptable inequalities in health that residents in Medway still experience."

But the message is "Must do better - a lot better".

****

How often do you see oriental typefaces used on registration plates, numbers and letters moved to make up words, little marks inserted to help that process, or registrations so small you can't read them?

Around Medway it is a regular occurrence because they can get away with it.

Well now the government is proposing to double the fine to £60. Consultations are under way.

I would advocate they should pass it on to the CCTV cars and camera teams to action.

They are not pumping money into the council as much as they were - so they need new cash sources.

***

A survey this week found that teachers top the list of sleep-deprived workers.

They get, on average, just six hours and three minutes sleep a night, threequarters the minimum thought to be good for you.

The 2009 Travelodge Sleep and Professions study put them ahead of worrying civil servants and anxious doctors and nurses.

According to their findings, 41 per cent of teachers lie awake at night worrying about work-related issues such as job security, budget cuts within the education sector and anti-social behaviour in the classroom. In addition a quarter of the Government’s lowest paid workers also admitted to fretting about money worries during the night.

According to their findings (and it must be true because it was issued by a PR company) 38 per cent of civil servants lie awake at night worrying whether Gordon Brown can fix Britain’s fiscal mess and whether a Tory Government is imminent while the outbreak of swine flu has been stressing 47 per cent of the medical profession.

I'm among those whose bedtime tipple is a tot of whisky. It comes second to wine, however.

The top ten professions which get the most sleep include housewives, IT experts, company directors, accountants and financial advisors, police, firemen and bus drivers.

***

Last night's debate on the worldwide campaign to save the Aveling and Porter building went exactly the way I forecast: pull it down.

There could now be some fun!

The building's defenders make ideal adversaries for the council.

***

I have just been advised that Liz Dickens, a former KM reporter, Kent Journalist of the Year, one-time council colleague and head of PR at Kent Police has died.

Liz - a descendant of Charles Dickens - had been ill for some time.

My thoughts are with her husband and family.

___

Thursday October 15

THE fate of a historic building which has attracted support from enthusiasts across the world could be decided by councillors tonight.

The Aveling and Porter building is owned by the council which used it as its headquarters until it moved to Gun Wharf.

It's a splendid structure with lots of features that would be cherished in many a town.

But it was as the headquarters of the Aveling and Porter steamroller business that it was designed by a local architect, using red stones.

Today it is surrounded by multi-storey offices built by Gardners who absorbed the business.

But what a business it was.

It was the world's biggest maker of steam rollers, vehicles and agricultural wagons. They went everywhere from Strood, Khartoum, Alice Springs, India, Asia, America, the Pacific…. and they brought industrial expansion with them where ever they worked.

The council sees megabucks along the Strood waterfront.

It no longer has a use for the land - except to fill some holes in their pockets.

I won't knock it. I pay my council tax. And I want to see Medway blossom: it was for that hope I came here 18 years ago.

But in towns that lack much in the way of architectural splendour the Aveling and Porter building stands out.

The Medway Towns has a fascination with destroying its history.

We sit on the most important of Roman roads. But where are you pointed to the Roman remains of Medway?

Rochester oozes history. But after the High Street, the Castle and the Cathedral what do we boast?

Where are the blue plaques; where the trails to find our Roman and Saxon history, our naval memorials, or a Dickens trail? Where are the guide books to the homes of the famous who really did live here?

Chatham has an historic dockyard. Brompton's barracks is without match in the historical and architectural stakes.

When did you last hear anything of archaeological discoveries in this area? I'll tell you. It was when some ships' remains were uncovered under dockyard floorboards. Before that it was the remains of the Saxon cathedral, foundi n the early Nineties.

There has been no mention of the excavations carried out for the council on the Corporation Street site, or at Rochester Riverside for the government. History slows down development.

Look at Rochester Riverside: see how it is racing ahead! It emulates over-wintering snails: It moves ahead as fast as it did before the ground was raised to improve its suitability to developers!

The rhetoric is the only thing that shows signs of moving.

We claim to be a tourist centre. The new leisure strategy cries out "We can make money from the day-tripper!"

That strategy subtly changed. A while back the council was anticipating being an overnight location for visitors to the UK for the Olympics.

The aim was to keep them here, just a few minutes from the Olympic stadia. But we can't: we don't have the hotel beds.

And once you have seen the Castle, the Cathedral and the Guildhall Museum what's there to do?

Some good restaurants, Bluewater, Maidstone…

There is no point in destroying an historic building like the Aveling and porter building. The councillors meeting tonight would do well to look at the proposals from SAVE Britain's Heritage and in particular Huw Thomas Architects.

The architectural concept is different, is exciting, and would ensure the river, the Castle and the Cathedral have an interesting range of buildings more in keeping with the Medway Towns than ranks of waterfront apartment blocks standing six, eight or 10 storeys high, that block the light and reduce the views of the river supposed to be at the heart of our community.

Gillingham sold its museum collection - and its history - half a century ago.

The council tonight has a chance to say Regeneration and History can complement each other - and they could save the Aveling and Porter building.

I'm not a betting man - but guess what will happen!

___

Wednesday October 14

The man in charge of Medway's rubbish died at the weekend.

Russell Davies was a genuine, hard-working servant of the community.

He tried hard.

He wasn't popular with contractors. He tied them to doing the job as cheaply as possible. He was looking after the community's cash.

But I sense that now he has gone he could be the fall guy for the collapsed council contracts that were due to have come into effect a month ago.

A week before their introduction, facing legal threats from those who did not get one of the contracts, the whole lot was withdrawn.

As head of waste, Russell was one of those in charge of drawing up the contracts.

I know, from talks we had over the past two years, that he was concerned to control the costs, and keep the pressure on the collectors, sorters and sweepers (especially their managements) to get the best value for Medway.

Looming over everything was the prospect of massive fines being raised next year each time Medway consigned a ton of rubbish to the ground.

Equally worrying were government pressures (originating from Europe) to turn nearly half the Towns' waste into recycled goods.

Today his director issued a brief statement that said the council's thoughts were with his family.

No thanks for his service to the people of Medway and (before that) Rochester-Upon-Medway.

What should have happened from the very start was that Medway's waste contract was a classic case of needing specialist consultants to draw up the contracts. They didn't and now I cannot help but think of scapegoats.

On behalf of the people of Medway who expect their streets to be clean, their rubbish to be collected on time and their recycling to end up being reused, thanks, Russell.

Medway has lost a good and loyal servant.

***

I received an invitation yesterday to go on a Plain English course.

The enticement was that I would be sharing my time with local and national government officials.

"For government agencies, writing in plain language helps citizens understand your policies, which reduces confusion and civic friction and greatly increases the chances that procedures will be widely accepted. By adopting a clear, easily understandable writing style, governments can save time and resources," said the invite.

It was when I saw it was an "60-minute webinar" that offered "program benefits" that I became suspicious.

The $199 fee clinched it.

The Yanks are trying to teach the English how to write.

Had I accepted the invitation I would have learned the keys to writing clear, concise, easily understood communications.

I would have rid my correspondence of pretentious wording, "smothered verbs," and stale cliches, and learned to write coherent policies and procedures regardless of the audience.

It did remind me of my days in local government, though.

Medway Council (for whom - thank the Lord - I did not work) once did well on Plain English.

These days some of its reports have become draped in the sort of concealment that need translators and lists of acronyms to unfathom.

My belief has never changed: wrapping up what you say in loads of verbiage is done because you are unsure, or you want to trip decision-makers.

___

Tuesday October 12 2009

So maybe you can create a new area for jobs out on the windswept expanses of Grain. It's certainly better than a massive road junction (which is also feasible) linking Sheppey, Medway and Southend.

The proposals - expected to get council approval in December - have been discussed for some time with the council's planning team.

They had this seemingly far-fetched idea for many years. And certainly it is a better use for the former oil terminal than the derelict land it had become, locked behind fences.

The planners' problem has always been getting a decent road provided after government cash seemed to run out on a roundabout on the outskirts of High Halstow.

Now it would appear that with £5 million from National Grid (who want to develop the business park), the government will stump up maybe £10 million.

That will pay for a bridge to replace the railway crossing at Grain, and what's left over with pay to improve the roadway through to Fenn Corner.

I have mixed feelings about the development. It's in an area of wild beauty tat attracts the wildfowl. But we need jobs to be created in Medway.

And we don't just need them for the post-graduates (though they are certainly required).

We also must have the more traditional jobs, manual, packaging, commercial…

A logistics park has been proposed at Kingsnorth. Now more freight-related jobs are being suggested further out on the peninsula where the freight arrives in containers.

All that is needed now is for the rail line to be upgraded, and we could see an easing of our traffic problems.

***

I have a certain amount of sympathy with the MPs who are complaining about the rules being changed retrospectively over their expenses.

Change their existing rules: that is right.

Change them years after they were introduced and approved, and then demand back the cash that was paid out under those rules - that seems unfair.

After all, would you feel happy about repaying bonuses you might have been awarded a few years ago?

I suspect that if a sitting Member is foolhardy enough to take the case to the High Court they might actually win the argument - but lose the support of constituents and political leadership.

Talk about a Catch 22 situation. It's the first time the politicians have caught themselves in that way!

***

Good news from the High Court about another exposure that led to unfairness.

That was the case of the nurse who exposed the disgusting, degrading way patients were being left in their own filth in hospital.

She was stripped of her professional standing by the Nursing and midwifery Council for whistleblowing.

Now the judges have ruled them out of order. And rightly so.

***

We'll soon have a new set of 50p coins to rattle in pockets and purses.

They are being issued to mark the Olympics.

The first, designed by a nine-year-old viewer of Blue Peter, will be officially unveiled on tonight's programme.

It features a high jumper, and is the 17^th design to appear on the back of the coin since decimalisation in 1971.

___

Monday October 12 2009

THE growth of the Sure Start movement continues apace in Medway.

The newest - the 15^th of 22 planned for the Towns - opened in Rochester on Friday.

Medway wasn't the first, but it was among the early takers of the idea of providing support and help to groups of children and families with poorer health, development and attainment outcomes.

The first centres began in 1998. They unite health and maternity services, childcare, play and early education for all children up to five with information for mums and dads about getting back to work or training.

Midwives, health visitors, library services, and children's centre staff are all specialists in helping families and children.

The other important thing is that offer families the chance to meet with other parents, carers and children at numerous events that they stage.

Medway was in the third wave when it opened the Chatham Sure Start Centre(now known as All Saints) in 2001.

The Rochester centre - the first in the old city - was opened at St Margaret’s at Troy Town Primary School by the Dean of Rochester, the Very Rev Adrian Newman.

Adrian - definitely not one to let titles get in the way of being part of the community - announced the centre would be working in partnership with The Rainbow Foundation Unit which is already based at the school.

Cllr Les Wicks has championed the centres ever since he became the education - now Children’s Services - portfolio holder.

He sometimes gets the sharp edge of this blog, but he has certainly helped to change the image of some areas of Medway through concentrating on the youngsters from their first months.

More are due to open soon. They include Delce Infant School, Rochester and three in Gillingham - at Riverside, Deanwood and Miers Court primary schools.

Nearly sixty years ago, when I was a child in postwar Britain, we had similar services provided for pre-school children and families.

Somehow they disappeared in the passing years, but have reappeared.

I just hope that this time the modern-day equivalent won't suffer the same lack of funding and lost priorities that came with never having it so good.

___

Friday October 9 2009

I have a feeling nothing has changed with the announcement by E.On to put the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station on hold.

They are talking about delaying to 2016 because of the drop in electricity demand during the recession.

Kingsnorth and Grain are both due to close by the end of 2015.

A little give, a little take, the PR pressure would be off and they could press ahead.

On the other hand, if the scheme is shelved (and it is interesting to note that the coal ships are now well past their sell-by dates) there could be a number of power workers in Medway looking for new jobs after all.

***

The news that there are special swimming lessons taking place at a Medway pool specifically for muslim women is likely to excite some of the more extreme citizens.

Why?

I do not understand the processes which trigger their annoyance, anger or whatever.

Nor do I understand the logic of locking the ladies behind enclosed walls so that no man can gaze upon them. But if they are happy for that to happen, and the council is prepared to give them those conditions, so what?

Keep swimming, girls - and paying for the privilege.

***

I have been looking at a consultation document drawn up by a council consultant after he spent a year working on it.

The consultant has clearly not immersed himself in the area as fully as he thought.

His plan showing all his ideas for improving Twydall includes Langton Way.

I know Langton playing fields - but Langton Way?

Me thinks he means Ito Way.

Not very reassuring that one of the key roads in the area he has studied, planned and redesigned should have such a howler.

What others could the council taxpayers have funded?

___

Thursday October 8 2009

There was nothing surprising in the decision to push ahead with the closure of St John's school in Chatham earlier this week.

As one councillor said to me: "We looked at all the evidence and the only thing that was new was its Ofsted report had slipped from good to satisfactory."

And so the pupils will be moved on.

Parents will have a massive task to find new classes. They will have to reassure confused children that they will make new friends and find teachers who are just as nice as the ones they are losing.

And the children will go through the very trauma the educationalists had sought to end - upheaval changing schools before the age of 11.

Few people have come out of this with heads held high.

Wait. Did I say few? - perhaps I should have said none.

Questions are being asked about the role of the chief officers, and indeed, whether the Children and Adults directorate is too huge to control.

Cllr Les Wicks, the portfolio holder, has smiled and charmed his way through the consultations, with many a stutter and more than once an embarrassed silence. He was exposed and he was found wanting by the parents, teachers and governors.

Definite answers were lacking from Simon Trotter, the assistant director responsible for a series of embarrassing schools howlers over the years, ranging from the £300,000 wasted on plans for the new Borstal primary to this latest set of shenanigans.

And Rose Collinson, his director with overall responsibility for seeing the plans pushed through? Her star has needed plenty of burnishing for the first time as plans have come unstuck.

It was a far cry from the work programme objective under the "Every Child Matters" policy: They were supposed to be able to "enjoy and achieve".

Of course, no one will be sacked.

Only one Cabinet member has ever lost his job, and there is a General Election in the offing.

But as the regeneration of Medway becomes another dream, as cuts in government spending seem certain to hit the Thames Gateway, is the time rapidly coming when changes in the administration really are needed?

***

Meanwhile, councillors are wondering why the A level results have still not been announced.

Is it because our pupils - and therefore our schools - have failed to achieve the standards everyone had expected?

___

Wednesday October 7 2009

These interruptions to normal service must stop……

***

At long last someone is beginning to show a modicum of commonsense and tell the government to whistle over its policies to limit cars on new housing developments.

Currently the policy in Medway is that no property can have more than one and a half parking spaces in major urban developments.

Doesn't matter whether it is a one-bed flat or a five-bed mansion - that's been the norm since 2001.

And as the plans have come forward to increase the Medway Towns population from 250,000 to 300,000 those figures have continued to frustrate developers, and anger the councillors who were forced to adopt them.

On Tuesday the Cabinet will be urged by officers to adopt the new Essex local parking standards. Thses set a standard of two parking spaces for every two-, three- or 20-bed residence. And it is not the maximum limit - it is the minimum.

There have been numerous occasions where plans have been submitted to the development control committee to approve "15-flat development with seven parking spaces". Increasingly across the political divide the councillors have united in protest.

Fortunately, few such plans have been approved. But there have been plenty that provide just one parking place - and the prospect of cars cluttering residential kerbs for decades to come.

It was one result of the Whitehall dream machine that conceived reusing previously built-upon land (the brownfield policy). That was an excellent concept. It helped preserve what remains of our green and pleasant Medway. Limiting car parking in a community where the bus network is at best rudimentary - and the political will has been lacking to improve it.

Now the parking policy could change - and not before time.

We have too many airy-fairy ideas of public transport fulfilling the needs of the community without the reality that goes with it.

There is to be investment in Fastrack principles, bus priorities (though don't use those words around some Cabinet members!) and improved bus stops. But where are the new routes to penetrate areas of Medway that desperately need buses?

Where are the direct routes being opened up to allow buses to move people quickly, efficiently, cheaply, frequently and punctually?

And where is there a pricing policy to entice passengers? Medway is one of the costliest bus areas in the country.

***

It appears that the St George's Centre will not be available to the family of the man who saved it from the bulldozers to host his post-funeral wake.

Lt-Cmdr Harry Blease, ex Mayor of Gillingham, instead will have the reception at Pembroke Lodge, opposite the Municipal Offices currently being gutted to provide a massive old people's residence.

___

Friday October 2, 2009

THE Local Government Ombudsman has today found Medway Council guilty of maladministration - and points the finger of blame squarely at council officers.

He accuses them of not giving councillors all the facts.

It is the latest problem to hit the regen team under its director, Robin Cooper.

This is the same directorate that tries to manage the housing department, has just seen its waste disposal contracts rubbished, and runs the CCTV cars which merrily park on double yellow lines to buy sandwiches but book mums dropping off their kids at school.

The Ombudsman was asked to look at the concessionary fares scheme after the council adopted the national one amid considerable huffing and puffing about under-funding … only to admit later that it had unnecessarily panicked.

The specific problem one blind resident picked up on was that he - and others like him - were being discriminated against by the council.

Disadvantaged people were completely ignored as the council decided to sell an annual ticket for companions to travel with them.

They also lost the right to travel at any time of day or night together or alone despite the council saying it put the customer at the heart of everything it did, and that it had a disability "charter" which promised they would always be consulted before changes were made.

It probably broke a few laws on the way as well.

But once again a critic has highlighted the way the council bulldozes ahead without once thinking about consultations with the community it is supposed to serve.

While I will criticise councillors for unfairness, arrogance and incompetence, this time the officers are to blame.

It has been evident for a long time that despite glossy newsletters lying around the council for staff to pick up and read, there is little knowledge of the decisions they are all tied to.

It goes something like this.

Imagine a new law comes in. An officer (or maybe several) looks at it and decides there are implications for the way it works.

A report goes to Cabinet - and occasionally to the full council - which says we have to do this, that or the other differently. The new policy is adopted, and everyone feels they have control.

But if it is something predominantly to do with social care (which is in the Children and Adults directorate), the policy may also apply to the Regeneration, Community and Culture directorate… or vice versa.

The disability code at the centre of today's embarrassment was conceived in Children's and Adults. But as the Ombudsman says it applies across the whole council. And that never seems to have percolated through to the Regeneration et al Directorate.

Certainly it was not mentioned to councillors (who should have remembered but didn't) when the changes to ticket prices and pass hours came in.

As more than one wag has said: "Children and Adults' deals with people… Regeneration Etc deals with things."

It's not the only investigation the Ombudsman has going on into the running of services provided by the Regeneration directorate.

It would not surprise me if there are further revelations that the commands from Cabinet do not reach the middle and junior management of the council - especially in transport where the bus planners are now responsible for special needs transport.

As for consultations - no one can say I didn't tell you so.

Oh, one final thought. It comes to something when (once again) two key portfolio holders of areas for which they have direct responsibility have to be told by the Medway Messenger that they have sinned. None of the officers thought to tell them....

___

Wednesday September 30, 2009

Those ruts and mini-mountains underfoot (see yesterday's blog) have proved too much.

I have been ordered to take complete rest for a week.

Normal service will resume.

___

Tuesday September 29, 2009

It should be a requirement of all councillors immediately they are elected that they break a leg.

It would give them a new insight into living in the Medway Towns.

Lurching around the A2 armed only with a crutch has given me fresh thoughts about the condition of our pavements. It would do the councillors no harm at all to experience the same.

The pavements have an occasional hole - not as bad as many places. What they do have in abundance, however, is unevenness.

Suddenly the path is aslant. Then it dips - or climbs. Maybe it is only an inch. But it is uneven. And if your ability to move is impaired (what we used to called a disability before it became de rigeur) that puts you at a worse disadvantage.

A quarter of all residents - which includes children - will soon be of pensionable age (or in the case of councillors about threequarters).

Exclude the kids. That leaves about 62,500 of the population - or about one in three - having to avoid tripping the light fantastic.

And they are likely to be the ones with sticks, wheelchairs, crutches, general aches - and a powerful vote - most affected by the state of the paved areas.

The roads are a mess. We know that - but again not as bad as many places. The council is spending an additional £4 million by April 2011 to bring them up to something approaching a decent standard.

But little or nothing appears to be spent on footpaths.

There are trees, posts and a multitude of largely unnecessary signs blocking them..

Some of the trees are growing from the gutters (just have a look at the Tesco roundabout on the A2).

There are cycleways where pedestrians are relegated to a narrow strip not wide enough for a wheelchair.

Hedgerows lean over - some of them have obviously been growing over the public right of way for years.

Parked cars use the pavements with the full approval of the council leader. But it makes it impossible for people with disabilities to get through.

Bus stops are miles apart (well they are if you are having to physically push yourself to get to one).

Waste teams leave wheelie bins in the middle of the path, blue boxes, too.

And so it goes on.

The attraction of breaking every councillor's leg is that they would see for themselves the problems that they would not normally see, and that they encourage.

It would also cut down the amount of cars polluting the atmosphere.

And a broken leg is a temporary disability.

I think I shall ask my ward councillors to set a good example the minute I next see them - and break a leg. By the time the next cricket season comes round my three should be able to play reasonably well.

***

The debate on the future of primary schools continues with the publication last night of the officers' report over St Johns Infants.

You may recall that the Cabinet wanted to close it but that the scrutineers have sent it back for further consideration.

In what probably will be the final debate, the Cabinet will move again to the St George's Centre next Tuesday simply to discuss the fate of the infants school.

Education is an emotive subject.

Every time there is a change of school there are agonies for parents and children. There is frequently a struggle to get the child in.

I recall when my family moved to Medway we had major challenges, but both our children eventually found places and did well.

The thing that astonishes me, reading the reports, is that there were 6,280 objections to the proposed closure of St Johns - and just three in favour.

Reading the numerous reports, and officers comments, one underlying fact remains.

There is money to be saved if St John's closes.

Everything else appears to be secondary to that simple consideration.

At what point does consultation mean anything when the wishes of the majority are continually over-ruled?

___

Monday September 28

I have just heard that Harry Blease, a former Mayor of Gillingham and a notable sailor (I think I am right to say he retired as a Lt-Commander), died yesterday morning.

Harry was like the morning star: his eyes were always twinkling and that made him seem physically much bigger than in fact he was.

He served as a councillor on Gillingham Borough Council for years, and even after he retired he continued to do things in the background to improve the lot of the community.

Among his achievements was saving the St George's Centre which is now the council's debating chamber.

The navy planned to demolish it after they pulled out in the early 1980s.

The boxes to remove the stained glass windows were already built, and the memorials had gone when Harry stepped in, and fought for its retention.

It was eventually sold to the old council for a peppercorn, and staff - partly inspired by his efforts and partly by their own families' links with the naval church - set about tracking down all the memorials and restoring them to their rightful places.

Some have disappeared since those days, but the church is a tribute to their efforts, and Harry's determination.

He almost succeeded in attracting a Japanese car manufacturer to Gillingham thanks in part to the Will Adams links, but it was not to be. Sunderland and Swindon eventually won. But it was a measure of the man that he never gave up trying.

A fuller tribute will appear in Friday's Medway Messenger.

***

Mark Reckless, the Conservative councillor and local parliamentary hopeful, has written to me to explain why St John's Infants should be saved.

You may recall he was the man to whom I attributed the saving of St Peter's infants school.

He says the reason the Chathamshould be saved is because the education chief, Rose Collinson, misled the Cabinet.

He has written to me a letter which I will quote in full.

"I see you prefer to rebuild St John's brick by brick in Strood rather than credit me with putting children's education before political convenience. Nonetheless, please see below.

"Medway Council's policy framework requires the Council's Cabinet 'to shape the future of Medway schools in line with school organisation principles'. Rose Collinson, the Council's education director, assured the Cabinet on 17 September, that one of those school organisation principles was that:

"She then used that principle as a basis for advising Cabinet that St Peter's and St John's schools should close as they are small infant schools that cannot provide education from 3-11 (ignoring the rather more important points that they achieve significantly better than average results and only had a surplus places issue in respect of a single year's intake).

"On Thursday at an Overview and Scrutiny meeting my sustained questioning led Rose Collinson to admit that she had misled Cabinet with that statement. What she claimed was a school organisation principle was not. The relevant school organisation principle supports only amalgamation of infant and junior schools, not closure of infant schools, or closure of schools that cannot offer nursery education.

"Rather than using the school organisation principles to make recommendations to Cabinet on closures, as required by the policy framework, officers relied on something from a different document and told Cabinet that it was one of the school organisation principles when this was not true.

"I asked the Council's head legal officer to flag the problem to Cabinet before they decided on closures. She refused to do so. Overview and Scrutiny have therefore sent the closure of St John's back to Cabinet to reconsider as the decision was not taken, as required, on the basis of the school organisation principles."

The school's head legal officer - to whom he refers - is Deborah Upton, head of the council's housing department.

I am happy to put Cllr Reckless' side of the argument.

It is of course coincidental that the Conservatives are prepared to fall out with their senior members of the Cabinet over Strood's schools whilst Ridge Meadow is sacrificed.

___

Friday September 25 2009

The audit committee of Medway Council met last night - and once again the expected report on the Erinaceous Three failed to appear.

It had been called for three months ago by the deputy opposition leader, Cllr Glyn Griffiths. It was in his ward many of the problems occurred that the three whistleblowers tried to highlight.

For those with short memories, the Erinaceous Three were housing staff who realised hundreds of thousands of pounds of rent money was being thrown at the housing repairs contractor, a company called Erinaceous.

There were payments for two bathrooms, double kitchens and so on in a series of errors approved by housing bosses.

They had evidence that pressure was put on staff to sign the bills.

Instead of being listened to, and their concerns considered, the three were suspended. Two later lost their jobs, being declared redundant.

All three successfully took the council to the Employment Tribunal. Their damages added more than £70,000 to the unplanned, but sizeable, bill for bringing the council's housing up to "decent standards".

Among those in the firing line was the council's chief legal officer, Deborah Upton.

She had a specific role in protecting the men: as Monitoring Officer she was supposed to be the guardian of all whistleblowers at the council. But Miss Upton authorised their suspensions, wrongly as it became apparent.

The Audit Commission was called in by the Erinaceous Three.

It roundly criticised the council for its shoddy management of the contract and money-wasting, but said it has no power to influence the position of the Erinaceous Three.

The council's 3,000 homes are all supposed to meet standards of decency set by the government by next year.

The money cannot be recovered. Erinaceous, the contractor, went bust. The improvement work has been on hold for two years.

The firm that picked up the pieces of Erinaceous - and with it people who had worked for a succession of less than satisfactory council contractors in the Medway Towns stretching back to before the unitary authority was created - currently only does the routine maintenance.

Meanwhile, what of Ms Upton?

She carried out an investigation into what went wrong. She found the council acted correctly.

The Employment Tribunal disagreed with her.

So did the auditors.

But the issue has still not been considered by either the audit committee or the employment committee.

The massive backlog of capital work is about to be awarded to two companies.

As I have said before, I only bet on certainties, and they don't come up very often. But it's Concorde to a Short Sunderland who will get half the work…

And the report to the committee?

Ms Upton - now the housing chief - has told councillors it is taking longer to write than she thought.

***

Last night - in what was an unfortunate clash of dates - the Children's scrutiny committee also met.

It was an emergency session to consider the call-in by six Conservatives of the decisions to close two primary schools.

I must be getting jaundiced in my old age, but the whispers - yet to be confirmed as I write (but you'll see it on the news pages today) - are that the other school in Strood, St John's, could be saved.

The committee (strongly weighted by the Conservative majority) has called on the Cabinet to reconsider its fate after the senior committee had saved St Peters.

It is purely coincidental, as I have already pointed out, that Cllr Mark Reckless is the Conservatives candidate in the next General Election.

Cllr Reckless - a Strood councillor, incidentally, who was always doubtful about scrapping St Peters - will be seeking to overturn a 213 majority on the sound principle of third time lucky.

Two opposition councillors, Teresa Murray (Lab) and Geoff Juby (Lib), are hoping to undermine his campaign.

To be fair, Mrs Murray has always been at the heart of the fight for all the schools to stay open.

***

A red Jaguar belonging to one of the three portfolio holders who sparked the introduction of the barrier at the entrance to Gun Wharf was parked in the disabled parking spaces again this week.

But fear not.

Cllr Tom Mason was (at last) displaying a Blue Badge.

For applicants over 65, a medical report is generally sought from a GP or consultant before a badge is issued. If the applicant receives the low rate Mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance then a medical report will be applied for.

Cllr Mason - portfolio holder for disabled services, recording star, one-time only Conservative councillor on Rochester council, ex-City mayor, former orphanage boy, RAF, coiffurist and relaxationist - is in his mid-Seventies.

___

Thursday September 24 2009

THE house building boom may have died across Britain - but not in Medway.

Last year it exceeded its target by 99 homes (914 were completed upto the end of March), and this year even more are expected to be built.

Given that 2008/09 was a 10 year high, that's pretty good going.

But it has caused some problems for the council.

Builders have been selling about half to social landlords - causing the council to intervene.

It doesn't want too many affordable homes within the projects or they risk becoming ghettos. So they have limited the numbers to a maximum of 35 per cent.

Which for a council often criticised by its opponents for only having a 25 per cent target isn't bad.

The report is pretty upbeat despite the downturn in the economy.

The current year is expected to hit the magical 1,000 new homes in a year target for the first time.

The details are contained in a report to the renamed Medway Renaissance Board, now known as the Medway Regeneration Partnership Board.

There is a gloomy prospect for the following year with less than 600 homes projected as being built in 2011/12.

But then the building boom is expected to really swing into action with four figure housing being provided over the following few years.

Meanwhile there seems to be less enthusiasm from the board for becoming one of two eco development areas.

At its last meeting, the Hoo and Strood areas were proposed as places to demonstrate how to achieve the 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 agreed at the G8 summit.

It would certainly turn Medway into a world focus. But is it achievable?

The idea of the area becoming a test bed for cutting gasses, improving homes, and building new properties on a scale unprecedented in the area since the First World War, will thrill some - and horrify many.

It came from Peter Head, the Eco Region Innovation Champion (don't blame me - I didn't come up with his title).

He said the Medway Gateway (that's what they call Hoo, Chattenden and Strood) would be "a suitable and probable site".

Key factors included the river which "provides an integrated resource system" sustainable major development east of London with "better resource management providing economic opportunity and activity including local food production", energy and waste systems should provide energy and compost for the area and stationsshould be served by "higher speed and efficient services".

The likely sticking point is that Mr Head wants to get the community involved. And consultation (let alone involvement) is not something that Medway is noted for.

He talked about Medway retrofits in areas of 20,000 to 50,000 people.

That means stripping homes and rebuilding them, or the sort of mass bulldozing and rebuilding that was a feature of slum clearances in the Fifties and early Sixties.

That would "pull in the funding and investment of sovereign wealth funds and pension investment capital", he forecast.

"Where there is momentum already it is important to lock into this and use the opportunity to gain this investment."

I wonder what the people of Hoo think of that/

I'd bet it means lots more blocks of flats, drinking Tonbridge and Medway's waste water, and racing to work by boat.

And I doubt the farmers will be thrilled by the prospect of producing more food. Elsewhere in Medway the farmers are keen to sell their land for much more profitable housing.

As for cutting the carbon emissions, tell that the campaigners against the planned new Kingsnorth power station.

The government could about to approve a new coal-fired station. It will rely entirely on equally untried systems to capture the gasses it gives off, with the home - just as unproved - that sometime they will find a use for the gas they hope to pump into the old North Sea oil fields.

I sense yet another flypast by the Porcine Squadron.

***

Talking of consultations, Gravesham recently carried out one.

as a result it wants to introduce a controlled parking zone in a broad area around the town centre to avoid commuter car parking clogging up streets.

In a statement it said: "The council put the idea to nearly 3,000 residents and sought wide consultation on the scheme which has brought a positive response with only 128 residents raising any objections."

What it didn't say was that the "positive response" - the majority in favour - was .... 17 out of 2,943 homes that were cavassed.

The ayes have it.

___

Wednesday September 23, 2009

I intimated there would be further news on the car park at Gun Wharf, but I didn't realise it would be quite this quick.

The sweeping broom of bureaucracy controlling the car park at the front of the council headquarters has already found new crannies - rather akin to the way the self-perpetuating civil service.

After the directors' email addresses were published as the only means for the local electorate to gain access to the car park, they delegated to their assistant directors the right to authorise visitors (with sufficient notice and justification to be there) to park in front of Gun Wharf.

You may recall that the council offices are paid for by the general public, as are the staff's wages, and by whom the councillors are elected to have allowed this mayhem to happen.

Well, Joseph Ebearthur, buildings boss at the council, has clarified for staff how members of the general public can gain access.

"Visitor parking is strictly by prior reservation, approved by an assistant director or director," the man under the arm of the legal eagle, Deborah Upton, one of those assistant directors, told staff.

"Once the approval is given please contact the reception team by email and arrangements will be made to reserve a bay. Visiting blue badge holders can gain access using the buzzer and no reservations are required for them to use the car park."

Which is fine - if the bay has not been allocated to a visitor by one of the directors.

That happened two days after the barrier came into force.

The barrier was introduced against random visitors deciding they wanted to visit planning, chat to a councillor or simply exercise their once-given, now removed, democratic right to listen to council debates. Unless they walk a mile there - and another back after listening to the pearls flowing from our debating councillors.

All registered users (ranging from those staff who have to pop out for meetings, to those who don't and including councillors who can no longer meet with their constituents on a daily basis) have fob keys to open the gate.

And now they are under CCTV supervision with the council's CPP (car park police) moving against them for the slightest contraventions.

Park in the wrong bay and their fob will be de-activated until they remove their car.

If someone uses their allocated space they must leave their car in a safe place, report the incident to the reception, return to the car - and wait.

Mr Ebearthur said: "The caretakers will endeavour to resolve the issue within 15 minutes. If you attempt to block the person in or wrongly park your car, your fob will be deactivated."

Meanwhile the council taxpayers are paying for them to waste 15 or 20 (or maybe more) minutes running back and forth, employing CPPs, and then tracking down the individuals who've blocked them, who in turn must drop everything and move their cars. I reckon on average that's going to cost the council taxpayer about £75 each time someone parks wrongly.

Mr Ebearthur finished: "I hope these arrangements will enable all to benefit from the use of the car park."

Well, it should if there are not more important visitors, or you are a member of the public, disabled, pregnant, elderly - or simply needing to sort out a problem at the council headquarters.

There is hope for some.

"Investigations are still on-going regarding the provision of drop-off bays for staff and staff visiting from other offices," said Mr Ebearthur.

"The provision of short-term visitor parking for planning visitors is also being investigated."

But it seems democratic rights have been left out of that equation.

***

The Greens in Maidstone want to introduce a local currency to keep trade in the county town.

They are proposing shopkeepers should follow the example of those in Lewes. The Sussex stores have produced their own notes that can only be spent in their own premises.

Gimmick? - certainly.

Sensible? - possibly.

Could it be that the many and varied attractions of Chatham's shopping centre (the heart of the new City of the Thames Gateway) could finally be hurting neighbouring traders? - don't make me laugh.

***

There was a 63 minute queue at the blood clinic in Medway Maritime hospital yesterday.

Having needlessly starved myself for more than the requisite 14 hours, I went and had a coffee.

But not before I spotted Vernon Hull, the chairman of the hospital trust, surveying the public waiting area currently being rebuilt.

So I had a quick word with him and his colleague, who turned out to be the man in charge,

Apparently a second phlebotomy area is being planned - for outpatients.

But as the queue yet again patiently waited in the main entranceway, that is some way off.

Mr Hull was concerned the people in the hospital waiting to be tapped for a sample could go to one of the increasing number of health living centres and avoid the queues.

That needs promoting by the other health trust - NHS Medway: Old habits die hard.

So why didn't I go to my local clinic?

I already had an appointment at the hospital and it seemed (if the doctors won't mind me saying) a chance to kill an old bird with two stones.

___

Tuesday September 22, 2009

THE admissions that have been made so far about the council's massive waste contracts show there has been one more complete foul-up by Medway Council.

At the least EU procurement laws have been deliberately broken, a string of companies angered to the extent that legal action seems likely, and millions of pounds of council taxpayers money could be needlessly wasted.

Bill number one is already known: £1 million (a drop in the ocean of the overall cost of this half-billion pound horror) will be needed to pay Veolia to get rid of the waste they collect from next week because they have to take it to a new dump.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds in fines can be expected from the government for failing to recycle rubbish - every year.

There's the contractor who has won - fairly and squarely - the contract to recycle kitchen and garden waste. They were preparing to start taking the rubbish. They now face a costly two year wait.

More is likely to be discovered over the coming weeks and months.

These contracts were being drawn up over a two year period. A week before they are to come into effect, the Cabinet today will be asked to start the processes again.

One has to ask: where was the legal advice that would have immediately shown laws were being broken? Was it sought - or was it wrongly given?

Where was the supervision from directors and councillors? The portfolio holder, Phil Filmer is a man who has direct experience of big contracts in his private life, had overall charge of the waste contracts.

How was it that simple sums to work out which company had the most points (and therefore the right to be awarded the contract) could go wrong? Has the council management forgotten calculators, spread sheets or even fingers?

We live in the world of Medway Council Open Government. The fact is the answers will not be given.

Yesterday, chief officers were frantically briefing press and councillors about the mess - though they made it clear the reporters only had 15 minutes of their time, a classic piece of Medway open governance.

The situation is so fraught with problems that an innocent request to know who was on the waste procurement team - the group putting together the recommendations - has been rejected by the council.

A spokesman said: "As an internal investigation is being carried out we will not be naming key members of staff involved in this matter at the moment."

Ironically, the query had nothing to do with the investigation. But now it does.

***

The prospect of cruise ships steaming up and down the River Medway has been raised by the council.

It follows the one and only, visit of the Fred Olsen Line's Black Prince to Chatham (actually, folks it was Gillingham, but does anyone at the council care about facts?)

She is being sold in the next few weeks to new owners - or more likely an oily beach and Indian blowtorches.

Cllr. Jane Chitty, Medway Council’s tourism queen, told reporters: "We will make every effort to build on this opportunity so that we'll be welcoming many more cruise ships to Medway in the coming years."

As the ship made her way up river, the Porcine Squadron was observed overhead.

The trouble with that piece of airy-fairyness from the Cabinet Rooms is that the river is rapidly silting up.

Small cruise ships like Black Prince are becoming increasingly rare … almost as rare as dredgers on the Medway.

The sand bars and mud flats are increasingly filling the river.

Far from considering liners spending a few hours risking grounding in the Medway, the council should be worrying whether the marinas will have enough water to float cabin cruisers.

___

Monday September 21, 2009

Do you not find it strange that even as the Cabinet was debating its decisions on the fate of the three primary schools, Conservative backbench colleagues should be calling-in the decisions for review?

I did assert last week I was not a cynic.

But with all the talk in the council about members' pre-determination of decisions being barred, and the regular check that whipping is not taking place (that being what Gilbert and Sullivan described as "never thinking for yourself at all") it does test one's credulity.

By pure chance the committee was supposed to have sat next Thursday so sit it will - having had the original meeting cancelled.

That was because they were supposed to review the proposals for the schools before the cabinet met.

Suddenly, the cabinet didn't need any help, advice, guidance or rank interference from its backbenchers. Instead, it suddenly chose to make a decision without their help.

Now the backbenchers, which happen to include two Conservatives whose wards are affected by the closures, have aired their democratic right to call it in, stalling a planned move by Labour councillors,

The whole thing will be aired this Thursday - just a week after the Cabinet's equally surprise meeting last week.

This couldn't have anything to do with keeping in with the voters, could it?

And it couldn't have anything to do with the now ultra-tight deadline to get the process moving by the end of September - or risk a 12 month delay in closing the two losers next July?

No. Of course not.

Nor was this carefully orchestrated.

As Lurkio used to say: "Nay! Nay! Thrice times nay!"

But I decided to consult his Soothsayer. She got out her crystal ball, and this is what she forecast for that meeting.

"There will impassioned pleas from the two members of the committee who just happen to be ward councillors.

"There will be much tutting and playing to the gallery.

"Labour and Liberal Democrats will join the chorus of damnation, and then the committee will vote to uphold the decision," she said.

And the councillors in whose wards the closures are coming?

"They will be able to tell their ward residents they did everything they could to save the schools, but the majority won in a democratic vote," she told me.

You will forgive me if I recall Frankie Howard's farewell comment at the end of each programme - saluta.

***

The Archbishop of Canterbury is talking at Southwark Cathedral next month ahead of the Climate Change summit in Copenhagen.

His subject is "The Climate Crisis – A Christian Response".

His invite has come from Operation Noah, a faith-based community that campaigns on climate change.

Noah is recognised in Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths as the first biblical figure to be confronted with the problem of a changing climate.

___

Friday September 18, 2009

The barrier has come down at Gun Wharf as forewarned in these pages.

You now have to phone ahead - or face a walk from the nearest pay car park of a mile.

Did someone talk about open local governance?

Medway seems to have become more and more entrenched.

The announcement a few days before that smooth-bore cannons are once again protecting Fort Amherst is no coincidence.

The barrier is another political conspiracy!

I heard it in the pub from a man, whose wife knows someone who visited Gun Wharf and overheard it - so it must be true.

There were already some cannon on the council promenade overlooking the river and public footpath to keep away boarders and riff-raff.

Fort Amherst is holding the stock that eventually once more will surround the

old dockyard and, in particular, the cannon stocks at Gun Wharf.

But for heaven's sake putting up a barrier to stop unwanted visitors to the council offices?

Open governance at Medway Council is now closed - until further notice.

(If you wonder whatever next, keep an eye on this column - you might find out soon.)

***

I'm not a betting man - I only bet on sure certs and they are so rare my cash is safe.

But I had a bet some months ago with several people that the one school that would survive the primary schools axe this time around would be St Peter's.

I am slightly cynical about the process.

It was evident there had to be a sacrificial lamb so that the councillors could have answers to offer the objectors.

Their decision had nothing whatever to do with the objection of the Conservative Candidate for Rochester and Strood at the next General Election, one Cllr Mark Reckless.

Heaven forbid that I would be that cynical….

Meanwhile, critics of the schools campaigners might have been wondering why St John's was under-represented at yesterday's discussions.

The school had a surprise visit - from the Ofsted inspectors.

It couldn't have happened on a worse day.

Or been a bigger waste of Ofsted's time and our money.

They were there yesterday morning. By going-home time the Cabinet of Medway Council had decided to get rid of the school.

They also got shot of Ridge Meadow, which has been an equal thorn in the flesh of the administration over the years.

Once again people must wonder what they have to do to demonstrate successfully against council officers pre-determined decisions.

***

Another councillor seeking higher elected office is Cllr Rehman Chishti, who hopes to win the Gillingham and Rainham seat from Transport minister, Paul Clark.

He doesn't let the dust rest on his boots.

Medway's Mr Enforcer (he's the council's enforcement supremo) is getting out his running shoes again for charitable good deeds.

A local 14-year-old has a rare brain disorder called septo-optic Dysasia: he is blind.

"I have decided to run the Maidstone Half Marathon on October 18 to help raise funds that will enable Keiran to undergo special treatment which may help him to see again," said Cllr Chishti.

"The treatment is not available in the UK and Keiran will have to travel to China for it." Details are on the website http://www.help-keiran-to-see.com/ and the councillor is appealing for sponsors.

He has already raised thousands for various local causes from previous runs.

___

 Thursday September 17, 2009

Today is the last day you can make representations on the next stage of resurrecting the Local Plan.

This is the monster which has led the politicians to resurrect the vision of Medway Magna.

Along with it there are developments proposed around most of Rainham, and another concept for turning the massive Chattenden redevelopment into an estate on the edge of Greater High Halstow. That has sent shivers down the spines of many people on the peninsula.

The real question for me is whether the council has thought sufficiently about the whole thing.

There's the ongoing issue of where the 50,000 promised new jobs will be provided (sandwiched between a big lorry park on the Kingsnorth flood plain and a new coal-fired power station being one suggestion).

Then there is transport, with the administration finally conceding that Fastrack is worth considering - even if there is reluctance to accept something conceived by KCC.

Indeed, there is a host of things missing from the overall proposals for Medway's long term future... which was the reason why the original Plan was scrapped after an acrimnious row with the first Planning Inspector on the scene, Ces Cunningham.

Not that that has anything to do with the promises from the Conservatives' Shadow Cabinet the minute it gets into power to scrap the whole sorry, costly business and return to the mayhem of the past where we at least knew what was possible in 10 years time.

***

Talking of KCC, doing the rounds at County Headquarters yesterday was a resignation note from Peter Gilroy, chief executive of Kent County Council.

He's off to pastures new next May.

If the rumours are true, his period at the helm of the highest paid job in local government (quarter of a million a year, plus perks and a useful pension) has not been easy since the arrival of Paul Carter as Leader of the Council.

***

And reference officers off to new pastures, the former head of Medway housing, Stephen ("Call me Steve") Sitch has some interesting views on social housing.

Since he suddenly left Medway Council he has become a board member for the Westcountry Housing Association.

Earlier this year he wrote to Inside Housing about registered social landlords being quasi-bureaucracies, with "managers who slavishly adhere to bureaucratic constraints imposed by the government through regulatory bodies".

He said: "They have no latitude to manage independently, decisively or effectively for the greater good of tenants or the business. Bureaucrats are defined by their aversion to risk any innovation and are inevitably drawn from the not-for-profit sector or the municipal pool of mediocrity and ineptitude."

I wonder how the present managerial team see themselves as they try to sort out the many problems in the department.

Mr Sitch said: "It’s always a mistake to employ a bureaucrat in an entrepreneurial position. When pressed, a bureaucrat will inevitably invoke a review or appraisal to deflect the need to make a decision."

Well, there have certainly been some reviews going on at Medway since things went drastically wrong.

"Landlords mimic the municipal sector, with managers moving from authority to authority for enhanced remuneration packages. How many social housing employees have truly worked outside the sector?

"If the government requires landlords to provide elements of social care, then it must pay for them."

There are certainly some undesirables living in social housing .

But there are equally unpleasant individuals in private properties too, even in those that are mortgaged.

___

Wednesday, September 16

"Although the report has some positive outcomes it shows there are some areas that require improvement and as a result of this, the judgement of the inspectors is that the school requires special measures to improve."

These soothing words came in a letter to parents last week. They were written by the chairman of governors at Gordon Junior School in Strood .

It's a great way to start the new school year, perhaps a new school for your child, to discover it is in special measures and - despite the blandness of the words - totally failing your offspring.

It's the third one in Medway school to go into special measures - a worrying reversal of recent trends.

The inspection report said: "…by 2010 the school’s results may put it among some of the lowest schools nationally."

Yet only some areas require improvement?

The chairman of governors, Andrew Moon, said there is "some areas that require improvement". He has to be joking - or living on a different planet.

The inspectors damned the school as ineffective, inadequate and providing inadequate value for money.

The kids' personal development is good.

But it stops there.

The children have now been told by the inspectors to tell the teachers when the work is too simple. How damning is that?

Gordon Junior is the place to which the pupils of two infants schools facing a closure decision tomorrow afternoon would graduate.

Small wonder the council administration has been under such vilification for its educational arrangements recently.

***

The former Conservative councillor, banned from his party for suggesting the unemployed should be sterilised, has entered into the religious fray.

He is suggesting that Islam is a corrupt and Satanic cult.

John Ward, ex-civil servant, computer buff, and outspoken Blogger of this Borough, has very strong religious views.

He is a devout Christian, and he has no time for the faith of Islam as it is being taught in some quarters.

He has gone a bit too far on his latest blog after giving space to a supporter of the younger faith.

Always one to enjoy an argument, Mr Ward can be intemperate in his choice of words.

His correspondent says: "We are told that the earthly life is a life of faith and work, and the next life is one of reward and no work."
Mr Ward says: "Existence without work, in its widest sense, is incomplete and a form of stagnation, a pointless existence especially in eternity.
"Islam is exclusive, forcing others to either convert or be killed. Therefore is it corrupt garbage …unless it completely and irreversibly eliminates all of that from its entire worldwide existence. That ball is in your court: deal with it now! Otherwise we shall know, beyond any possibility of doubt, that it is a corrupt and Satanic cult, doing the work of Satan through corruptible and sadistic men, rather than God's work."
Mr Ward is a member of the Rochester and Strood Conservatives, and is rated No 52 in the top 100 Tory blog sites.

***

The ongoing problems with insufficient wheelchairs at Medway Maritime Hospital has now attracted the attention of Medway LINk, the local involvement network which gives people an opportunity to influence things in the community.

They are also looking into the adequacy of physiotherapy and occupational therapy services for people with learning difficulties.

But from personal observations I reckon the overspilling groups of patients waiting in the corridors to use the new phlebotomy service is also to be examined.

These modern-day vampires with their hypodermic syringes, straps and disinterested grins as they suck blood out of your veins for testing seem to be swamped with customers.

Given that the last two occasions I had blood tests (at my local centre) the NHS Medway Draculas lost the samples, or couldn't be bothered to tell my doctor whether I was sick or healthy, I'm not looking forward to a further visit in the near future.

___

Tuesday September 15

Ed Balls has finally woken up to the problems of carrying out criminal checks on every mum who takes the neighbours' kids to school, and every dad who ferries them to the weekend sports events.

It is not a vote winner. More likely it is a vote loser as thousands of honest, caring, helpful friends find they must be rigorously scrutinised - at their considerable expense - to prove that they are innocent and can help their neighbour.

The intentions are good. The reality is it is madness.

The police don't have the time or the resources to check everyone. And meanwhile this country slips further into being a government-controlled state.

Crazy.

***

The ongoing problems of insufficient wheelchairs at Medway Maritime Hospital has now attracted the attention of Medway LINk, the local involvement network which gives people an opportunity to influence things in the community.

Its main role is with influencing the health professionals.

LINk's members are also looking into the adequacy of physiotherapy and occupational therapy services for people with learning difficulties.

But from personal observations I reckon the overspilling groups of patients waiting in the corridors to use the new phlebotomy service also needs to be examined.

These modern-day vampires with their hypodermic syringes, straps and disinterested grins as they suck blood out of your veins for testing seem to be swamped with customers.

Given that the last two occasions I had blood tests (at my local centre) the NHS Medway Draculas lost the samples, or couldn't be bothered to tell my doctor whether I was sick or healthy, I'm not looking forward to a further visit in the near future.

***

It seems a former head of Medway housing, Stephen ("Call me Steve") Sitch has some interesting views on social housing.

Since he left Medway Council he has become a board member for the Westcountry Housing Association.

He wrote to Inside Housing about registered social landlords being quasi-bureaucracies, with "managers who slavishly adhere to bureaucratic constraints imposed by the government through regulatory bodies".

He said: "They have no latitude to manage independently, decisively or effectively for the greater good of tenants or the business. Bureaucrats are defined by their aversion to risk any innovation and are inevitably drawn from the not-for-profit sector or the municipal pool of mediocrity and ineptitude."

I wonder how the present managerial team see themselves as they try to sort out the many problems in the department.

Mr Sitch said: "It’s always a mistake to employ a bureaucrat in an entrepreneurial position. When pressed, a bureaucrat will inevitably invoke a review or appraisal to deflect the need to make a decision."

Well, there have certainly been some reviews going on at Medway since things went drastically wrong.

___

Monday September 14

We lost several head teachers just before the end of last term.

One was summoned to Gun Wharf after an incident apparently occurred in school.

Another was due to have a meeting with government inspectors. Instead, the head went sick.

Given the pressures they are under, it amazes me there are not more going off with stress.

Trained to teach children skills, they have suddenly become responsible for high finances. They were not trained to manage budgets running into millions. But they have to.

Just as they have to answer for the quality of teaching that their school is judged to provide.

One of the major problems in Medway - which the council is trying to tackle with considerable determination - is the lack of skills in local society.

It is the legacy of years of low targets and low achievement.

It includes parenting skills.

If toddlers are left on their own, not encouraged to talk or to play, is it any wonder they arrive very backward at school?

They have to be brought out of their shells. But so, too, do their parents.

It is fine for the schools to encourage reading, writing, maths and languages, but children spend about 30 hours a week - or 1200 hours a year - in school. They spend over 60,000 hours a year with their parents - or on the streets.

If parents don't, won't or can't talk to their children, read to them, listen to what they have to say, encourage them to write and be inquisitive, what chance does any head teacher to radically improve the life of the students - and give them the skills to be able to turn the corner that has dragged down generations?

That is the lesson to which the council has still not found the answer.

One thing children need - just like their parents - is belief. Belief that things will change, and change for the better.

So why has the Cabinet of Medway Council suddenly decided to scrap the right of a Scrutiny committee (and with it the words of those who have a view on the subject) to influence its thinking on the future of three primary schools?

According to Les Wicks, the portfolio holder who has faced a pretty tough grilling on the proposals every time he has appeared at meetings, it is right and proper to end the uncertainty surrounding the schools.

So why was further scrutiny promised?

Why ignore the evidence they may produce?

And why - above all else - rob the parents, staff, governors and residents of their last opportunity to influence the decisions?

Education overlord Les said: “No decision has yet been made and the Cabinet will consider all the evidence before reaching a decision. A representative from each of the three schools will have an opportunity to address the Cabinet at the beginning of the meeting."

Whatever they decide, however they reach their conclusions, it is yet one more reason for doubting the democratic processes in Medway, and for undermining the standing of Medway Council in the eyes of the population it was supposed to serve.

___

Friday September 11

The cost of the housing repairs debacle continues to mount at Medway Council, but at least there are signs that that the multi-million contract should be better managed in future.

Deborah Upton, the legal eagle who investigated the mess and then found herself put in charge of the housing team, spent the last few days locked in her office known as the Old Bailey.

She was writing out a comprehensive list of actions being taken to ensure that it never goes wrong again.

Last night the councillors agreed everything she had written.

So they should. Just as they should have been asking the sort of questions that the Medway Messenger has been asking almost since the day the contract was awarded in December 2006.

It should satisfy the Audit Commissioner, Chris Westwood, who had severely criticised the council's appalling mismanagement of the contract, its complicated contract that was wide open to everyone's interpretation and misinterpretation, and could have kept a Gun Wharf-ful of barristers in permanent employment trying to sort it out.

No one has yet answered basic questions.

Why were kitchens paid for twice? Bathrooms, too. The payments were authorised at assistant director level. Why was Ms Upton writing the action plan this week, and presenting it to councillors last night?

Mr Westwood demanded last night's debate and the action plan, when he wrote on July 13.

So why was it only being written this week?

Could it perhaps have something to do with my observation earlier this week in this column that there was no action plan?

***

The leading organisation in the battle to save the former Aveling and Porter building in Strood from council-encouraged vandalism has just won an important court case.

They took Gravesham council to court and have forced them to preserve a Gravesend religious building.

The Victorian gurdwara, or Sikh temple, was built as a congregational church by Sir John Sulman.

He became one of Australia's top architects.

The Sikh community is in the process of building a multi-million pound gurdwara alongside the railway in Gravesend, and proposed to demolish their old home.

Their plan was to carry out a new residential development.

But SAVE Britain’s Heritage successfully challenged Gravesham council’s decision to approve the destruction on grounds that it was unlawful.

The planning committee will now reconsider the application.
Although unlisted, the temple is in a conservation area and in good condition.

Early in August, the council approved the application for its demolition to make way for a new residential development.

Like the former Civic Centre at Strood, it was flying in the face of strong opposition from SAVE, the Victorian Society, the local Civic Society, and local residents.

Their challenge was based on a number of grounds, including a failure by Gravesham council to follow proper procedure in ignoring both national planning guidance and the advice of its own conservation officer.
Medway Council will do well to consider their own actions in wanting to knock down an attractive building they own with a considerable history, and built by a leading Victorian architect.

It is, after all, the one really notable building that survives in Strood in 2009.

***

Anyone who wondered how much support the newly-independent Val and Tony Goulden have got should have seen the way they were escorted into the council meeting by the Ridge Meadow school campaigners last night.

By comparison, Sam Whittington - the Labour candidate whose selection triggered their resignations from the party - had a couple of political officers backing her.

Meanwhile, the Tories have suggested they seek legal advice over the Labour Party statement blaming them for near enough every misfortune in local society.

One observer said to me: "You did well to miss Full Council last night.

"It was absolutely terrible and the behaviour was triumphalist and rude."

"The notion of a council sitting with its back to the public and now separated by a blue rope says it all!

"The worst thing of all (apart from an apparent desire to persist with the Paddock development) is that the Schools' debate is now to be decided Dragon's Den style, ie one representative from each school is being invited to attend next week's special Cabinet Meeting on Thursday. Apparently, the members haven't made up their minds yet.

***

Anyone who remembers Spike Jones and his City Slickers will recall Chloe.

The mad musician, who delighted his fans by corrupting songs in the Forties and Fifties (and is being rediscovered by a new generation on the internet) made Chloe a minor hit.

He's being emulated by the HR team at Gun Wharf.

They love abbreviations. HR (instead of recruitment, staff matters or whatever) makes them sound important.

Their reports are almost as packed as Tonbridge and Malling's planning committees with acronyms. Whereas the borough council lists four pages of abbreviations so that the councillors can understand what they are reading, the Human Resources team at Medway Council prides itself on inventing new ones each time there is a report.

The latest is KLOE.

Neither a girl (mis-spelled in the finest Chatham traditions) nor Spike Jones' boy, it stands for a Key Line Of Enquiry.

Bemused councillors nodded and accepted the pearls of wisdom served up at this week's Employment Matters Committee (note - it's not a simple employment committee… it "matters").

I lost interest after reading KLOE demands to know whether "the organization plan, organize and develop its workforce effectively to support the achievement of its strategic priorities". (The grammar and the Americanisation of the English language is another feature of Medway's HR team.)

Maybe their idea is to bore and confuse the politicians so much they say: "Get on with it."

The spectre that out of KAOS* comes control looms large at Medway's personnel department.

Suddenly, Spike Jones seems quite sane….

(*Knowledge Acquisition in Automated Specification)

___

Thursday September 10

The Thames Gateway's political leaders yesterday signed the agreement to work together on housing, transport and skills.

They were rewarded with government promises of greater power and a degree of autonomy.

It was a major result for the authorities.

It will have a massive impact on the Gateway north of the A2.

The extremely successful Fastrack bus services will be extended to Swale and Medway - and probably someone will try to reinvent the wheel.

They also promised a 16 per cent cut in carbon emissions.

They missed one trick. They should have agreed to mine for methane.

Or at least to work together to tap the gas leaking from the many landfill sites along the development front.

It could have been one tangible way to improve Fastrack.

While everyone was signing the multi-area agreement at The Bridge £500 million development in Dartford, the University of East Anglia was busy unveiling its biomethane-fuelled bus at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedford yesterday.

It's an Optare Solo, similar to ones around Medway, except up to 80 per cent of its fuel is pumped from roof tanks rather than using standard diesel. And it has been running successfully in Norfolk and Suffolk for some time.

The methane has been farmed, mined, piped …. however you want to say it, from rubbish tips where household waste has been producing the gas.

Imagine: buses queuing up at Queen Elizabeth Fields to drain the overnight production of methane.

They could do the same at all those places between Gravesend and Dartford where the gas is burned off at night - a total waste. Of a plentiful fuel source.

***

Talking of gas, they could tap a lot at council meetings.

Tonight's Medway meeting could be explosive.

Labour is a shadow of itself. It has lost a quarter of its members since the last meeting. And if you believe their statement yesterday, the Gouldens are to blame.

Meanwhile, Cllr Tony Goulden is now the first leader of the new Independent group on the council - and they expect to get committee seats tonight. It will be at Labour's expense.

***

It will come as no surprise to anyone that the officers and councillors - notably Rose Collinson, the education director, and her political overlord, Les Wicks - will have nothing to say until after the special Cabinet meeting that will decide the fate of three primary schools facing closure.

Les will be unable to escape completely.Tonight he has to answer more public questions from residents, staff, governors, parents and (possibly) pupils about the reasons successful schools are facing closure.

The officers haven't changed their minds.

Their recommendations for all three schools remain steadfast. It's a question of whether the administration will risk it.

Given the by-election result last week - most notably the swing from Labour to Tory - I suspect they might push ahead.

Why? The answer is simple. They can get new schools paid for by the government.

It was one of the key reasons they pushed ahead with the three academies, and a promise of £75 million spent on new buildings.

___

Wednesday September 9

Following on from yesterday's comments about the housing repairs contract, tenants have received a letter from Derrick Singleton, Medway's head of landlord services (a grand way of saying housing manager).

In it he admits for the first time that their records are in a chaotic state.

The new contractors will be going to tenants' homes to check what needs to be done.

He says: "We could find that the work doesn't need to be carried out or, in the case of some boilers, has been carried out already by the repairs team."

This from the department that threw £155,000 at a contractor because of poor management.

There is a gem of PR-speak within the letter.

The delay has nothing to do with the ineptitude and profligacy highlighted by the council's own report and reaffirmed by the Audit Commission this week. It is "due to a desire to ensure you receive good quality, value for money works to your property."

The farmer's field is full of it.

***

There are occasions when I believe there was bloody-mindedness over the plans for the bus station.

Near enough everyone said they wanted The Paddock preserved. Yet someone, somewhere, decided that if the grand idea of an open park was to be spoiled they'd chop down the trees.

Why else would they suggest building in The Paddock? After all, the grand park on the waterfront has become an illusion.

There are too many pressures to build along the waterfront because they command the highest prices.

Some people keep suggesting the ideal bus station would be outside the rail station - a grand transport interchange.

Most bus users want to go shopping - or are laden with bags at the end of a day in town. They would not relish a walk to and from the station.

OK: some are there only because they have to change buses to get to their ultimate destination.

For a transport interchange to work Medway has to change its travel patterns. That will take years.

We are more car-orientated than communities in the West Midlands: we chose the car over the bus about 30 years ago.

Everyone had to have a car. If they didn't they had to have a taxi.

So the bus services were cut by Maidstone and District and the county council. There weren't the people to use them.

Now Arriva has increased the services, and passengers have returned.

But all you have to do is look at the rush hour queues to know that not enough people are on the buses.

I'm not going to nag on about the administration's philosophy that cars have more rights to the road than buses.

But it has been recognised since Margaret Thatcher's day that the Thames Gateway in Kent must change travel choices.

But this is Medway.

Public transport is being considered in isolation.

It should be part of the overall plan, just as the site for a new hotel or hospital would be.

The bus companies (there are more than just Arriva) need to be part of the thinking process.

And they aren't.

Tomorrow night Chatham's Labour councillors will mount an attack on the Conservative Leader of the Council (and chairman of Medway Renaissance) Rodney Chambers over the mounting delays to the bus station plan.

The government has made it quite clear in public meetings I have attended that it will meet the £6 million cost. But the money has to be spent by 2011. Any then left over will be returned to the Chancellor to redistribute.

The one tangible gain for the residents of the Medway Towns would be a new bus station.

It's nothing spectacular. But what else (apart from a windswept walk around a still-undeveloped Rochester Riverside site) have they had to date?

___

Tuesday September 8

If there is one thing that has dominated life at the council in recent years it is the housing maintenance debacle.

The cost of the whole thing is likely to end up close to £1 million.

And all because of mismanagement of the entire contract.

I have been covering the sorry saga for three years.

During that time I have highlighted the way money was thrown away, staff's concerns were ignored, and even councillors - with the notable exception of Labour's housing veteran, Paul Harriott - have declined to speak what was going on.

Now the Audit Commission's director of professional practice, Chris Westwood, has demanded that the council on Thursday night should actually get around to discussing what went wrong.

They should do. The inept management of the contract, the way it was open to individuals' interpretation, and the way it let the contractor supply it with competitors' quotes it should have been collecting, has probably cost the community somewhere close to £1 million.

Mr Westwood says the council found poor record-keeping, inadequate budgeting, poor implementation of new contract arrangements, and inadequate training and management direction.

Someone somewhere will question my guess-timate of cost. So let me answer now.

It cost £155,000 in overpayments wrongly approved by housing.

There was over £70,000 in payments to three whistleblowers for the unfair way they were treated by the council's senior managers. Plus there was probably £150,000 in legal costs for that alone.

Then you add the cost of the director and numerous managers' whose time was repeatedly diverted to make statements, meet solicitors, plus travel costs, phone bills, advising, discussing how to defend the council's position… as an indication Medway's directors get paid in excess of £400 each day they work.

Then there was the internal investigation into the cock-ups. Consultants were called in to advise and investigate, to assess the cost of electrical work (or the lack of it), and in one case one of the people responsible for the failings gave evidence at employment tribunal hearings.

I'll bet none of that was budgeted in the contract.

Meanwhile, there are thousands of local council tenants who continue to live in inadequate properties that don't meet the government decent homes standards.

And now the council is having to award new contracts to find a contractor (or contractors) able to do a good job of updating homes that should have been done in the past two years - and this year.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the contractor excluded from the present officers' thinking actually got the contracts?

All that by the end of next March, and all that at 2009 prices, not 2006 ones.

And if the council doesn't get it right?

Well, they won't meet the government target date (though they had the time and the money) and could have achieved it if they had done the job properly in the first case.

The councillors are being urged by the former finance director (now the council's chief executive), Neil Davies, simply to note the contents of the letter from Mr Westwood.

I hope they do more than simply note them.

Mr Westwood repeatedly says practices did not reflect well on the council or its management.

"There have been instances of poor value for money and the management of the service has not been of the standard expected," he tells councillors.

And he specifically demands the councillors should set out clearly what it intends to do now. He wants it to respond comprehensively to the identified failings, specify the detailed steps it intends to take, and explain the monitoring it plans to ensure there is no repetition.

***

Council chief executive Neil Davies will be in Dartford tomorrow leading the officers of the four Kent Thames Gateway authorities at the signing by their politicians of a Multi Area Agreement that could unite north Kent.

Most people haven't heard of local area agreements. Fewer still have any knowledge of Multiple Area Agreements.

Basically, an LAA is where the council acts as co-ordinator with all the other public organisations and an increasing number of private ones to improve the local community's way of life, They agree what they want to achieve and when, and they all commit to it through the Local Area Agreement.

The MAA is where two or more local authorities will agree common targets.

For these four authorities to agree has been a task of exceeding skill, and Mr Davies has done that with consummate ease.

Tomorrow, at The Bridge in Dartford (one of the more successful Gateway regeneration projects) Mr Davies will stand behind his council leader, Rodney Chambers, as he commits Medway (along with the leaders of Swale, Gravesham and Dartford) to three common objectives.

(They wouldn't be doing badly if they could finally get the Javelin high speed trains running in Medway and Swale before December - Dover and Ramsgate have). But they do aim to improve transport, housing and skills.

The skills aspect is being tackled by the Universities (don't forget, Medway has four of them now!), further education, and academies.

And housing - well as I pointed out in this blog on June 10, they plan the redevelopment of existing estates to deliver increased density and therefore additional new homes.

___

Monday September 7

I can just imagine the machinations that were going on at Chapter School during the last days of that organisation's existence.

"How do we go with a bang, not a whimper?" may well have been the question at one of the last school management meetings.

"They want to get rid of a successful school, merge us with an unsuccessful one, expect the good things to rub off on the failing one, and consign us to the educational dustbin."

Well, Chapter School may no longer exist in Medway.

But its spirit and image lives on - in Serbia.

In a classic piece of twin-digital PR, all the girls at the school donated their uniforms (complete with Chapter School badges) to an international charity.

Now the blazers, skirts and other accoutrements of school life for thousands of girls from Strood are on their way to Serbia where a girls' school is in desperate need of the sort of pride and image that Chapter gave Medway.

Wouldn't it be a laugh if the school that is accepting the donation (plus thousands of pounds raised by the Strood girls in another display of their social conscience) was to adopt the name "Chapter School"?

Imagine - Chapter School may no longer exist in Medway, but in Serbia new pride and hope is being given to hundreds of children thanks to the efforts of those in Strood.

Meanwhile, today is the first day for the new Strood Academy.

And of course it was no coincidence that this year's GCSE results were unveiled by the council at the other part of the new academy - the erstwhile failing Temple School.

***

Medway Maritime Hospital has been criticised in the past few days for raking in £930,000 last year from car parking charges.

Maybe it is because I have been a patient there recently but I don't think it is too much to pay.

As a guide (and it is difficult to follow the logic of who pays what for how long, or indeed how it is supervised) the hospital charges £1.50 for the first hour, £2 for two and so on.

There is a useful range of bus services into the hospital (providing you can walk to your nearest stop). There is also a good range of taxi services.

But if you think the car park or the bus is expensive, think again. A round trip in the taxi costs me £20 each time I have an out-patient appointment. And I live in Medway.

The sooner I can drive, and pay for the parking privilege….. or walk to the bus stop and be dropped almost at the front door… the better for my pocket and my bank manager.

And if someone somewhere suggests there are not such good facilities at other hospitals - have a look and ask! You might be surprised.

***

Talking of parking charges, I see the CCTV cars in Medway have demonstrated that their drivers may not be as smart.

What on earth was that idiot thinking when he booked a driver who had broken down on a busy road junction. He left him there. All he said was: "Take it up with the council!" - while dozens of angry drivers tried to get pass the mayhem.

I am delighted to say that the booked driver did take it up with the council - and their managers booked the CCTV cameraman!

Now that's one of those occasions when I would have been delighted to be a fly on the wall!

Manager: "Why did you book him?"

CCTV driver: "He weren't moving and he wuz causin' a hobstruction."

Manager: "Did he tell you why he was obstructing the road?"

CCTV driver: "Yer, but I'd issued the ticket by then."

Manager: "Did you think?…like, think to suggest to the office there were extenuating circumstances? Or, better still, try and solve the problem?"

CCTV driver: "Ehhh? I wuz just doin' me duty, rakin' in the cash for the council. I couldn't leave me car and the cameras - they might 'ave bin nicked. Anyway, I ain't 'andy."

Suffice to say, if you break down on a busy road junction and the CCTV car comes along - don't panic. Smart CCTV car drivers will now rush to your assistance.

Meanwhile, a flight of porcine-winged creatures has been reported over Medway.

___

Friday September 4

IT WAS a close-run thing, but the Conservatives have ousted Labour from their safest council seat in Medway.

It now leaves the official opposition in a parlous state with just nine councillors. That's just one more than the Liberal Democrats and only six more than the new Independent Group containing two of Labour's most popular members.

It follows the count after the voters had had their say about things in Luton and Wayfield.

On the route to the ballot box, Labour made a number of key mistakes.

The biggest was ignoring Tony and Val Goulden, two ex-Medway Mayors and (more importantly) two highly popular, hardworking local councillors.

It cost them votes - how many will never be known.

Two people who voted Labour last time decided to vote Conservative this time. That swing was all it needed for Tashi Bhutia to win a famous victory in Luton and Wayfield.

Famous?

It's been more than 40 years since the ward was represented by a Conservative.

It was, until then, one of the safest Labour wards in the county.

It also has two other councillors - the Gouldens - so disillusioned with the way Labour is being run that they resigned the Whip at the beginning of the campaigning.

Watch out: they will work with Cllr Bhutia for the good of the ward while retaining their independent Socialist views. Even though they are now beyond the pale as far as the Labour Group is concerned,

The trio could make a formidable combination.

And what about the rest of the candidates?

The Greens made no inroads whatsoever.

The Libs came third, just ahead of UKIP and the BNP.

One other interesting consideration in the local politics and its handling by Labour. There was an independent candidate who picked up 87 votes.

Know which party he had been associated with? - that's right, Labour.

This was a vote that was as much a reflection of the way Labour is running things in the area as about Medway or national politics.

___

Wednesday September 2

Aristotle has often been proved right: "One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy."


I admit it: I had a totally self-centred concern when I moaned about the lack of wheelchairs for out-patients like the 94-year-old I encountered, those with broken limbs and others with serious walking difficulties.


Mike O'Brien, the chairman of the new health scrutiny committee at Medway Council was rapidly off the mark.


And the Medway Maritime Hospital did make things a lot better for injured out-patients in the wake of my moans about the lack of wheelchairs.


Within hours of my complaint about the long walks people were forced to make because there were no wheelchairs at the entrance, he organised a meeting with Lois Howell, the Company Secretary at the Medway Maritime Hospital.


That led to a re-examination of the number of wheelchairs available in the car park and in the hospital entrance.


And on my next visit there were up to four in the entrance (but when I arrived only one that I sequestered).


At the weekend I had a letter from Ms Howell.


She told me they welcome "extremely helpful" comments about outpatient experiences.


They now have a new Head of Facilities, Gareth Hughes.


Ms Howell said Mr Hughes had made it a personal priority to address the "assessment and fulfilment of need" for wheelchairs.


She wrote: "Among other things, I know he has commissioned a review of how/where wheelchairs are used and left around the hospital, arranged for the repair of a number of chairs which were out of action and put together a bid for the purchase of a considerable number of new wheelchairs."


Hallelujah. The new Jerusalem has arrived.


But that lone chair was like Aristotle's swallow.


Yesterday I had another appointment - and knew when I saw a patient with crutches and a plaster, sat in the ambulance area, that I was not going to be totally happy.


There were no wheelchairs.


He waited. I lurched.


I got to my appointment 10 minutes late. He followed me into the waiting room five minutes later, sat in a chair - and was promptly sent off for further tours of the hospital.


My wife eventually located a wheelchair when one of the previous users returned it to the wheelchair store.


Just as well. I had to follow the same circuitous trail as the other patient to have plaster removed, X-rays done and then a visit to the surgeon to discuss the outcomes.


I certainly felt that the criticisms mounted over the weekend about food and care in Britain's hospitals was inaccurate as far as my experience of the in-patient care at Medway Maritime is concerned.


But Ms Howell and Mr Hughes have to do better for every non-ambulant patient who staggers, lurches or lifts themselves across the entrance if they want it to become a hospital of excellence.


According to their website: "Medway Maritime Hospital is the largest and busiest hospital in Kent – treating around 400,000 patients each year mainly in Medway and Swale, but increasingly other parts of North and West Kent.


"Everyday we see around 1,400 outpatients, about 200 patients use our emergency department and approximately 150 patients need to be admitted for hospital care and treatment. Because of the large number of patients we see, occasionally we face rare and unforeseen situations but we are committed to resolving and learning from the challenges we may meet to drive up standards of care and treatment."


The absence of a wheelchair for 1,400 outpatients at Medway Maritime is neither new, unexpected, nor rare to judge from my experiences - and those of the people we met.


***


The two remaining councillors in Luton and Wayfield ward, Tony and Val Goulden, have sworn not to work with the Labour candidate, Sam Whittington, if she gets elected in tomorrow's by-election.


It was called after Cllr Dennis McFarlane resigned over alleged "moral issues".


Ms Whittington was selected three weeks after becoming a Labour candidate in preference to a number of long-established Labour candidates. She attracted interest for her campaigning to save local primary schools. Among the candidates who lost out to her was the experienced former Labour education spokesman, Mark Jones.


Then her Facebook entries covering sex, toys, fantasies and political criticisms of Labour were circulated among political groups.


Both the Gouldens eventually resigned the party whip. It was the final straw after a series of disagreements over Labour policies.

They now stand as Independent councillors, forming an officially recognised group with Ian Burt, the Walderslade councillors.


Mrs Goulden insisted they would not work with Ms Whittington.


"You can't pick someone to replace a person who resigned over moral issues who herself doesn't seem to have many morals," said Mrs Goulden.


***


Idle thoughts around the hospital.


Why does Medway Maritime Hospital have a sign saying "Baby Change Unit" outside the delivery suites?


Is there any sense promoting healthy eating on the internal advertising screens interspersed with instructions not to eat in the consulting rooms?


And what do they mean by signs which read: "You are being watched by CCTV. The computers are alarmed"?

___

Tuesday September 1

There are problems with the new half-billion pound refuse clearance contract.

It was due to start today, but last week it emerged that it would be delayed.

An all-party committee had spent two years looking at ways to improve the service, to spread the risk, and get best value, to increase the recycling and reduce the land fill.

But in the week that they are expected to allow one company to briefly extend the life of its tip at St Mary Hoo, the unloved main contractor for the past few years - French-owned Veolia - is being asked to continue operating for two more years.

There are unsubstantiated rumours of court action flying around the letting of the new contracts.

There are concerns that after two years of intense examination of the various contractors, their skills, savings and improvements, someone, somewhere, was unfair with the points system used to determine who was best-suited for the needs of Medway for the next 30 years.

Something very reminiscent of the way the much-troubled, highly-expensive and equally embarrassing, housing repairs contract was let.

Now there are rumours that another of Medway's high-cost, long term contracts is in difficulties. The corporate cleaning contract for all the council-owned buildings has hit problems just before it was about to be recommended to councillors.

It's an embarrassment (something the officers will have to get used to as they get out their own dusters to polish their desks?)

But it is not like the refuse contract.

That could have a substantial impact on the council taxes and thereby council services.

It was one of the attractions with the selected recycling contractor that the range of rubbish that goes for reuse would be increased.

That firm continues to wait in the wings.

The Conservative Leader of the Council, Cllr Rodney Chambers, more than once said there would never be incineration of Medway's rubbish. Now he says what he meant was Swale was OK - but there would be no incineration in Medway.

Even that is not happening on September 1.

The rubbish is continuing to be taken to a tip at Rainham in Essex which has to close next year. What then with Medway's waste?

Meanwhile, lurking in the background, is the landfill tax.

Medway has a major target, set by the British and European governments. The Towns have to recycle more than 45 per cent of our household waste by next year - or face monster fines for every tonne of rubbish that has to be buried in the ground.

Taxpayers won't be asked to pay it. It will have to come out of the existing taxation.

With the prospect of a Conservative government and its Leader's promise to freeze all council tax increases for two years, what then for Medway's other services?

The new contracts have to be resolved, and rapidly.

Meanwhile Veolia has the last laugh.

For years it was penalised for failing to clean streets on time, remove rubbish when they said they would, and a host of other misdemeanours in the original contract.

The sums were substantial and contributed to Medway's finances.

Not any more.

Veolia's management could almost sit back and do nothing - and get away with it now. Medway can't afford for them to walk away from the extended contract. Not while the losing bidders are threatening them with the courts.

***

A fleet of new singledeck buses have gone into service with Arriva in Medway.

They are wheelchair friendly, and easily accessible thanks to the raised stops and entrances that the drivers can lower.

I just wonder whether they are more comfortable than some of the new buses I have sampled elsewhere in the country this year.

They look stunning. But looks are not everything - any more than that first swallow in April.

They were ultra-low on comfort. Planks offer a more giving surface than some of the seats.

And the front seats on many doubledeckers are not designed for passengers who have knees and feet.

That is an operator fault, not the manufacturer.

Arriva's doubledeckers five years ago were a good buy, not just on cost but also on quality. Now some of them are moving on.

I look forward to sampling their new Enviros.

***

Today is the first anniversary of this blog's initial appearance.

No cards (by request).

___

Friday August 28

It has been a normal week for our councillors at Gun Wharf.

They've dug out terrorism laws to try to snare someone sticking up posters around Medway, tapping into phones and emails in a bid to catch him…or her.

A by election is imminent.

And the final stages of protecting Fortress Gun Wharf against the Great Unwashed will come into play either side of the votes count.

They have put in an £8,000 electronic gate as their drawbridge. It will seal the councillors and their thousands of staff from encountering The People.

And what have we done to deserve this door-slamming of democracy? We elected the people who sanctioned the final barrier. That's all. Because it was those very same people who caused the problems.

The reasons given last week were ludicrously unrealistic.

They were designed to stop people parking in disabled spaces, to reduce the damage to staff cars, and to ensure legitimate visitors could park.

Visitors will now have to pre-book, and obtain the full authority of one of the three council directors.

Damage? - that was being done to staff cars by their colleagues' casual carelessness in a car park that admittedly has too-narrow bays.

And the disabled parking abuses? That was carried out by three of the most senior, decision-making councillors who were caught out by the public - Medway Messenger readers.

I can already hear the cries from the administration.

"We aren't stopping people visiting us - they can still drive in."

That's true.

But they have to make a prior appointment. Each has to be authorised by one of the three directors, Chief Executive Neil Davies, Children and Adults chief, Rose Collinson, or Bits and Pieces boss, Robin Cooper. So if you want to park from September 7 - phone them, or email neil.davies@medway.gov.uk, rose.collinson@medway.gov.uk and robin.cooper@medway.gov.uk

Apparently they have the time to waste on deciding whether Mr Smith, who wants to discuss an application with a planning officer, can come in.

Or whether Mrs Jones should be able to lobby her councillor?

Or - heaven forbid - if parents should be able to listen to the discussions about another school closure?

This gate is perfectly situated on the access drive. Casual visitors will be trapped at the barrier, unable to drive through, unable to reverse out, and with following cars backing up towards Dock Road, already congested by roadworks, road narrowing, and rush hour traffic.

I suspect that the Finance Portfolio Holder had his hand on the helm.

Like the First Lieutenant on one of the galleons that used to sail from off Gun Wharf, Cllr Alan Jarrett cried: "Prepare to repel boarders!"

That he should also have installed money-earning parking meters on adjacent roads - and have some car parks a mile away - will help his empty coffers.

His enforcer, as always, will be Cllr Reh Chishti. His merry wardens, CCTV cameras and bye-laws will ensure that anyone who ignores the signs will be nicked - and another £80 will go into the coffers.

Talk about turning things on their head - these were two of the three councillors who parked, illicitly, illegally and unfairly, on the disabled parking bays, and sparked the problems we all now face.

Of course, they will have staff passes, and their own allocated parking spaces…

And if you haven't caught up with today's paper, you may be wondering about my reference to the heavy-handed use of terrorism laws to catch a flyposter.

It is one of the ways Cllr Chishti's team is now snaring minor law breakers.

I have no sympathy with the five benefit fraudsters they have also been listening in on.

But the use of draconian powers designed to catch bombers being used to spy on a market stallholder who may be breaking some trading laws? And to catch an anti-social individual dumping litter?

One wonders if they draw the line anywhere.

We have more than 400 CCTV cameras from which low-paid monitors use to track our every move, 24 hours a day.

They tap our phone calls, and check our emails, to find out with whom we are talking, exchanging ideas or hatching plots to campaign against school closures.

They also discover what we buy, who we flirt with, when our homes are empty ...

So why shouldn't they use these powers to deny us our basic rights?

George Orwell, if you are able to read this, you didn't know the half of it when you wrote 1984.

___

Thursday August 27

The regeneration scrutiny committee is going to have a look tonight at whose roads are getting the best repairs in an £8.4 million scheme.

Heading the list are the rural roads out on the Hoo peninsula, with the Peninsula Ward itself (where the roads supremo, Phil Filmer, is a local councillor) topping the list for repairs with no less than 19 schemes planned over the next three years.

But it is not the place where the most money is being spent.

At £36,810 a scheme it lags behind some of the others.

The most cash is being spent in Strood Rural where £1.12 million is being lashed out on six ward roads - half of it on the A289 and A228 through the town centre.

It's also where two of the 10 Cabinet members represent the local electors.

The reason it is coming up for scrutiny?

The Leader of the Labour group, Cllr Paul Godwin, is questioning how the money is being spent - and why.

He should be pleased.

The troubled Luton and Wayfield ward where his group has lost its three councillors in recent weeks (for widely differing reasons of resignation) is having half a million spent on it. Roosevelt Avenue and Capstone Road are to be resurfaced within 18 months.

The Conservatives say they also want to re-lay Luton Road, Russell Court and Street End Road - by 2012 if they can find some way to foot the bill.

***

The same committee is also taking on the role of scrutinising the work of the local crime partnership.

It gives the community the opportunity to tackling local issues that annoy them.

Like the families who pile up litter to the delight of the rats. Or people who light bonfires without heed to their neighbours washing, ventilation or enjoyment of the garden. Or the noisy drunks who turn a quiet neighbourhood into the Homes in Hell. Or yellow line flounters.

Minor stuff - the sort of thing that the police used to say was below them because they had more important things to do.

But important to most of us wishing to live a peaceful life.

I do hope they get round to considering bonfires - and set some simple rules, like no fires in the summer months, and only between midnight and 4am in the winter.....

***

With the decision to scrap Big Brother, maybe Channel Four will spend money on good programming.

Can you imagine what it will be like for the customary collection of idiots, loud mouths and gormless ones selected to take part in next year's final round?

"One of you will win temporary fame, your life will be ruined and the world will know all your failings - but it won't bother to watch."

What on earth will the Red Tops fill their front pages with after that show dies?

How about Life at Your Council - a behind the scenes view of the politicians and the officers working together for your good…

___

Wednesday August 26

A Dover councillor sits on the new regional board that is targeting key transport schemes in the south east.

Cllr Paul Watkins (coincidence - no relation) just happened to be on hand when the Cliffsend dual carriageway project - better known as Pegwell Bay - got the backing of the regional transport board.

Medway is not a member of the regional authority, and therefore unable to represent itself to the transport board.

One wonders whether the people who now recommend where the decreasingly small pot is spent will back station improvements, new roads, improving the Strood junction (even putting in a link from the Medway Valley line towards Chatham) and so forth.

Or will those dreams slip back into limbo land?

***

The BNP - which has one of the seven candidates in next week's Luton and Wayfield by election - has established a Facebook page, thanks to yet another appeal for contributions from the party.

The national party chairman and MEP, Nick Griffin, is encouraging every member to use it.

In an email at the weekend that I finally got around to reading, Nick says: "I am excited to announce that the computer programmers have now completed their task and the BNP Facebook application is now ready to be added to your Facebook page!

This has the potential to be huge!

"If our estimated pool of 50,000 Facebook sympathisers all install this application and then invite their entire friends-list to do the same, we could end up with hundreds of thousands of our applications installed all over Facebook!"

And he adds: "Remember, once this application is installed and viewable in your profile page, it is your duty to input as many of your friends email addresses into it as possible. I am depending on you to help expand our online reach!

Duty?

I know what I would happen to any "friend" who signed me up to any political group discussion or chat area. They wouldn't stay friends very long.

Meanwhile, I would have thought the problems of idle chatter on Facebook highlighted in this column in the past month would warn off all politicians - real or potential - from taking part.

***

I had a letter the other day from the council.

It is adorned with the Beacon Council logo which it received in 2005.

It is clinging on to that old accolade like the old crone who recalls winning Miss Twinkle Toes as an under-five.

___

Tuesday August 25

I had heard a little whisper that Paul Clark's getting the Labour Party message out to his constituents. But not quite the way I expected.

The Gillingham and Rainham MP's dad, Gordon, is trundling the highways and byways of the parliamentary constituency with a cute £14.99 shopping trolley (in party red colours, of course).

Dad has been seen in Rainham, Watling Street, Gillingham, and various other parts of the borough dropping off copies of his "Regular Update" paper.

I am sorry to have to disappoint readers but there are only 11 pictures of PC.

His rival, Tory councillor Reh Chishti, managed to squeeze into his four-page colour broadsheet earlier this year more than double that. And he seems able to send hordes of supporters to deliver his colourful pamphlets.

I'm not sure which paper is the more mesmerising - both sent me to sleep.

Meanwhile, Paul is writing to trade unionists admitting that the past year hasn't been great for the Labour Party.

But like every politician he manages to find some crumbs - in this case the NHS.

He was delighted at the response from Brits to right-wing Yanks' vitriolic opposition to a national health service for the States.

And he pointed out that the constituency has three new healthy living centres and the Will Adams Treatment Centre as well. The Rainham one does a mean cup of coffee for the local café society.

Meanwhile, I haven't heard a word from the Tory hopeful for Rochester and Strood, Cllr Mark Reckless.

He was best man to, and a close friend of, Daniel Hannan, the local MEP who has been gallivanting around the TV studios in the States criticising the NHS.

As a current NHS patient, I would be delighted to hear whether Mark supports - or opposes - the NHS.

***

There are many local quangos about which there is an air of mystery. The only one to open its doors is the Medway Renaissance Partnership.

The far more influential Local Strategic Partnership keeps itself very much to itself. And so do the others affecting the lives of everyone in the Medway Towns.

One which is changing our lives is the Community Safety Partnership. But it was closed to scrutiny - until now!

This body involves a number of authorities including services such as the police, fire and probation, and apparently tackles matters of public concern.

All we hear currently are platitudes about crime figures ("the number of burglaries in Medway has dropped to two or three a day" is one that is being hyped around the Towns at the moment by Neighbourhood Watch controllers).

Well, the crime busters are now to be opened up to public scrutiny by local councillors.

At least once a year (but more frequently is necessary in this resident's eyes) matters like the way it is tackling crime and disorder - in particular anti-social behaviour or other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment, plus drugs, alcohol and substance abuse - will be considered by the regeneration committee.

The key to their powers is one phrase - the Councillor Call for Action (or CcfA as it is already being abbreviated).

The new powers require local authorities to allow any member of the Council to refer any local crime and disorder matter to the Committee and for the Committee to have power to make a report or recommendations to the Council or Cabinet.

They can look at any matter "which affects all or part of the ward for which the member is elected or any person who lives or works in that area."

As well as the expected people who would be answerable to the committee, it require responsible authorities or co-operating bodies such as the probation authorities, parish councils, NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts, proprietors of independent schools and governing bodies of institutions within the further education sector to provide information requested by the committee, usually within a month.

It promises to be interesting times.

___

Monday August 24

Now, where was I?

Ah, yes… the Luton and Wayfield by election.

Bottoms bitten, fingers injured ….

It's all in a day for politicians on the votes trail in Luton and Wayfield.

You may recall that there has been a minor upheaval in the local political scene with the resignation (sacking?) of one councillor. That caused the by-election on September 3.

It was followed by the resignation from the Labour Party of the remaining two councillors who have gone into an Independent Group.

The former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Cllr Geoff Juby, promptly got bitten on a rather tender part of his anatomy. He encountered an alsatian-type when he tried to deliver some publicity material to a house in Alamein Avenue.

He was fortunate. On hand (literally and metaphorically) was Steve Kearney.

With great aplomb, and not without a sense of great joy, his colleague (a frmer ambulanceman) quickly stuck the biggest plaster he could find on one of the more hairy parts of the injured councillor's anatomy… then packed him off to hospital.

I understand the nurses ripped off the plaster to examine the wound - and removed a large patch of hair from his glutimus maximus. (Reminds me of the A&E sister four weeks ago who slapped my leg and said: "I think it's broken.")

Meanwhile, I understand that the newly-appointed Labour Whip, Cllr Julie Shaw, has also been in the wars in Luton.

I don't think it was in Alamein Avenue, but certainly she injured a finger on the campaign trail.

Electioneering is a dangerous thing, folks.

***

A redundancy clinic is now being run by Medway Council to get people back to work as soon as possible.

Having been through that mill myself on two occasions, it is not something that has ever enthused me.

The problem will the old system was that it was OK in principle, but when it came down to specialists, its staff had had no idea how to help. You were on your own.

But you had to be regimented.

I hope I am wrong - most sincerely - but the new Employ Medway Advice Centre sounds remarkably similar to what I encountered (and some of my friends, too).

"The centre will provide information, advice and signposting to assist residents in their search to find employment and other training opportunities," said a press release from the council.
"For Medway employers, the centre will provide free advice and support with recruitment needs including the identification of suitable candidates for interview."
And when you read further on that "The Employ Medway programme is a symbol of Medway Council’s continued commitment to working in partnership with key national, regional and local partners for the benefit of residents and employers in Medway" I cringe.
There is hope on the skyline. The centre will eventually provide "money management; advice and guidance sessions, ICT and CV training workshops and supporting new businesses"…

Given that the bulk of the redundancies have been with local residents who have lost jobs in the money capital, I don't think that is going to be much help.

I hope I am wrong. I really do.

But the signs are worrying.

___

Friday August 14

There is more than a passing interest among Labour councillors in the outcome of the Luton and Wayfield by election. Their pockets could be severely hurt.

It follows the resignation from the group of their bestknown members, husband and wife Tony and Val Goulden.

There has been unrest in the Labour ranks (come to that in the Conservative ranks, too) for some time.

But as well as both being past mayors, Tony was also the man responsible for identifying the problems in the group and keeping everyone on side. He was the group whip. And he was ignored.

You do that at your peril. Just look at Francis Urquhart for how that power can be taken to extremes.

Despite being the sitting member since the mid Nineties, the constituency members kept the Gouldens out of the selection of their running mates in 2007, and (when things went wrong) for the present by election.

The sitting MP, Jonathan Shaw, has had a considerable influence. But the people who would have to work with a victorious candidate were ignored.

It went wrong with the first candidate.

Now questions about the morals of the candidate chosen to run alongside the Gouldens have been raised.

To be ignored once was bad enough. To be ignored twice was too much.

There might have been a chance of saving their position. But the Labour Group leader, Paul Godwin, was not prepared to accept there were any problems, and was quite forthright about that in their own home.

The revelations (since confirmed as being written by his candidate by the Labour agent) ended any chance of keeping the row quiet until after the by election was settled on September 3.

The Gouldens walked.

They have now formed an Independent Group with Ian Burt. And they carry the knowledge of the Labour Group's strengths and weaknesses - not just in the ward, but across the council.

So where does that leave the entire Group?

Victory for their candidate will allow them all to rest a little more secure for the next 18 months.

Defeat could leave them severely strapped for cash.

At stake is over £36,000 which we currently pay Labour councillors with "special responsibilities".

That's because groups need at least a fifth of the council - 11 members - to qualify for special responsibility allowances.

Of course, no local politicians enter the council chamber with the idea that they are there for the money (Medway's backbenchers would probably get more on the dole).

But when you become used to a chunk of money every month, it is agonising when it is suddenly removed.

The council voted four years ago for special allowances only to be paid to parties with at least a fifth of the council membership. That left the Conservatives (currently with two-thirds of the membership) chuckling.

Labour politicians, too, could smile (indeed, Cllr Godwin was involved in the plan). But not any more.

They are currently down to 10 members. Get their candidate elected, and they will hold on to their allowances. Fail - and they join the pauperage currently occupied by the Lib Dems and those three Independents.

So exactly what is at stake?

Well, Paul Godwin, the Leader of the Labour Group (because it is the official opposition), gets £9373.20 for that task.

Glyn Griffiths, gets £3749.29 for deputising as Leader.

Nick Bowler gets a similar payment as Labour's development control spokesman.

Four members get allowances as the official spokesmen on scrutiny committees. Bill Esterson, Teresa Murray (plus Cllrs Godwin and Griffiths) each qualify for £5623.92 a year.

There's also £937.32 at stake for whoever becomes the Group Whip.

The Lib Dems don't get any allowances. That's because they only have eight members - three short of the special allowances lower level, set and agreed at the full council meeting in July 2005.

Their Leader is the only one paid special responsibilities - and she gets £4686.60 - all it's worth for chairing a minority group.

All of which could be staring Labour councillors in the face after the ballot boxes have been emptied and counted on September 3.

Could they cope with just the basic allowance of £8935.80?

Well, I suppose so. After all, the other members of the group already do. And Cllr Godwin did agree the 2005 recommendations when he was sitting on the special working party that made the final recommendations to the council.

So what of election night?

That is when all the tensions in a campaign explode to the surface.

Those who are victorious come out with public platitudes while their campaign managers and supporters rub salt into the fresh wounds  of the defeated.

This time the savagery meted out to the losers when the declaration is made could make some of the scenes in the Sixties Belgian Congo seem like a pre-season friendly.

And one of the key elements in this election could yet prove to be the number of Eastern Europeans that have moved into the ward. Some suggest the number may be as high as 1,000.

Could there be disappointment for the Tories?

***

While all this is going on, former Medway councillor, Chris Buckwell, has been espousing the selection methods for choosing Conservative council candidates in Rochester and Strood.

Writing on the Conservative.com website he said this week: "We have open selection - no protection for sitting members. Any qualifying Party member can apply for any ward(s). Only those paid-up members living in the ward concerned vote in selections for the ward concerned.

"We run the selections from the safest ward down (based on last local election results).

"We use eliminating ballots (ie, seven candidates for three seats - first round you give your favoured candidate seven points, second favourite six points, etc). Each round a candidate is eliminated.

"You are left with your three. We look at it as 'selection'. If a sitting councillor happens not to be selected again, then so be it. The ward branch members should be able and entitled to judge. We used this for our 2003 and 2007 elections. We will select next year for the May 2011 elections."

Chris is the association's Organising Secretary.

In the Chatham and Aylesford Labour Party just 11 people selected the candidate that led to the resignation of the Gouldens….

***

I am advised that the chairman of the Health scrutiny committee has already started asking questions about the chaos this week at the medway maritime Hospital.

***

This is my last blog for a few days. My surgeon has ordered I should stop work. So I shall. But I plan to be back before the start of September.

Must hop.

___

Thursday August 13

Oh, to be a fly on the wall at Eastgate House today!

That's where the £1 million-a-year team known as Medway Renaissance have been planning the destruction of The Paddock against the wishes of the public, and the creation of a bus station with 16 bus stops but no comfort stop.

Wounds are currently being licked: The planning committee would not make a decision on the bus station plan last night. It's as close as they could get to rejecting the £6 million plan endorsed by the council.

It throws the entire redevelopment of Chatham - and its transformation into the City Centre of the Thames Gateway - into question. For that to happen they needed the demolition of Chatham's flyover (nearly finished) - and the removal of the buses from the first floor of the Pentagon Shopping Centre. With no bus station, Arriva won't move.

Where do they go from here? And who is to blame?

Given that the Local Development Framework - the heart of the regeneration - collapsed and is now being slowly rebuilt, are we about to return to a postwar scenario in the Medway Towns of weeds growing from "bomb sites"?

It's a mess.

Must buzz....

***

The Health scrutiny committee is going out to the masses next week (I sense the hand of the recently-appointed chairman. Mike O'Brien).

They are inviting the public to listen to a variety of debates and discussions at the Rainham Mark club.

Unusually, I shall not be there: as some know I recently broke my leg and spent some time as a patient in the Medway Maritime.

Excellent was the service to all the patients in Arethusa Ward and from the numerous orthopaedic surgeons and anaesthetists, nurses and … well everyone attached to the ward.

The past two days I returned to the hospital as an outpatient.

Be warned. It is a different equation completely to being an in-patient.

The hospital is being rebuilt.

They have closed the main entrance, and barriers have been erected to stop anyone entering… except emergencies.

The parking is now pay and display. And it is a hell of a walk when you are on crutches.

Did someone suggest using a wheelchair?
Try to find one.

My wife eventually located one after searching for two hours yesterday - and that left the carer of a 96 year old lady looking for one.

It is chaotic.

Ambulance crews were looking, so were other patients and their carers.

When I mentioned it to the consultant he suggested I buy or hire one! I won't tell you what I thought of that proposal, but at £1.50 an hour to park, I would have thought we had bought several chairs.

Signs are lacking.

The walk from the pavement to the fracture clinic was about 200 yards. It took me 20 minutes.

Helpful attendants suggested going and looking, or asking at the main reception, or …. But they, personally, could not help.

Considering the cost of the rebuilding, and the time they have had to plan it, I would have thought essential items like trolleys would have had a £2 slot (like shopping trolleys) to ensure they were returned to the right place.

Incidentally, if you want a floor polisher three have gone astray, we were told by some of the cleaners looking bemused and embarrassed by the patients' frustration.

So if the health scrutiny committee wants something fresh to look at, they wouldn't do worse than to look into the way the public is currently being treated during the rebuilding of the old naval hospital in the back streets of Gillingham.

They could look at signing, rest areas, preparation for the work, varnishing the new restaurant slats with patients and public trying to eat, access for the handicapped ….. I could keep going. But I won't.

***

I am grateful to the Mayor, Cllr David Royle, for sending me best wishes from all members of the council.

It came at a most difficult time in his life, and I can only say thank you to him - and the everyone else who has sent me cards, rung my home, emailed etc. I was surprised and made to feel humble, but it was appreciated.

*** 

Tomorrow? - make sure you read this blog to learn about the extraordinary goings on in Luton and Wayfield that have led to the resignations from the Labour Group of ex-Mayors, Tony and Val Goulden. It's Shakespearian in its magnificence - sex, revenge, politics, honour, and ... (I'm not going to spoil it by telling you any more today! For now, just go and look at the news story on the main page.)

___

Wednesday August 12

One gets the impression that the provision of a £200,000 shuttle bus service between Temple Marsh and the town centre is a hurried decision.

Of course, that is totally false.

It is merely a coincidence there were criticisms recently made to Medway Renaissance's board that Strood's prestige development on the old riverside rubbish tip would be isolated from the town centre.

Tonight the plans go to committee.

Hopefully one of the councillors will gain support for a riverside walk to link the development with the town and the countryside.

Maybe one will even be bold enough to suggest that it needs a river ferry service running from Temple Marsh to Strood, Rochester and Chatham.

It is symptomatic of something I have been hammering on about for years. There has been a screaming need for a comprehensive Strood Plan, that looks at every area of the town.

Something is finally coming forward, but the Temple Marsh development will be approved by a government minister long before it is integrated into the rest of the town.

A Strood Plan should suggest how each of its districts could be made to work better and more attractively within a new-look town.

At the moment, much of Strood is tired, worn out, and unfit for 21^st Century life. It is Victorian, and remains part of a blue collar working class concept which is no longer appropriate to the community it serves.

The Strood Plan needs to look far into the future, not simply at what is known to be available for development now.

It should have roadways drawn onto the plans so that when, eventually, an area comes up for redevelopment, they can be built.

It needs the routes for the underground services to be planned.

It has to look at what should be preserved. Like the Aveling and Porter building, for example.

And it should consider how the bits that survive, remain or are never developed, can be integrated into the new.

It needs to be very clear on quality, with officers committed to the concept, and insisting that developers meet those concepts.

Above all, it has to decide what is the future role of Strood.

Is it to be a dormitory? Or the transport hub of Medway?

Should it be the London Gateway to the new City of Chatham - and if so how.

Should it be served by road, rail, bus and boat (if anywhere should, Strood is the obvious one).

Will it have a large civic square? Or a riverside park?

It needs to protect residents' views from the North Downs escarpment on which so much of the town is built.

It might be fine to build 10 storey blocks of flats and apartments looking across from the Civic Centre development site to Rochester's twin glories, its castle and cathedral. But what about the rest of the community?

The Strood Plan needs to consider the whole community, and not just short-term gains for a few fortunate landowners (including the council).

Or am I being utterly naïve?

***

I said yesterday there would be fun and games over the Luton and Wayfield by election. Believe it!

Is it pure coincidence that the Conservative candidate's name has subtly changed since he stood in 2007 in the closely-fought River ward election?

At that time he was the hyphenated Tashi Tamang-Bhutia, which meant that as his surname began with a T it was at the bottom of the ballot sheet.

Nevertheless he polled 660 votes and came fourth of eight candidates.

Now he is unhyphenated Tashi Tamang Bhutia, which means his surname begins with a B - which places him second on the ballot sheet of seven candidates.

There is a silence from the officers at the moment.

Meanwhile, why is it that the full list of proposers and seconders names, together with their addresses, do not appear on the nominations sheet for the by election?

It has been normal for many years for that information to be published.

Not this by-election.

___

Tuesday August 11

If ever there was a council by-election to watch it has to be the one in Luton and Wayfield ward.

It's got just about everything a TV scriptwriter would want.

The trouble is, it hasn't got what Gordon Brown would want - a clean run-in by a new Labour candidate to a ward traditionally left wing.

The candidate, Sam Whittington, was only a Labour Party member for three weeks when she became their surprise selection to stand.

She has the backing of Jonathan Shaw, the local MP and Government Minister for the South East.

But so, too, did her predecessor. And he left under a dark cloud that is still not publicly explained.

She will have to fight six other candidates.

They include all the usual contenders - Tory, Lib Dems, UKIP, BNP, Green…. and a single independent.

Ms Whittington, 34, knew she was being pitched in at the deep end when she stood.

She overcame some well-known names at the first count.

They included Mark Jones, who has been in and out of the council since it was formed in 1998.

She has impressed with her campaigning to save the primary schools.

The trainee teacher is about to find out what it is like when the odds stack up against you.

Mark my words: someone in the council was being prophetic when they chose the anniversary of the start of the Second World War as polling day.

***

Never mind the new right to half fares, the under-18s in Medway can have free rides on (or at least close to) the Medway SOS bus, thanks to the C-card condom distribution scheme.

As I already have my senior citizens bus pass, and apparently now need government sex advice, I've checked with NHS Medway and they may soon be launching one for we older residents called the Z-z-z-z-...

___

Monday August 10

Hush, hush, whisper who dares….

They are coming up with some stunning titles for the new academies in Medway.

The one at Chatham - which will be hosted by the Church of England - is to be known as the Bishop of Rochester Academy.

And the controversial one which starts in a few weeks?

Well, that's to be called the ….. (wait for it!) …….the Strood Academy. Now isn't that really stunning from an organisation called the University of the Creative Arts!

Meanwhile, I understand its governors meetings will be close to the heart of the Medway Towns.

I am reliably informed they will take place in Fareham. That's the town in Hampshire just outside Portsmouth, in case you were unsure. I googled the journey: It's about 110 miles from the school.

Meanwhile, if anyone hears who the staff governors and the parent governors are, let me know. There haven't been any elections yet.

***

I hope you enjoyed the spring blossom on the horse chestnuts in The Paddock earlier this year. It will probably be the last time you get to see that miraculous display of pink and white floral cones.

Go and grab some conkers from The Paddock while you can. Almost certainly, this year's will be the last chance to conserve the trees that have made the river front so attractive for decades.

I say this after reading the extraordinary letter from Medway Renaissance in the Medway Messenger at the weekend.

It confirms just nine of the 26 chestnuts will be felled for the bus station.

It confirms that in total 31 trees will be chopped down for the redevelopment.

That's without counting any that may be killed or stunted by the excavations, foundations, sewers and other assorted work needed to prepare the riverfront for its transformation into a busy bus station - and a toilet.

The unidentified writer (I sense the hand of the PR Manager at Medway Renaissance) says two new trees will be planted for every one that is felled.

Will they replace big, mature, graceful trees like the ones we currently enjoy with big, mature, graceful new ones?

Or will the replacements be saplings awaiting the merry pranks of the vandals that seem hell-bent on spoiling everything?

The whole matter now rests with the planning committee which meets on Wednesday night.

What no one will admit is that all councillors were firmly briefed by the Medway Renaissance officers some weeks ago. That's one reason why there are waterfront thunderboxes being provided.

But who runs the council?

If it was the elected councillors, there would be toilets included in the plans. Because they have been protesting loud, long and (apparently) fruitlessly for the less-than-dynamic bus station to have a comfort stop as well as 16 bus stops.

***

My heartfelt sympathies go to the Mayor, Cllr David Royle.

His wife, Jean, has suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for many years, but David has cared for her, visited her, done what ever he could - and above all - continued to love her as the illness has slowly taken her from him and their daughter, Karen.

Last Thursday she died.

I don't recall meeting Mrs Royle. But it was very evident whenever David talked about her how deep was his love for her.

May all the family find the peace her illness never gave them.

___

Friday August 7

The bus station in Chatham is increasingly symptomatic of the problems facing Medway Council and its Medway Renaissance team.

Next week councillors will debate - and no doubt approve - the plans for the bus station to be built on the waterfront at Chatham.

It will finally free up the first floor where (we have been told by the council) the owners want to build a new store.

The new one will cost £6 million, and will destroy the long-proposed ambience of the waterfront.

Instead of making the most of the trees, a quarter of them will be chopped down.

The idea of being able to walk across to riverside seats from the indoor splendours of the modernised Pentagon Shopping Centre in complete safety, sans traffic, will be gone - just like the Sir John Hawkins flyover.

We shall have a bus station where toilets may (or may not) be provided, and where reliance will be placed on the shopping management providing comfort stops for the passengers.

The messages that come from the council about the trees are mixed.

There was almost a hint of delight some time ago when it was whispered the chestnuts had red canker.

Some do. But it is not as bad as one is led to believe - just look at the reports on the council's planning website: the now-easier-to-access support papers commissioned by the council show there is no real problem.

Despite that, instead of a pleasant walk through gardens, we will continue to negotiate lines of traffic.

The promised mature trees will be chopped and hacked to provide the dynamic bus station.

You'll need to watch under your step, as well: people will be hurrying off the buses and coaches to find somewhere for a comfort break like some eastern European city.

And the police are now flagging up the risk that the copper roofing for the bus shelters will be an ideal target for the metal thieves of Medway.

As for consultations! Forget it.

The most important people to consult - after the general public which seems at best bored with the whole issue - are the bus companies.

As one bus manager said to me recently: "The discussions have been very vague."

The vagueness includes the management of the buses entering and leaving the bus station... and with it the management of the passengers. That's because no one has been appointed to manage the buses as they flow into the bus statio, with drivers uncertain whether they will be able to pull onto a loading bay - and with passengers equally uncertain which bay to go to for the bus home.

How I wish I was wrong, but it is looking increasingly like the government is spending £6 million on a costly mistake about to be approved on the waterfront.

***

It's great to see the number of mouldy oldies films being shown once again at the Central Theatre.

Casablanca, In Which we Service, Carve her Name with Pride…

They look so much better on the big screen (even if it is small by today's standards) than on the box at home.

***

Amid the many mistakes made by government in recent years has been the loss of confidential documents.

Which must be causing Jonathan Shaw, the Chatham and Aylesford MP and Minister for the South East, some embarrassment at the moment.

His website has been accused of giving away the name and address and account details of one of his constituents.

According to the blogsite, 10 Downing Street by Lord Elvis, Mr Shaw is "completely thoughtless" because the photo shows the lady's address, her NPower account number, and how much she owes.

What Lord Elvis doesn't say is that the bill is for April 2007… or why Mr Shaw  and a lady resident are so glum when the new charges for the quarter were only £16.56.

Lord Elvis says: "You would have thought that having lost the details of 25 million people claiming child benefit, numerous other data protection lapses, lost or stolen laptops, patient details etc, that government ministers might have learned their lesson with regards to doing their utmost to protect at least their constituents private information?"

I think a "Must do better" is needed for the website designer.

Personally, I'd love to have such a small bill. I'd crow to the world.

I've just told my supplier how much gas and electricity I used over the past few months.

Fifteen quid? More likely 20 times that.

___

Thursday August 6

There is a lot of political misinformation out there at the moment over the Medway Magna / Capstone Valley redevelopment plans.

I think the idea of developing on the green fields either side of the motorway between Lordswood, Bredhurst, Hempstead and Rainham is one of the worst proposals to come forward.

I'm a resident. I'm biased. I make no bones about it.

But let's talk about facts.

The facts are that a group of farmers and local businessmen have seen a development opportunity. So would I if I owned land that was worth a mere £2000 an acre to farm but £1,000,000 an acre to cover in concrete and tarmac. And I owned a few thousand acres.

They put forward their ideas when the Local Development Framework for Medway was exposed as being weak.

This is the scheme which replaces the Local Plan, and sets out how, when and where developments can take place over the next quarter of a century or so.

Every council has to have one.

That's why Medway Council withdrew its plans at the last minute - before the aggressive, rude and domineering planning inspector threw it out.

The council's weakness is that it failed to plan enough employment land for the 50,000 additional people expected to move into the Medway Towns. And that was cruelly exposed by a team of determined objectors.

The plans are still on the drawing board.

They could include 9,000 homes, industrial premises alongside the M2, new warehousing complexes for the motorway truckers coming in from the coast… and anything else that you care to add to the equation.

There is nothing definite in the plans. They are ideas, and would probably make a few multi-billionaires if they get approval.

There has been all-party agreement against the dreams … but that is being pushed by the Conservatives who have turned it into an election issue.

Why?

Because the government insists that all proposals - those supported by the local community and those that are not - should be considered when determining local development frameworks.

Labour should have seen the fallout coming when they insisted opposed, rejected and unloved plans should be included in Local Development Frameworks.

It doesn't matter if a future inspector - and the Medway one won't sit for another year yet - throws out proposals that would have turned an area into a concrete jungle.

The damage will have been done.

Oh - and despite the fact that there is a Save Capstone Park website and Facebook area - there are no proposals by anyone to build on the country park (unless some of the councillors have it up their sleeves!)

___

Wednesday August 5

The local Primary Care Trust wants to encourage a change of public attitudes towards end of life through local media campaigns.

They say so in their draft Medway End of Life Care Strategy 2009 - 2014.

It's full of good ideas, and promises, and assurances.

But I am not sure whether many people will know was an End of Life Care Strategy is.

It is not helped by the introduction which talks of "an integrated approach is envisioned which encompasses the physical, psychosocial, emotional, cultural and spiritual needs of the individual, their family and carers. The delivery of integrated care is recognised as critical for raising standards of care and responding to the needs and wishes of patients and carers."

In simple terms understood by everyone, the End of Life Care Strategy is what doctors and nurses will do when you are dying.

Why they have to wrap it all up in cliched obfustication leaves me nonplussed.

They are promising to take on some excellent ideas, like the way the Wisdom Hospice cares for those who are dying.

It promises that your GP will be at the head of the team that ensures your death is painless, where you want it, and surrounded by whom you want.

Great, providing the GP is actually sympathetic to those ideals.

I get on well with my doctor (just as well at the moment!)

But sometimes doctors lack that touch known as "caring". There is no evidence in the strategy how that will be tackled.

There is also a hint within the report that a lot of this is being driven by financial acumen.

An audit showed that 66 people died in September 2006 at Medway Maritime Hospital.

The new caring strategy says: "Of those, 12 with individuals with cancer may not have needed to be there. Six of the seven that were admitted from residential /nursing home, had little benefit from the admission to the hospital. Seven died awaiting placement in other settings and 38 per cent could have died elsewhere."

Call me suspicious, but what other interpretation should one put on this?

***

It's great to see the council has an appropriately named pooper scooper scooting around the parks and pathways of Medway.

Fido, such a lovely name.

In the wartime it was a system for dispersing fog from airfields.

Fido was an acronym for Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operations.

Today it is still an acronym - but one would sniff at Faeces Intake Disposal Operation.

Hopefully it will be the anti-social slobs who allow their dogs to leave calling cards that will pay for the device - through the local fines system.

It will give the CCTV patrol cars something to do after the school mums have gone home wondering if they will receive a ticket in three weeks time!

Anyway, I hear the operators of Fido will be known as Do-Doos (Devour Odourous Defecatory Owners Oopsies).

___

Tuesday August 4

It is difficult to believe that a pile of bricks and stone could cause so much anguish.

But there is a growing body of national supporters trying to save the Civic Centre for the future.

The building was abandoned by the council last year.

It now wants to smash it down as quickly as possible.

It wants to avoid business rates (Gordon and Alistair getting back some of the money they invested in Medway). It also wants to avoid paying to protect it.

Cllr Alan Jarrett, Medway's Mr Tough, said consultation was one thing they had no intention of doing about the civic centre building. It's in the way, it's got no use, and it's coming down.

Yet I now believe English Heritage may have acted prematurely in deciding not to List the building.

It was the headquarters of the Aveling and Porter business which was the world's largest manufacturer of steam engines, and (among other things that happened in that building) invented the Perkins diesel. It has a fine history - not least that it became the home of Medway Council from its formation until 2008.

It is a fine building. Most communities would be proud to have it.

But not, it seems, our bright burghers.

They see pounds signs flashing over the 10 acre site, and (though they will only whisper it in dark alleys) a new breed of resident to raise the image of the Medway Towns.

I have looked a number of times at the figures produced by the council to justify the demolition. They simply do not convince me.

Increasingly I am reminded of my early career.

Gloucester City Council began bulldozing 13^th century houses in the name of redevelopment (what we older reporters called regeneration in those days).

It was when a brilliantly-painted massive oak beam from an unknown guild house was discovered burning on a demolition site directly opposite the council's offices that the public outrage took off.

I doubt Medway will be outraged.

Too many people are more concerned about what the personal impact on them wil be of the latest crash on the M2 and A2 commuter route to worry about the heritage of Medway.

That's why the national bodies are starting to pay particular attention.

It appals me that in a city rich with historical significance there is no museum worth its salt (at least it saved the Guildhall and Medway Conservators building from demolition).

There is little recognition of the great people who have lived and worked here (Nelson, Kitchener, St John Fisher, the heroic McCudden family, to name but a few).

There is no archaeological pride (what happened during the excavations at Rochester Riverside? Why was a unique Tudor wall allowed to be knocked down?)

We have our recent history rightly preserved around the Great Lines.

But what of the history that went unrecorded?

Where are our great Roman buildings? The port? The Saxon remains that certainly should be found? The Norman town?

Where did the men who prepared the Armada campaign fleet live?

Every time a pile is ploughed into the ground to support a new tower block, another chance among the diminishing opportunities is lost to discover why Medway is great.

Councillors should be warned: some of the modern campaigners fight dirty these days.

Their failure to recognise what is good in our community could come back to haunt them.

___

Monday August 3

One of the problems facing the managers at Medway Council has become apparent over the past few days. It is how do you reassure staff once a policy has gone seriously wrong.

Notices have been appearing all over Gun Wharf urging council staff to use the whistleblowing system.

This is intended to be a confidential way of contacting key people if you believe something - or someone - is wrong.

The bold black, white and orange A3 posters are on noticeboards, and in the staff restaurant.

They exhort staff: "Whistle blowing - don't turn your back".

They list nine staff in various roles in the council structure with responsibility for different areas of whistleblowing.

One of those is specifically aimed at tackling suspicions that a member of staff might be abusing children.

The sub-message is: "Medway Council has a whistleblowing policy to encourage employees to voice any concerns they have and to ensure that they are protected, treated seriously and, where necessary, action is taken."

It is the same policy they had when three surveyors in the council's housing department raised concerns about overpayments to a contractor.

It was treated so seriously the men had to take the council to an industrial tribunal after two of them lost their jobs - and won tens of thousands of pounds for the way they were treated.

If the council with the motto: "Medway Council - serving you" hopes to regain the confidence of its staff that it treats whistleblowing seriously, it has to do more than put up a few signs.

It needs a radical overhaul of its system.

And that has been singularly lacking.

___

Friday July 31

Now I have some spare time on my hands, I am thinking of starting a civic society for Medway.

The principle would be that I (and the other members) would tell the council what we liked, and possibly what we didn't like, about regeneration, old buildings, new buildings, council policies, the river, new regeneration sites, bus services, and so on and so on.

Now I hear that Medway Renaissance (which consists of an unelected £1-point something - million staff and offices team) is forming a similar body.

A letter to likely members says: "As part of a programme of community engagement for regeneration, Medway Council [which in this case means Medway Renaissance] is developing a discussion forum for Chatham. The idea is to bring together a group of people to discuss the development in the Chatham area."

It won't have any formal decision-making rights, but you can go back to your groups and disseminate the information they feed to you. And you will be able to participate….or as they so succinctly put it, they will be "engaging you in masterplan and design activities/meetings where we need to discuss with the wider community."

In other words, you will be consulted and "engaged" on the odd occasion that they want to be able to say they have consulted with the public.

But if your views go against anything Medway Renaissance or its bosses (the government) determines, you will be ignored. Have no doubt about that.

Nothing changes at Medway Renaissance, despite the genuinely serious beliefs of the councillors.

You know - I might really start up a society that represents the people.

It will accept anyone who wants to join (you won't be selected by me or a team of people, unlike Medway's new consultative committee).

It will have the opportunity to say things that Big Brother doesn't like, and to express views on those things which concern the membership.

My concept is not definitive. It is merely a guide. If you want to join and promote a concrete-free zone to encourage lesser spotted ozzlum birds, fine. Propose it and if the majority of the membership agrees, we'll try to encourage oodles of ozzlums.

But don't let the body that is changing my patch decide who is (and who is not) a member, and who can have a direct influence on altering for ever that sacred, is scarred, little bit of Medway.

Communication is a two-way thing.

This body doesn't stand a hope in hell of achieving that.

***

Last night was the night to miss council meetings if you want everything nodded through.

I missed it, but you wouldn't expect the Medway Messenger to avoid a good council trash.

My colleague, Paul Francis, stepped into the gap.

That doesn't mean to say that they would let me loose on a county meeting!

But my thanks for Paul picking up the strands.

___

Thursday July 30

For those who can make tonight's council meeting at the St George's Centre, it promises to be an interesting meeting for the discussions that could develop around the old Civic Centre.

Why the administration doesn't come clean and say they want the red-brick and sandstone building to come down because it is going to hinder the sale of the plummest riverside waterfront development site of them all, I do not know.

It's Victorian old, it's not wanted, the site is worth a small fortune in anything like normal financial times, and the council needs the cash.

But no.

Councillors are being told it will cost £732,000 to knock down the rest, but keep the former headquarters of the world's largest steamroller makers. Then there would be a £135,000 bill for underpinning the building and restoring services.

The civic centre was originally home to Aveling and Porter. Their rollers and steam-powered machinery went around the world, taking the name of Rochester to the furthest flung corners of the Empire and building Medway's tourism potential in the colonies.

Now we are told that the new buyers - if any is prepared in the next few years to spend the cash the council desperately needs - will not want the building because it is on "the prime residential corner" of the development site.

(That's because it stares straight at the Cathedral and the Castle, the Esplanade and the Roman crossing of the Medway, and the ancient chapel of the Bridge Wardens.)

It is a great view, but it is even better with the Aveling and Porter Civic Centre.

Against that some figures - which deserve detailed scrutiny - have been pulled out by the council's officers to show that it would cost £850,000 to the taxpayers to keep it, plus annual costs of almost £140,000 for …. Well, for security, apparently.

If there was a degree of honesty about the need to remove the old building there would be greater respect.

I just wonder what would happen if the council is placed in the position of Newport in Gwent.

It had a major reconstruction planned of its river front, when the remains of a wooden boat were discovered. It turned out to be a 13th century armed trader, unique in Europe.

There is documentary evidence to suggest that one of the development sites in Medway may hold the remains of a Spanish Armada galleon which was hulked in the Stuart period after gracing the river since its seizure in 1588.

Now that really would be embarrassing!

***

Apologies for regular readers of this column.

I stupidly took on some carrots in my garden without carrying out a full Health and Safety risk assessment. The carrots won.

The result is a broken leg which will take some weeks to heal.

The vitriol may therefore be interrupted with winces from time to time.

___

Friday July 24

The report into policing the environmental camp at Kingsnorth power station  must have made uncomfortable reading at Kent Police HQ, despite attempts to put a positive spin on it. 

After accepting the objectives the force set were met to keep the power station open and meeting national needs, it criticised just about every single thing the senior management did.

The  review team was called in to see if there were any lessons to be learned. There were - dozens of them.

It shows the basics were (at best) forgotten. At worst? - ignored.

Police chiefs were untrained, ignored potential support and were controlled by the men lower down the tree.

It was, they said, bottom-up leadership rather than top-down. 

The report stated that control of the Climate Camp at Kingsnorth went against every advice that police forces have received from previous protests.

 Just to remind readers, it cost you and me just short of £6 million.

Hundreds of police were drafted in from 24 other forces.

Bosses had no identified reason for calling them in, and when they arrived, those in charge had no specific use for them.

Lower ranked officers (where all the key decisions were made) did. They carried out 8,218 "stop and searches", something which they seemed to think was approved by their chiefs as the Right of Entry into the camp.

Not surprisingly, the chief's chiefs were slated for

·        lack of tactical planning, co-ordination and clarity of thought,

·        planning in isolation,

·        ignoring the management at the power station who could have helped them, … the failings go on and on and on.

The reviewers - both top policemen from outside the county - said they could not give an informed view of the justification and appropriateness about the resourcing for Operation Oasis - because there was no tactical plan. Had there been one, they said, Kent Police might have used less resources.

The top officers lacked training to run the police operation. They delegated to lower ranks: that undermined the whole operation.

"This is not good practice," said the reviewers .

There were few records of meetings and agreements, no daily threats reviews took place, the force's intelligence cell was "frustrated and clearly challenged", while the ower tier, Bronze, commanders acted without clear approval or endorsement and in isolation.

Junior officers repeatedly raised concerns that they were doing stop and search almost as a condition of entry to the protest camp. The searches were "inappropriate" and poorly recorded, and it led to hostility.

That meant non-activists at the camp moved closer to violence and resistance, said the reviewers.

They described it as "disproportionate, counter productive but widespread".

They advised the police authority: "It is a command matter, not one of staff knowing search codes of practice."

 The review team found some good points. All the overall targets - of keeping the station open and supplying power - were met.

What did the police seize in these searches?   There wre steering wheel locks, ice axes, razors, and an imitation rifle.

There was also a walking stick, a book called "Wholey Irrisponsable [sic] Experiments", a bag of balloons, party poppers, fog horns, an empty bottle and can, and two pairs of nail clippers.

All this for £5.9 million. No doubt the Kent and Medway Police Authority will give serious consideration to  its findings .

___

Thursday July 23

Nice to see a familiar red Jag at Gun Wharf last night. It was parked in the officers' parking spaces, not the disabled parking where it has been photographed in the past.

***

The sound system at Gun Wharf committee meetings is not perfect.

Part of the problem is the building was designed to keep sound within the "pods" (small meeting areas).

But committee meetings are spread over two of the pods so a rather ropey sound system is in use.

Latest sound effects from the system were unveiled by the tannoy during last night's planning meeting.

Crackles got worse and worse.

A number of officers and councillors then fiddled with the plugs, jacks and wires.

That only led to a steady, but very loud, bass "Thump, thump, thump".

As one member pretended to massage his heart, Cllr David Brake (Con) sprang to the rescue.

A few more twiddles, tweaks and twirls followed - and suddenly the sound system was working better than it has ever done.

I can see the councillor could earn a buck or two from colleagues - to silence some and to ensure the rest are heard clearly.

***

Talking of Cllr Brake reminds me of one task that he seems particularly loathe to tackle: trimming his hedgerow.

It stands about 15 ft high and leans right out over the footpath outside his gate.

Ironic that I should see it just as the Conservative candidate for his constituency should be labouring long and loud about her campaign to clean up the streets of the Chatham and Aylesford constituency.

Maybe a quiet word in our handman's ear might not go amiss.

***

I used to work at the Municipal Buildings - and like some of the councillors I might yet end up residing there in my impending dotage.

However, I could never find out from colleagues in those halcyon days of local government service how the planning department's building was dubbed the Pagoda Building.

The chairman of the planning committee revealed all to the committee the other night.

"A little bit of history," said Cllr Diane Chambers (Con).

"It was first referred to as a pagoda by a Labour councillor, Henry Clothier - and it simply stuck."

So it shows we can all learn something new every day.

***

Meanwhile, did you know there are three former Gillingham mayors whose ashes are buried in Gillingham Park?

One was its last mayor, Cllr George Smith (Lib). But who were the others?

In any event, ex-Medway mayor, Cllr Tony Goulden, has no intention of having his ashes dumped there, as he muttered during the planning meeting approving the conversion of the Municipal buildings into an old people's care home.

___

 Wednesday July 22

It may not be popular with the Royal Mail, but just as the Potteries conurbation is made up of several towns, so is Medway.

The Medway Towns are five. We have Strood, the former City (of Rochester), the future City (of Chatham), Gillingham and Rainham.

I make this point because the Secretary of a body in which I have been a member for nearly 50 years has just refused to recognise my address is Rainham.

He says: "I note from your renewal slip you have added 'Rainham' to your address. As you will note from the attached Royal Mail printout, this is not part of the address required by Royal Mail and is the reason it has been excluded and will remain so. If you feel this part is excluded in error, you will need to contact them, not us to rectify this matter."

At one time the Royal Mail was part of the General Post Office, controlled by the Government which we elected.

Then the GPO was broken up, the telephones became BT, and the mail became Royal Mail, no longer answerable to anyone, including the government.

Remember, these are the people who can't be touched by the government when they close sub post offices, and do away with town post offices, and force us into shops that are inadequate for the purpose.

These are the people who take a month of Sundays to deliver first class post, at nearly eight shillings a letter (hang on! - the postman has just delivered today's post… advertising thinly disguised as a magazine, a booklet and a card offering me the chance to become a PC Engineer… but none with postage.)

Since it became unanswerable to anyone (because they have no shareholders buying and selling ownership of the organisation) Royal Mail has suddenly dictated where we live.

You may live in Timbuktoo. I live in Rainham.

Yet some bureaucrat at Royal Mail insists I live in Gillingham.

I don't. I live in Rainham which was within the former administrative borough of Gillingham.

I now live (if one wishes to talk in such terms) in the 11-year-old borough of Medway (which Google recognises, but RM does not). I prefer that I live in the historic county of Kent , complete with its traditions and its Lord Lieutenant maintaining my link to the Queen.

And so my letters will continue to be written from Rainham, Kent - no matter what bureaucrats, membership secretaries or anyone else considers is correct.

And the Five Towns of Medway still sit on the A2 just as they have done since Saxon times - or possibly when the Romans built it (whatever, we are still filling in their potholes).

___

Tuesday July 21

An increasingly worrying trend is people being unable to buy their own homes.

A new report by the National Housing Federation indicates it is worst among rural buyers in the South East.

They say so few affordable houses are being built in rural England that people in some areas are being warned they face a 280 year wait to be allocated a new home.

People applying for an affordable home in the 10 rural districts with the longest waiting lists would face a wait of up to 90 years on average before enough new homes were built to clear the backlog.

Among them is Sevenoaks, the third least affordable in the south east.

The average house price is £389,103 compared to an average salary of £25,204.

Not quite that bad in Hempstead. But getting close.
***

The Freedom of Information Act has been a revelation to all sorts of people, and not just the media.

The government has now announced plans to extend the powers of disclosure to more organisations.

But not yet to council contractors who are increasingly taking over full responsibility for everything local authorities traditionally provide.

The Ministry of Justice says in its response to public consultations on the effectiveness of the act (http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/docs/consultation-response-_section5.pdf): "Public authorities and contractors could and should do more to increase openness and transparency."

They advise councils should strictly limit the confidentiality which applies to contracts, while contractors should adopt high standards of proactive publication, and voluntarily adhere to the principles of the Act.

No such wording was in place with Medway's housing repairs contract that went so disastrously wrong, none appears to be in place for the numerous organisations who are caring for our elderly and mentally handicapped, and indeed for the new 30-year refuse disposal which is moving through the final stages before it is signed.

___

Monday July 20

Hordes of protestors - or a damp squib? We shall know shortly when the Rochester Bridge Wardens batten down the hatches as the battle to keep them responsible for the Medway tunnel reaches a climax.

The wardens have been responsible for every crossing of the tidal Medway since the 1390s.

(Except for the M2 bridge, that is......)

They put some of the cash into the Medway Tunnel 600 years later - and the bills are starting to mount.

The government recognises that it will cost millions to modernise and update the underwater crossing - so you can imagine the Minister for the South East not being too enthusiastic about it.

Meanwhile, that same minister is none other than Jonathan Shaw, the Chatham and Aylesford MP, who has spearheaded the campaign to get the bridgewardens to hold on to the tunnel.

The Medway crossings and the trust are strange beasts - unique in Britain.

Everywhere else bridges are built and paid for by the taxpayer. Not here, not since one of the early King Henrys nearly fell in the river because no one was maintaining the route between his port at Dover and his palaces in London.

He made the local people, through what became a charitable trust, responsible for building and maintaining them.

(Except for the M2 bridge and the CTRL crossing, that is ....)

The Bridgewardens have a problem.

They don't accept that they are financially responsible for the tunnel. Most of its cash came via KCC from the government - with a bit more from Rochester's city council.

Secondly they do have responsibility for the two road bridges in Rochester that take tens of thousands of vehicles a day on the traditional A2 route that King Henry followed.

(Meanwhile there's a second motorway bridge that the government also funded.)

The bridgewardens have about £70 million of assets - mainly farmland from which they receive rents that are going into bank accounts to pay for the replacement of the A2 bridges which was what the trust was established to provide.

I think the tunnel will be sold - despite what the protestors say and do today.

And Mr Shaw may not have to worry about finding the millions needed to repair the tunnel if his government's position continues to founder.

Mind, Medway Council hasn't got the cash!

***

I went for a walk with my wife at Riverside Country Park last night.

Marvellous!

Oystercatchers were piping, black-headed gulls were caring for persistent chicks, a fox took a rabbit a few feet in front of us...

Also there was the collected rubbish of the Medway Towns, it seemed.

Everything, including the kitchen sink and an armchair was dumped in hedgerows, over the river bank, and along the paths.

As for the dog muck... it was not helped by the dog litter bin that had been burned - but the bins were underused, and the dog owners seemed to think it didn't matter.

***

And talking of the river, it was interesting to wander down to The Strand and see Liberal beach (see Friday's blog).

It didn't last more than half a dozen tides!

Most of it is covered in grit and gravel (which it was supposed to cover).

The rest is slowly trickling to meet the tide - and its slow journey to Motney Hill, just as I forecast.

___

Friday July 17

There are plenty of people trying to play down the Tamiflu distribution centre being established at the Compass Centre.

But it has been a very hurried operation, with officers of the council and NHS Medway operating over this weekend to make sure it can start operating on Monday … if needed.

This on the day that it emerged that the NHS believes one in two children aged between three and 11 could become victims.

Everyone keeps trying to play down the situation. The media is blamed for scaremongering.

But the fact is no one knows how serious swine flu is going to be. Deaths are increasingly occurring and the information reporters use is coming from the health experts.

They are planning for the worst expectations, but hoping it won't be that bad.

In Medway they have a place almost ready to hand out as much Tamiflu anti-viral medicine as the population of the Medway Towns might demand.

One of the key points, I was told, was that it had 200 parking spaces where Flu Friends could pull up, run in, collect the prescripted medication, and head home. And a two storey, £1 million a year building, complete with the necessary staff (or at least those at NHS Medway who are not off sick with the bug at the moment).

If they aren't worried, why do they need so many parking spaces?

***

MANY moons ago, George Smith - Gillingham's last Mayor - had a load of sand dumped on the banks of the River Medway.

It was intended to turn The Strand into a summer beach.

It lasted a short time only. The river has a nasty habit of rising, and it washed away the sand as it went out.

George was a Liberal councillor.

And his successors - the Liberal Democrat ward councillors of Gillingham North - have not learned the lessons.

They have forked out a few thousand pounds to provide a beach once again at Gillingham-Super-Mud.

Photos arrived at the Medway Messenger of Cllr Cathy Sutton with the obligatory two bathing-costumed children, and assorted sand castle accoutrements.

If you want a swimming pool, or somewhere that costs nothing to take the kids, with a paddling pool and lots of play equipment, go to The Strand.

If you want sand, you'll find it being washed up on the Motney Hill shore in a few months time.

A good idea, councillors.

But don't go building your hopes the council will have much of it to clean after the silt-laden tide has flowed across it twice a day.

***

Once upon a time lightships protected mariners by warning captains to keep away from shallows, wrecks and the Goodwin Sands.

Now one of the handful of lightships that survive - there are several on the River Medway, along with discarded First World War German U-boats - is to be permanently anchored in the river.

And thanks to Interreg IVa (and we all know what THAT is, don't we!) council staff will be able to draw on an £800,000 pot of European gold to use it as an arts and cultural events centre.

I've been trying to find out from the press office some more about the scheme - but so far I have drawn a big blank.

The last manned lightship was the Inner Dowsing. It was withdrawn by Trinity House in 1971 when it was replaced by an automated light on a tower.

I know of four that on the Medway (there may be more).

One (called the Inner Dowsing) is a restaurant. Another is a floating home, and two are moored in the estuary.

But an arty farty gallery on the waves? How will the aficionados reach this creation - and will the council underwrite the cost?

Heaven forbid - it can't be ... it's not going to be the first thing to appear at Rochester Riverside (after the viewing platform on top of piled lorry containers, and the £500,000 restored crane), is it?

***

The same press release tells me that the £6 billion investment in regenerating Medway is attracting hoteliers.

Part of the release says: "…..hotel operators aim to invest up to £50million in up to five sites.

"First came the 90-bedroom Ramada Encore at Chatham Maritime Now plans have been approved for major new hotels at Victory Pier, Gillingham; Corporation Street, Rochester and a site in Rainham.

"Additionally, there is the potential to create a number of luxury 'boutique' hotels in and around buildings of historic interest. And longer term, a major hotel is expected to feature in the regeneration of Chatham Waterfront."

Twaddle.

Victory Pier's (on the site of the Akzo Nobel chemical works) hotel is a budget one, and it has not yet been considered by councillors. Sounds like officers' pre-determination.

The Corporation Street one offers 120 beds (if and when it is built), but has been damned as an ugly monstrosity by some of the planning committee. It reminded one - Dorte Gilry - of Heathrow Control Tower.

And the major Rainham hotel? It's a 27-bed hutch in the middle of a steak house car park.

There was a big hotel plan for Medway Leisure Park - next to the about-to-be-built-as-a-cut-off 600-home community at Temple Marsh, Strood, but that was thrown out by the planners because it was too far out from the tourist attractions.

And Rochester Riverside's four star hotel and conference centre has still some way to go before any building begins there.

Medway's latest tourism malarky is as sound as building hotels on a Gillingham sandbank…

___

Thursday July 16

It will be interesting to see how residents respond to a planned bus-only route linking up two parts of Medway.

If built, the short road will mean that buses can be much quicker between the suburbs and the centre in that part of Medway.

Only this week a similar scheme - admittedly temporary - was introduced in Chatham to enable buses and taxis to get past the skeleton of the Sir John Hawkins flyover.

The proposed scheme has been on the drawing boards for a long time, and could be the forerunner of several more.

It would be an ideal solution to the transport issues that are going to occur when Chattenden is developed.

There are plenty of roads built by the Royal Engineers (not least Upchat Road) that could be easily adapted for a Fastrack type of bus services to get to the Medway Tunnel.

While car drivers use the A228 and battle around the Four Elms roundabout (how long before that is controlled by traffic lights?) buses could race from the old Chattenden Barracks gate, over the traffic queues, through the woods and military land at Upnor and emerge by the tunnel within minutes.

Of course it would leave other parts of Medway - notably the old Gillingham borough - still without any chance of improved transport … or development plans … or…..

***

Someone asked me how long it took to debate the 14 reports in the 348 page (plus supplement!) report to the Cabinet on Tuesday.

The answer - 90 minutes.

It wasn't that the Cabinet just skated over everything.

It's that it had already decided behind closed doors what it planned to do.

I doubt the reports were even scribbled in rough without the Cabinet members having given it their approval.

***

Children and Adults overview committee meets at 6.30pm at Gun Wharf.

Only four items on the agenda - and all of them about children.

Funny.

Looking back through the agendas I cannot find a single report on adult issues in the past nine months.

Wednesday July 15

If you support Chatham's bid for World Heritage Status, you could get up to £750 from the council to help you promote the idea.

But you have to bid by August 7.

Nat that there's much money in the pot - £2,250.

Nevertheless, I think I can do a good job of promoting the defences, castle, barracks, fort, dockyard, killing fields, and wild flowers.

I am bidding for a tent to be located on the Great Lines next summer, camping equipment, a hot water urn (solar-powered) so that I can sell cups of tea and coffee to visitors and cover my costs, and will organise a photo show to describe the rare red-star thistle (which has been overlooked by everyone), the insects, butterflies, birds and grasses that I will photograph when not making cups of tea and coffee for the hordes of visitors I expect.

It's probably as good an idea as many that will come forward.

***

There is a running gag at the council that one Cabinet member has seven speeches (having heard them all several times it is not difficult to see why there isn't an eighth).

There's another councillor who takes every single opportunity to kick the other parties.

One expects the occasional political flak, but every time this leading councillor opens his mouth it is always to have a go at the opposition.

Not very constructive, boringly destructive and decidedly bad copy for journalists looking for a bit of real news.

***

Cabinet met yesterday, and reviewed the spending to date against the capital and revenue budgets.

Given that we are only just into the first weeks of the new financial year, the spending is pretty much on target.

For an organisation that is planning to spend around two-thirds of a billion pounds on its revenue projects, the forecast at the moment is it could overspend by as much as ….(wait for it!)….. £1 million.

Micawber would be turning in his grave.

But considering the scare stories of the past few years (like the forecast 12 months ago of £14 million overspend) I'm really impressed.

I know there are those who flutter on the National Lottery in hopes of winning a million.

But to Medway Council it really is chicken feed.

And should be no problem to control over the next nine months.

Tuesday July 14

Cabinet is sitting this afternoon with plans to discuss 348 pages of papers (all carefully read from beginning to end, of course) in a little over an hour's debate.

I use the word "debate" loosely.

All the debating has already taken place, and what we shall see this afternoon will be the re-run of the play whose dress rehearsal took place yesterday behind closed doors.

The 10 actors (always providing they all turn up) will be particularly concerned about the collapsed wall in Church Terrace, Luton (see yesterday's blog).

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to discover whether they will skate over the delayed Watermill Wharf scheme in Strood. This is the planned conversion of a railway arch into a community centre for the planned Strood Waterfront development.

The wharf scheme has been delayed and delayed despite government money being available.

***

Rumours abound that there may be crocodiles in Medway.

One was alleged to have turned up at the school closures consultations.

There are concerns in some quarters that it might reappear at the special council meeting next Tuesday.

With the Conservative candidate for the parliamentary seat of Rochester and Strood, Mark Reckless, now siding with St Peter's, anyone still betting that school will close?

Remember - you read it here first!

***

Howard Doe, the portfolio holder for housing, expressed the hope some months ago by that we ought to have heard the last of the housing chaos and the whistleblowers.

The odds are getting shorter that it will finally come onto a council agenda.

***

Two assistant directors are to be appointed to the monumental Children and Adults Directorate.

One will be responsible for adult services, and the other for children's care. Both will succeed ADs who have moved on.

They already have ones for inclusion, learning and achievement, and social care...

Each earns about four times the average Medway male.

___

Monday July 13

A few householders should be looking very carefully at their insurance policies if they have a big retaining wall close to their homes.

A group of pensioners living in Luton next to the local cemetery may have to be decanted (or moved on) at least temporarily.

Their homes are not only next to the "dead centre" of Luton, but are also beneath a fairly aged concrete retaining wall that is supposed to support the traffic up the hill in the next road.

Except in February the snow and ice brought a Large section of its crashing down.

About three bus lengths of wall ended up crushing a few graves and memorials, and taking out most of that road it was supposed to support.

The council immediately closed it off, and then started looking at where they could find the one million they needed to repair it.

They are still looking.

And the half road still survives.

And the pensioners look from their bungalows at the great mass of concrete that might, just might, decide it wants to fall on them, courtesy of the rain which is getting into the concrete in seemingly never ending streams.

So why should householders be worrying?

Well, there are several of these walls around Medway, all built the same way, all in unforgiving, ungiving concrete, and all about the same time about a century ago.

This wall belongs to the council.

Most do not.

They are the responsibility of the householder.

Not many would live along the 35 yards of concrete that fell in Luton.

Thirty-five yards? - it's about three singledeck buses in length.

A million pounds to repair?

I think a visit to the insurance policy is in order - now.

***

About time!

After so much prevarication, it is good to see the Sir John Hawkins flyover is being chopped and ground into history.

Its grave will be the bus and taxi road that will open in a few months time … unless someone protests loudly, embarrasses the administration, raises a petition, lies down in front of the bulldozers…. (delete and substitute your own suggestion if your prefer).

But the bridge over Chatham High Street has finally gone.

Good riddance.

___

Friday July 10

They are in hot water again in the poor old, troubled housing department.

The latest problem to beset them is the discovery that more of the area's elderly are living in less than ideal circumstances.

And no one seems to have done anything to sort out their problems.

These people live in Brennan House, a sheltered housing unit of small living units loosely described as "studios".

And a month ago their hot water suddenly stopped flowing.

If they were lucky, every few days the water would once again flow, hot and inviting - until the shared boiler turned itself off.

At one point they were without hot water for a full five days.

When the Medway Messenger asked to speak to some of the residents we were firmly told "No!"

So if one of them reads this blog, and still feels aggrieved, give the news room a call. It's (01634) 227803.

We would be delighted to talk to all of you, and perhaps see the problem for ourselves.

Meanwhile where was MeRGe, the Medway council residents' voice?

And more importantly, what on earth was management playing at? Someone knew the water had been off for a month - they kept sending the contractor in to repair it.

I doubt that the Medway Messenger is very popular with the people running the council's housing department.

After all, we have been hammering on for more than two years about shoddy management.

So - why does the Medway Messenger have to find out yet again before anything is actually done?

The council knew it had 32 elderly people - many in their eighties - without hot water.

They are paying rent to the council to live in one-room "studios". They should have hot water - now.

***

Black flags and bunting should be hung along the walls of the Sir John Hawkins flyover which is being pulled down.

And good riddance to it.

The plan was to remove all traffic from in front of the Pentagon Shopping Centre, clearing the area for parks and open spaces, a theatre (known to some as Chatham's first Culture Club), and a hotel.

Those dreams have faded somewhat.

The government doesn't think Chatham needs culture (it's had a sub-culture for years).

If the Pentagon is to turn the Black Hole of Chatham from a dirty, dingy bus station into a shining example of commercial get up and go (always providing there are any commercial undertakings who fancy moving into a converted bus terminus) the buses need a new home.

So let's bulldoze the last remains of undeveloped Chatham (The Paddock), and build a dynamic bus station… running buses across the High Street like they did until the 1970s opening of the flyover.

And let's quietly forget that this was going to be an open, inviting view of the castle, cathedral, Great Lines, and Medway City Estate, minus traffic

___

Thursday July 9

Heads continue to roll as the council disposes of people who have failed it.

There is a growing number of heads - teachers to be precise - who have not managed to motivate staff and pupils enough.

Nowhere are you judged more on results than in the educational world at Medway.

It's a cruel world in Medway Education.

No second chances.

Bang! You're gone.

If you are lucky they'll send your personal belongings on - with a best wishes in your future life…

***

There will be those who will not have heard of the housing debacle that has occupied the Medway Messenger, the council (having once tried to brush it under the carpet) and various government bodies.

The saga continues.

Now the latest contractor (to be precise the fourth) to have held the reins of the £25 million housing repairs contract has been stripped of the capital programme.

The task of replacing windows, doors, kitchens, and bathrooms is going back out to tender.

The whole process was intended to bring all Medway's council-owned homes up to a decent standard by next year.

A few months ago the debacle had the portfolio holder, Howard Doe, believing it was all over and done.

I said at the time he must be joking.

Obviously he was.

If that 2010 target is to be achieved it is going to need a great deal of determination.

***

I believe in praising where people deserve it, and Les Wicks (the children's portfolio holder) deserves to be praised for turning up at the Try Angle awards last week.

Conspicuous by his absence a year ago, he was part of the judging team and he made most of the evening at the Central Theatre.

Now I wonder whether he will turn up at the summer events organised for children during the long break.

He's not been seen at any for the past three years.

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

Wednesday July 8

It was a busy meeting last night for Medway's committee with the longest descriptive title of them all - the regeneration, community and culture overview and scrutiny committee.

There was the contract for the waste to be considered, petitions from the public to consider, and the future management and care of the castle in Rochester. [You'll be able to read about them (and more beside) in the Medway Messenger.]

Mind you, the vice chairman, Matt Bright, challenged his name last night.

In a moment lacking any salesmanship for the council's main tourist attraction, the vice-chairman of a committee that is sometimes unfairly dubbed the Chatham Kulture Klub, said: "When you see the castle from the river, it's great, but when you pay your money and go in it's a real disappointment.

"There's nothing there except a view."

Given that Rochester Castle is 900 years old, one of the things that King John knocked about a bit, boasts the tallest keep in the country, has survived losing stones to ballast the fleet that took on the Spanish Armada, and is robbed of coppice stones right up to the present day, it's doing pretty well, thank you.

It easily stands comparison with Goodrich Castle, Bunratty Castle, Blarney Castle, Oxford Castle… in fact, pretty much every castle in the land.

As for the view - it's worth the climb to the top just to say you've been on top of the country's tallest castle. and you do get a God's Eye View of the Cathedral, too.

Over the coming years the river view is radically going to change.

It strikes me the BBC would be better placed when they do their regular weather-spotting views of the Medway if they were to perch a camera on top of the castle aimed up the Medway Valley. Views of Medway City Estate aren't really a comforting sign of the new-look "city of culture"

They would get nice views of Rochester, a changing scene, a motorway bridge, and sunsets that can be stunning.

And it would bring in a bit of extra cash to pay for the restoration work - and councillors' grandiose ideas.

***

Life can be unfair sometimes.

Particularly if you get a little tongue-tied.

Take Roy Hunter, the chairman of that same regeneration etc committee.

At the start of the meeting he tried to apologise for the failure of the council's photocopier to print any page numbers on the half-inch thick agenda.

"Before the meeting starts, I want to apologise to everyone that there is no numberling…err...sorry…numbered-ing ……"

There was a long pause as he reread his notes.

"…..there are no numbers on the agenda pages," he said.

___

Tuesday July 7

This is one for those who read this column, and fancy a flutter.

A fascinating feature of the debate on schools will be what the Conservatives do about the constitution that allowed their Labour opponents to call for a special meeting.

Odds-on, the administration will be seeking to block that right. They have amended the constitution every time someone has found a loophole.

Cllr Les Wicks' comments in yesterday's Medway Messenger may be right: "he" should have written by now to the other people whose questions were tabled (but not reached) under the time-constricting rules that stop them from posing too many difficulties.

But Les knows full well "he" has given answers to a clever bunch of parents, governors and assorted others.

They now have much more time to consider the "short supplementary question" that could do his case irreparable damage.

***

The news that Mark Reckless was joining the campaign to save one of the schools like his mentor, Ted Baker, is no surprise.

He said he would make up his mind after he had considered all the facts. Then - amid loud boos and shouts - the man who would be Rochester and Strood's next MP voted with the Conservatives (minus Ted).

One thing that may have helped make up his mind was that vocal response from the very people who could swing the vote in his favour.

***

Regeneration councillors meet this evening, and you can lay more bets on the councillors praising the multitude of benefits that will accrue from the proposed new refuse disposal contract (that means waste to the rest of us).

There are two little asides that I would praise.

One is the restoration of a hit squad to go out and clear rubbish from trouble spots - like the pile of tyres that appears overnight on a small plot of land for which no one knows the land owner.

The other is the decision to arrange street cleaning on the day after the refuse has been removed.

It has been a tradition in some parts of the Medway Towns for the contractors to clean the road just before the wagons come down the streets. So that if they spill some, or the cats have been plaguing the black bags, the roads look dirty and unkempt for a month - until the hours before the next collection.

It was one of the insoluble problems from the old contract with Veolia.

I'd bet they don't win the new contract.

___

Friday July 3

Rare powers have been used to give the public a better chance of being heard over their concerns for four schools facing closure.

An "extraordinary special meeting" of the council has been arranged for July 21 at the St George's Centre to hear questions from the public - many of whom were talked out by the sheer volume of questions at the last meeting.

Five leading Labour councillors dusted down the council's constitution to allow more time to debate the schools' futures.

They used a power called requisitioning to have the special debate.

It is expected many more questions will be tabled by members of the public but the only ones that will be allowed will be the ones that didn't get answered a couple of weeks ago.

New questions will have to be sent in for the next ordinary council meeting (not that any are ordinary these days) which is a week later.

The extraordinary special etc etc does give councillors opposed to the plans the chance to ask more questions - and to try to add at least one more parliamentary candidate to the list of opponents that already include a former Tory deputy mayor, Ted Baker.

I suspect the walls may run red on July 21...

***

I have read, heard and (on occasions) written some drivel, but the press release from ther World Development Movement ahead of the latest protests against the Kingsnorth plans take the biscuit.

OK - it's mildly amusing to talk about calling thep lanned human chain around the power station site as a Mili-Band (gerrit?)

But saying the proposed power station could be to blame for a death a day without backing it up is codswallop.

According to Deborah Doane, director of the World Development movement shocking new statistics show "the devastating human impact that carbon emissions from a new Kingsnorth plant alone could have" on people in the developing world.

According to this woman, 100,000 more people will lose their dry season water supply, up to 300 more people will die annually due to malnutrition, another 60,000 people will suffer from drought in Africa, 50,000 more people will go hungry due to drought and lower crop yields, another 40,000 people will be exposed to malaria, 20,000 people become climate refugees (whatever that means) and 30,000 more people lose their homes due to coastal flooding

She stated: "These figures reveal, for the first time, the devastating human impact of building a new Kingsnorth coal power station."

They don't.

They simply show how to produce figures the gullible might believe.

I could tell you there will be a 250 metre high tsunami because of last night's thunderstorms.

I could argue that in 2,000 years everyone will have grown flippers.

I don't need to back it up with evidence, of course. Someone would believe it - just like aliens landed at Roswell (as though the Yanks don't have enough eccentrics to make we British seem sane).

Ms Doane, and her Mili-Band should be rounded up, and dropped in the middle of the River Medway:

***

And talking of rubbish, it's expected later this month that a £500 million contract will be let to someone to take over the council's refuse disposal operations.

First challenge will be to achieve the government's 40 per cent recycling target by next year. It's a big ask (as they say today): the council currently recycles less than 33 per cent.

And in the middle of it all, there's a plan to send much of the household waste to incinerators.

That's going to cause some interesting debates.

I was told: "We will use one of two incinerators outside Medway. We don't produce enough waste to make it economical to have one in Medway."

Watch the lorries heading up the A2 and round the M25.

And listen for the administration justifying the biggest contract in the council's history - and their biggest-ever U-turn.

Rodney Chambers, the council leader, could face some interesting moments after vehemently opposing such an idea only a couple of years ago.

***

I went to the Central Theatre last night to join in the applause for the hundreds of young people (the council still recognises them as "children") who were being recognised at the annual Try Angle ceremony.

Once again I was struck by the way children's director, Rose Collinson, recognised that some of the youngsters would be terrified to go on stage, under the lights and in front of a largely unseen, boisterous audience.

One young winner nearly didn't make it to the stage. But she got there.

Rose ran across with her certificate - and gave her a big sister-type, friendly squeeze, and had a private word with her that no one else could see.

It calmed the girl terrified by the unknown.

It was a touching day, brilliantly organised by the Medway Youth Parliament, and compered by Medway's answer to Richard and Judy - 11-year-old Gamal Toseafa and the MYP vice-chairman, Heather Calveley.

Other highlights were David Knight and Jon Cobb who did an old, but brilliantly timed, comedy routine that had the audience close to hysterics, a classical piano solo by Kelvin Min, toe-tapping music from Chatham South Jazz Band, and a colourful close from PGP.

___

Thursday July 2

The community support officers - policing on a budget - have been along my road.

Three of them were needed to deliver an A5 leaflet to my home the other day.

It told me there are four surgeries a week where you can chat to my neighbourhood policing team (only once in my neighbourhood admittedly).

It also told me that a Gillingham woman had been jailed for five years for a street robbery in which she kicked away the victim's walking aid (if they mean a stick why not describe it as such?)

They also told me that the alcohol-free zones now stretch from Rochester High Street to the Great Lines. Great news….

But why tell Rainham residents who would be interested in their neighbour, jailed for 12 months for robbing an octogenarian's home while he was supposed to be keeping an eye on it. Unfortunately we don't know who the unnamed, unidentified, unaddressed man is.

The problem with authority-run newsletters is that they get some things right.

But too often they are filled out with dross, fail to target their audience, and are more politically correct than someone trying to injure an HSE inspector.

Try getting a local paper: you'll get a better view of what is happening in your neighbourhood.

***

Have you ever thought you would buy friends?

It's a serious question.

Increasingly I hear of Twits (I understand those are people who twitter) who count their friendships in terms of the names that appear on the screen of their computer.

They are not real friends as most people know them. They are people at the end of a keyboard, who knows where. They chose to correspond with you and (coincidentally) may be known to you: people like relatives, school chums, work colleagues .…

But increasingly they are people who you will never meet except on the internet.

And Twits call them friends.

They are increasingly important to small-minded, immature people, who judge each other on the basis of how many friends they have.

Yesterday I had an invitation to buy some friends... up to 100,000 if I want.

A press release (unsolicited but typical of the net) told me: "… Twitter is in the sights of those looking to have their fame and status artificially increased."

It went on that a web traffic and promotion company has just launched a service allowing Twitter users to purchase packages of followers if they are having trouble attaining them on their own.

"It was obvious people had been looking for a service like this for some time as the day we launched we actually had to start turning people away before close of business," said their spokesman.

"It was a shock, but within a couple of days we revamped our systems to ensure we could handle the workload."

I'll bet.

Talk about money for old rope!

***

Could there be wedding bells in the St George's Centre before very long?

A new alliance has been formed that ignores party loyalties in favour of far more meaningful ones.

I'll bet that makes for interesting times when the various parties are scheming.

Will we see a by-election - or someone else cross the floor?

___

Wednesday July 1

The news that National Express was in deep financial trouble has come as no surprise to anyone in the business or in politics.

The decision this morning of Richard Bowker to step down as chief executive of the bus, coach and rail operating company, and the subsequent announcement that the East Coast operations are to be taken into public ownership, is not unexpected.

While interviewing Lord Adonis on his round Britain train tour earlier this year, he was well aware of their problems. So was Paul Clark, the Gillingham MP and transport minister.

It is clear the emergency plans were already in place at that time.

I used to work for National Express in one of its senior roles.

In those days it ran coach services, and did it pretty successfully despite having me aboard.

My chief executive at that time (later my chairman) was Clive Myers, a coach man with a clear vision of the company.

We didn't own any of the buses. But we controlled them (after a fashion).

That slowly evolved into a company with less than a handful of coaches (bought to cover the legal requirements and to show other operators what we wanted).

We avoided the major financial risks.

Someone else owned the coaches, employed the crews, and we paid them to operate to our rules and timetables, in our colours. And that was it.

We raked in the money, we paid it out, and the company took its slice of the profits.

If a route became unprofitable we changed it - or dropped it completely.

The beast that we eventually sold immediately became a FTSE listed business.

And started to grow.

The new owners ignored the basic rules that Clive Myers established: don't own things. It gives you too much responsibility - and too many risks of draining cash.

They bought airports, rail franchises, big bus companies (they own - or did yesterday - the West Midlands main bus operator)

The only thing that remains from the Myers years is the white coach.

It has gone through a number of variations.

The only improvement on that beast has been the steady standardisation of the coach, and to a unique design that is pure National Express.

But they took their eye off the ball. And now the company will be lucky to survive.

If one of the great transport names is to survive (and I was the person who created that name) get out of trains. Get out of buses. Have the minimum number of staff and coaches.

And go back to the basics.

***

I was not the only one to wander around the Historic Dockyard on Saturday with a wristband, and no other restraint.

Where were the searches?

Why were people able to enter without wristbands?

Who were the people who pushed past a Prime Minister, an admiral, a general and the (well-behaved) photographers and reporters, to get photos of the Duke of Gloucester when he arrived?

And if there was no concern about them, why are we so security conscious in 21st century Britain?

___

Monday June 29

It was very apparent at Armed Forces Day: the fleet ain't what it was when Chatham maintained it.

On the river where the English ships were prepared before taking on the Spanish Armada, and where successive, mainly successful, fleets sailed to war not always to return, we saw the 21st Century navy.

The men and women (and the cadets who hope to follow in their boot steps) are still great.

But what of the fleet itself, selected to represent one arm of the great services so many people honoured: Chatham, after all, was the main event in a nation's day of tribute to the armed forces?

HMS Argyll - 20 years old.

HMS Cattistock - 28 years old

HMS Archer and HMS Tracker - 24 years old.

Where Nelson and a host of other admirals (up to the present day) learned their skills, and where their ships and submarines were built for centuries, it was evident: we have slipped down the table of great navies.

Even the French navy is now bigger and better equipped than the Royal Navy.

What a day, though.

It ranged from the hair-raising "Now you see 'em, now you don't" flypast by the Red Arrows (exactly as promised) to the grace of the Battle of Britain Memorial flight.

There were tears from old men as the bands played, and from those who understood what the veterans (some who are still in their teens) had been through.

There was immense pride in all the fighting services.

None more so than for the Little Men - the Ghurkas - who were able to stare the Prime Minister in the eye as they passed the Royal Saluting Box - and did.

Gordon Brown was a whirlwind, racing through the crowds greeting as many people as he could.

A colleague - true to the finest traditions of the news world - immediately raised her camera and filmed him as he tried to shake her hand.

There was one touch I noticed as the vets went through. An old man on the right of the parade line said something to Mr Brown. Whatever his comment was clearly appreciated. The Prime Minister leant forward, and briefly grabbed the man's arm, with a clear "Thank you!" on his lips.

***

If you ever wondered where the police are when you need them, the answer on Saturday was "Chatham!"

The security was massive.

Police high vis jackets were everywhere, the real security was out of sight, watching and ready for the slightest trouble, the media was escorted (even by an Admiral on at least one occasion) from one viewing point to another, and the public (in the finest traditions of the Medway Towns) ignored it all and enjoyed themselves.

***

One thing missing (and considering the commitment from the council it was a big whoopsy) was any acknowledgment of Medway.

The PM proudly mentioned Chatham at least a dozen times in his private speech to guests of the Royal British Legion.

The Admirals and Air Chief Marshals mentioned Chatham.

But what happened to any mention of the aspiring City of Medway?

Zilch. Nada. Nowt.

Will we now see the abandonment of Medway and the restoration of the towns (and city) names that clearly mean a lot more to politicians, warriors and the general public outside a small area of North Kent.

Friday June 26

Poor Cllr Mason regrets his decision to use that empty space at the front of Gun Wharf for his important meetings.

The veteran councillor understands the needs of the disabled. He should do - he has a bad leg, and he is the portfolio holder responsible for protecting their rights.

So when he was in a hurry for a meeting at the civic headquarters on June 10 he swung into the disabled bays and left his rather unwieldy Jaguar.

It was, m'lud, an opportunity to test the facilities.

He was not to know a man on crutches would turn up and want to use the same parking space.

He was a councillor, he was late, and he had to consider the urgent matters that demand his presence during the day.

One man on crutches could walk the 200 yards from his car in the far corner of the council car park. It was available. It should be pointed out it was marked for staff, but he took it. And no one complained at that, did they?

No one can blame Cllr Mason that that taxpayer couldn't squeeze between the parked cars, but instead had to walk all the way round the outside of the car park.

There were important things to do in the council offices, there was a meeting, the councillors' parking area opposite the disabled spaces was full, and Cllr Mason didn't intend to stay around after the 3pm Cabinet meeting.

As for the song and dance in the media, Cllr Mason must feel really aggrieved to have to account for his use of a council car parking space on the following Monday evening.

After all, what right had disabled people to park in the area after the offices closed?

Cllr Mason insisted he had only parked there once - on the evening of the Conservative group meeting. There were no disabled members of his political group (apart from his bad leg).

When he was in a hurry, he could have been testing the parking restrictions.

After all, the same week Cllr Mason parked there to test the space for several hours, Britain had ratified the rights of disabled people to be treated right.

If it was so appalling,  I am sure Jonathan Shaw, the Minister for Disabled People and the MP for Gun Wharf, would have protested loudly.

It was he who ratified the international treaty that enshrines their human rights of disabled people.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a powerful and explicit statement, which states that disabled people must be able to enjoy, on an equal basis, the same human rights as others, said his ministry.

Mr Shaw said: "The ratification of the Convention is a very significant landmark, for disabled people and for UK Government and society as a whole. Not only does it show the Government's commitment to equality of human rights for disabled people, but our determination to achieve equality by 2025.

"Now that we have ratified we can start implementing the Convention, building on the approach towards disability equality set out in our 2005 report 'Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People'. We aim to start the Parliamentary process for ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention shortly."

So instead of vilifying Cllr Mason, we should be praising him for his sacrifice, and for raising the profile of Medway's disabled.

And there I rest the case for the defence, M'Lud.

Thursday June 25

At some stage the council will be formally told that it has been held to account over the whistleblowing debacle in the housing department.

Tonight, for example, the Audit Committee will be told there had been a recent employment tribunal case where it was found that an individual had been unfairly dismissed because of whistle-blowing.

And that would appear to be it.

The report is by Deborah Upton, the council's monitoring officer...

who also happens to be the legal officer who advised officers what to do with the whistleblowers ....

then investigated the housing debacle and found it was pretty normal for hundreds of thousands of pounds to be wasted on the housing repairs contract ....

and so became its housing chief.

It's not that there is a deliberate attempt to bury an appalling mess... heaven forbid.

But it is being concealed.

The report is reviewing the way the council deals with corruption and fraud within its operations.

Five issues are going to be mentioned tonight - four raised by management and fifth by the public, only one of which has resulted in disciplinary action.

But the council seems to want to ignore the whole disgraceful business about the Erinaceous contract, and how it ended up after seven months with rent money being wasted on overcharged repairs and maintenance that still saw the contractor end up in administration.

Nothing has ever been formally reported, but the £25 million contract has been handed over to a Gloucester company without any consultation, competition, explanation or public opportunity to comment.

One wonders what the European Commission's competition rulers think.

Meanwhile all that the council considers worthy of comment is one and a half sentences - with a massive bill for legal battles, and a £70,000 compensastion package for the three whistleblowers (not one) over the way they were treated.

The Audit Committee might like to consider a few questions of its own.

Why did its own auditors fail to find any evidence of the hundreds of thousands being wasted?

Why the money was paid with the full authority of an assistant director?

Why the council has delayed paying the whistleblowers?

And as a consequence why, unnecessarily, it has to pay them interest on the money the council owns them.

___

Wednesday June 24

There were strident notes from a mobile phone in the middle of yesterday's Cabinet meeting.

Council Leader, Rodney Chambers, raised an eyebrow.

"Who is selling ice cream?" he asked in a tone that would have frozen a Ninety Nine.

Cllr Phil Filmer - clearly embarrassed - rapidly switched his phone to silent mode.

He was lucky.

Had it been in front of a planning inspector instead of the Leader it could have cost him dearly.

They often levy a £10 "donation" for their favourite local charity if anyone's phone sounds.

***

The council's Chancellor, Alan Jarrett, has revealed he likes to watch Newsnight on the BBC.

Earlier this week he saw the first of the whimsical news slots looking at how some councils are trying to save money.

His wife wondered how the man who sits over Medway's Star Chamber each autumn would have acted.

"I would have applied some of the rigours on central government that they apply to local government - and seen how they managed," he growled.

***

There's a new sign in the housing department at Medway Council since Deborah Upton, the assistant director who has added that department to her legal portfolio, moved in.

Her office door has a neat blue sign labelling her office the Old Bailey.

She never found her legal eagle's whig after the move from the Civic Centre.

___

Tuesday June 23

This column has often been critical of the process of consultation followed by the administration at Medway Council.

We finally got a definitive explanation of what it should be, from Cllr David Brake, chairman of the children and adults committee, at last week's council meeting.

"Consultation is consultation," he proclaimed to the massed audience.

So there you have it, except....

Well my old Latin master, A E Hancock, said it came from the Latin word, consultare, meaning to discuss.

Consultation has come to mean confer, obtain professional advice, and seek information.

But in Medway consultation does not define with whom, how many or for how long.

Cllr Tony Goulden popped up with a good explanation of the schools' consultations: "It's the option of do you want to be shot - or not. There is no answer other than no!"

He was the one who suggested the 50,000 people moving into the area would have to be barren to ensure the schools figures balanced.

***

The council's headmaster, Mayor David Royle, may rethink using the gavel to bring some semblance of order to council debates during his year in office.

During the vitriolic discussions about the schools last week, his use of it immediately had Cllr Vince Maple of the Middle Third wagging his ponytail.

"What's that - warming up for the land auction?" the scallywag asked in a reference to what many believe could happen to the schools land.

He could have ended up with lines (or worse) if he persisted.

***

The council's website - once claimed as a leading example - is so out of date that the administration is spending some of the cash saved last year to revive it.

One area that desperately needs action is the council's search engine.

You need to have a Doctorate in Computer Sciences to be able to understand how to quiz it to find out what the council has decided in the past.

Ahhh - maybe that's why it has never been improved.

___

Monday June 22

Fortress Gun Wharf… it's a phrase getting used more and more.

It was first coined by Cllr Maureen Ruparel.

It describes the way the public is increasingly unable to get close to their councillors, the officers and the plans that affect their lives.

I tend to agree with the summation.

Chatting to various people affected by the disabled parking row - disabled and councillors - it is clear that the council is beginning to recognise the problems it has with parking.

It is not helped by a number of people who see it as a cheap place to park (eg, for free) while the councillors and the officers have to work there (also parking for free).

So the gates are going in.

But that increases the alienation.

And the political capital that can be made.

The answer might be to build a multi storey underground car park. Except that causes problems, not least with a financial implication.

After all, you can't ask dozens of senior managers and leading councillors to walk .... can you?

___

Friday June 18

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the planned school closures in Medway are all about money.

It has nothing to do with children's education.

It has everything to do with building new schools at government expense.

That's fine.

Put up schools that can replace many dilapidated, worn-out buildings. If you can get someone else to foot the bill, all well and good.

But the ethos at Fortress Gun Wharf (the name being used by councillors and the public about Medway Council's headquarters) is unclear.

On the one hand we hear talk about putting children at the heart of everything.

That it is an open council.

That schools' standards are being driven up quicker than neighbouring, rival, Kent County Council.

That schools are the very heart of the community.

That consultations mean everything to the council and the administration.

Yet…

It is repeatedly criticised by the Audit Commission for ignoring consultations on planning, regeneration …

Dare I add schools? I do.

The open council of Medway is increasingly impossible to visit. Gates will soon stop people entering. Meeting councillors is almost impossible - and to speak to the Cabinet is like the mudlark who wanted to approach Queen Victoria.

School standards are being driven up. But Medway Council is not taking the people with it.

It was repeatedly, last night, a case of we haven't made a decision about the land, or your school, but we will get £11 million from the government if we move quickly.

Medway's population is to grow by 50,000 in the next 10 years. As someone said last night is said and is eyed by the council as a prospective location

One extraordinary case was that of Walderslade Primary School.

£1 million has already been spent on that 100-pupil school. It was ravaged by fire - no one was ever caught.

By pure coincidence it is in a Conservative heartland.

Yet Ridge Meadow, which has a better reputation, more pupils, and (again by coincidence is in a strong Labour ward nearby, faces closure for "falling roles".

As someone said last night: "Are the new residents all to be barren?"

That it is next to Bradfields special school, which the council would like to expand because of the increasing number of local children with autism, and has lots of land, is also coincidental.

I believe a number of councillors on the conservative ranks have not made up their minds yet.

There are strong, vociferous and well-organised groups of residents, parents, teachers and "the people at the very heart of our community" who are prepared to offer them very sound reasons why they should stay.

***

The council's CCTV camera car has been catching lots of mums outside schools and In A Mini drivers in a restaurant hot spot in Medway.

But it seems it is unable to do anything about things happening right under its nose.

The car that has collected over £200,000 in fines - enough to fund a second one and subsidise the council tax - seems loathe to tackle disabled parkers who fail to display their blue tickets.

Among those who clearly have a right to park in disabled spaces are members of the 10-man Conservative Cabinet that runs the council's Zero Tolerance, Get Tough policies.

Cllr Alan Jarrett (the Council's deputy leader and the man who rakes in the parking fines and redistributes it - somewhat like the Sheriff of Nottingham) forgot his disabled card the other evening.

The cricketing councillor, Rehman Chishti (the Cabinet's enforcer and prospective Conservative MP) was another who forgot to produce his disabled badge.

Also there was Cllr Tom Mason, whose main task these days is to represent the interests of the elderly and infirm.

They were recently caught by a diligent member of the opposition, Glyn Griffiths, using disabled parking spots at Gun Wharf while they attended a Conservative group meeting.

Cllr Mason insisted it was a one-off, and anyway it was after the council closed for the day.

Parking is a major problem across Medway, and not just at Gun Wharf.

Most of its parking spaces are reserved for senior managers, though this blogger admits he regularly parks wherever there is an empty space.

It brings into stark highlight the problems in Canterbury Street, Gillingham.

It is almost impossible for the restaurateurs' customers to get a snack - or even a meal - since the same three councillors voted for parking restraints to be increased earlier this year.

The British economy is not helping - but the council could.

Meanwhile, Councillors Jarrett, Mason and Chishti believe it is all right when no one else wants to use disabled spots.

As Miss Islam said: "It's one rule for them and another for the rest of us."

And yes - it is disgraceful.

***

It was confirmed last night that the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will take the Royal Salute at the end of the parade into the Historic Dockyard in a week's time.

No Princes of the Realm.

What a shame that such a major event on the first occasion it is held and the last time it will take place in a provincial town could not command a Charles, William or Henry.

Meanwhile can I wish Bill Fowler, one of the key parts of the organisation getting this event together, a swift and full recovery from ill health.

The dockyard needs that mop of yellow hair bouncing around the events.

***

One million pounds doesn't seem to be much to turn the fortunes of the Hundred of Hoo School.

It was finally officially confirmed this week it had been placed in special measures after a crashing Ofsted and in the wake of the sacking of the governors.

Mind, can you imagine being a student whose head teacher turned round to you and said: "Must do better!….. here's a million that might help."

___

Thursday June 18

The sale of the Medway Tunnel to the council is moving ever closer.

But no one is too enamoured about speeding up the process - unless you are a councillor.

They want the tunnel because it will immediately bring a cash injection from the Rochester Bridge Trust.

The wardens are promising Medway £3,648,000 to take it off their hands. But the longer they delay the sale the more interest they can acrue for their other needy work.

The trouble is that it leaves the Medway taxpayers facing a massive bill for long-overdue tunnel repairs that the council failed to carry out in previous years.

The money is earmarked for new computers and CCTV cameras to control the traffic.

Meanwhile, expect the Minister for the South East, Jonathan Shaw (the Chatham and Aylesford MP through whose constituency the tunnel does not flow) to lodge a formal objection when he sees the sell-off plan is being advertised in The London Gazette today.

No government wants that burden.

And somehow I don't think the local taxpayers want the liabilities that it will bring.

***

Dig out the flak jackets and steel helmets if you plan to attend tonight's council meeting at the St George's Centre.

The discussion on the schools reductions is likely to be more acrimonious than anything seen in the old debating chambers.

There will be a few hundred angry mums and dads crammed into the former church who have already expressed major concerns.

There will be 49 who want to ask questions - and get answers. Yet there is only 30 minutes for the entire process and (as things stood last night) not a snowball's chance on a visit to "the other place" that it will be extended by the mayor.

The more I think of Cllr Maureen Ruparel's description of the new council offices as Fortress Gun Wharf the more accurate I find it.

They'll soon have the gates up and working - so unless you want a long walk through the roadworks or plan to block Brompton's pretty streets you won't get in there.

***

One million pounds doesn't seem to be much to turn the fortunes of the Hundred of Hoo School.

It was finally officially confirmed this week it had been placed in special measures after a crushing Ofsted report.

Mind, can you imagine being a student whose head teacher turned round to you and said: "Must do better!….. here's a million that might help."

***

Two council meetings have been cancelled this week - one for employment matters where they still haven't updated the way the 8,100 staff are consulted by the management, and the other for regen.

The regeneration scrutiny committee had set aside last night to debate the Local Development Framework.

Then someone remembered that the freethinking backbenchers need the Cabinet to tell them to discuss it - and they haven't see it yet.

That comes on Tuesday, but given the views expressed at a press conference earlier this week I can guarantee the Cabinet will be fuming about some of the proposals.

___

Wednesday June 17

I was wrong last week, and I humbly apologise.

There are only 49 questioners asking councillors about the primary schools consultation process (well, almost exclusively about it) tomorrow night.

Normally question time lasts 25 minutes but because of the numbers involved it has been extended … to 30 minutes.

That's the total time allowed to put all the questions, get the answers, put short supplementary questions (the shortness of supplementaries is always stressed by mayors) and all the subsequent answers while allowing time for each questioner to get to the microphone.

Given the strength of anger and annoyance which has spread through the schools under threat of closure it might be wise for the mayor, Cllr David Royle, to say the questions can run through to a natural conclusion.

It will make for a long, long meeting, but he was a deputy head himself, so he knows how strong people's feelings are for their schools.

That's before the government pushes us to conceive schools as "at the heart of the community".

These are good schools in the main, achieving fine results, and turning out more than competent youngsters. Yet they face extinct or radical overhaul.

Their parents don't give a toss for economies of scale, for political arguments or for the promises to "listen to all the arguments".

Their kids' education is at stake.

Their finances are under threat (how much is a school uniform these days?)

Their routines are being challenged.

Worst of all, their kids are upset: they expect mum and dad to save their classroom from bulldozing councillors and busybody officers who see this as a cost cutting exercise - and getting the government to fund new buildings.

All of which could disappear in a few weeks time if Gordon Brown went to the polls, and David Cameron won on his reported cost-cutting government ticket.

***

It is a fact that men live about five years less than women - or put another way women have traditionally enjoyed 10 years more pensionable leisure than fellows.

But that doesn’t mean all of us are racing for the wooden box.

According to local health chiefs, if you are 55 (or older) but want to stay healthy and happy for the next fifty years, NHS Medway and Medway Older People’s Partnership (MOPP) have the very thing you need. It's an information and advice booklet for older Medway people covering safety, physical and mental health, bereavement, retirement, spirituality, legal matters, coping with life changes, and caring for others.

The free booklet is being launched next week in Hempstead Valley by the Mayor of Medway, Cllr David Royle, before going on a promo tour of Medway's libraries (and even the far flung reaches of the peninsula thanks to the mobile library).

Meanwhile one well known local journalist who has recently retired admitted the other night that after 38 years sedentary life behind a news desk he has started jogging .

Dotage by the sounds of it….

___

Tuesday June 16

One gets used to screams of indignation and opposition from politicians to ideas that are sometimes forced upon them by others.

It is seldom, however, that Medway councillors and officers have lined up in such depth as they did yesterday to explain to two reporters why it would appear the council is endorsing the dreaded Medway Magna proposal.

This is a scheme dreamed up by landowners (in the main) to develop the last sizeable tract of greenery in urban Medway.

I am not suggesting for one minute that they would quickly sell their prime farm land for many times its agricultural value if it became developable.

Heaven forbid.

These are respectable families who believe they have the opportunity to solve the housing problem in the south east at the flash of a theodolite - or the scratch of a planner's pen.

They want the council to allow a monstrous section of land linking Medway with Maidstone across the North Downs to be developed. It would provide homes, flats, apartments, roads, garages and industrial premises on undeveloped land - so much easier (and cheaper) to develop than brown fields.

Council leader Rodney Chambers, his strategic planning queen, Jane Chitty, his development director, Robin Cooper, and finance supremo, Alan Jarrett, each took it in turns to emphasise that they are not responsible for these proposals.

They simply cannot avoid including them in the council's latest bid to get a local development framework (LDF) for Medway approved around 2011.

Their messages were clear. They can be summed up as:

Don't blame the administration

Don't blame the officers

We have more than enough development land

We shall lie down in front of the bulldozers if they arrive

We shall fight them on the hilltops, we shall fight them….. (You get the drift, I'm sure).

The council is definite in its opposition (even before it goes to other councillors to consider). It's in because the rules say all proposals, and not just a council's, have to be considered by inspectors.

This time, I think the councillors are fully justified in screaming "Blame others!"

They already include in their LDF proposal 

6,000 homes earmarked for the Chattenden and Lodge Hill barracks areas ("probably more," said Cllr Chambers)

2,000 homes already approved for Rochester Riverside,

600 at both Temple and Strood Waterfront sites,

800 more at Gillingham waterfront, and

a few thousand likely at Strood Civic Centre.

With developments already taking place, and windfalls (when Mr Smith knocks down his bungalow and builds 24 flats on the site) bringing hundreds more, they don't consider there is justification for more.

But as well as Medway Magna, a planning inspector will be very reluctantly asked to consider rejecting privately-proposed developments to the east and the north of Rainham, and linking Hoo, Chattenden, Cliffe Woods and High Halstow.

The three most powerful councillors involved with development, plus their director, intend to fight it to the death if any of these rejected proposals are eventually accepted towards the 16,300 homes targeted to be built in Medway by 2026.

This morning, the Tory prospective candidate for Chatham and Aylesford, Tracy Crouch, launched a campaign with 23,000 letters to constituents urging them to fight the proposals. Other candidates may follow suit in the next few days.

***

It was a delight to hear Ofsted can finally walk unannounced into a school.

That could cause worries for numerous schools across the country (not just in Medway).

The inspectors can immediately start judging the education being provided.

The problem for some schools is that at present they can plan for the inspectors' arrival.

Pupils, staff and governors can be coached on what to say and how to react if an inspector speaks to them.

They can put up special displays of children's work as a symbol for the inspectors, not as a recognition of the pupils' efforts.

They can plan the visit as though it was a piece of entertainment - or a battle campaign.

Not any more.

And that will give greater satisfaction in the community that their local school will get its rating in future on reality, not a myth.

***

It was a shock to see the face of Medway's Big Brother, Reh Chishti, beaming down the A2 from the corner of Canterbury Street.

Are we to see more councillors going for high profile images?

For example, Diane Chambers, chairman of the planning committee, appearing on the outside of big developments with "Diana - approver of this great developent" (even though she is capable to slamming some they are forced to agree).

Or Bill Esterson "fighting for a school near you".

What about Steve Kearney "Growling for a better Gillingham"?

(Big Brother? - well Reh is the overseer of Medway's 400-plus CCTV cameras.)

Incidentally, I hear our sporting politician (cricket, half-marathons et al) has now been elected president of the Hollands and Blair football club. He will be installed next Saturday.

___

Monday June 15

It takes a bit of guts to walk into your enemy's home and do unto him as he would do unto you (if he ever got his hands on you).

So the Conservatives' Shadow Transport Minister, Steven Hammond, was taking a big risk wandering around Medway last Friday. He was chatting merrily to potential voters in Paul Clark's constituency - the same week Mr C became shipping minister as well as trains and buses minister.

Mr Hammond might have been prepared for a confrontation with Mr Clark.

What he might not have expected was the reception he got from some very alert students at Chatham Grammar School for Girls.

They were political students - under the same teacher that taught Mr Clark's nemesis, Cllr Reh Chishti.

She stayed away.

Mr Hammond may have wished the same had happened to the present day pupils.

They were ultra polite to their guest, but suddenly he was under fire for daring to say that teenagers could not have cut price tickets from a Conservative government: it would cost the taxpayer too much.

They pushed and pushed, and while he didn't do an Alistair ("Gosh is that the time - I must be going!") Darling, it was difficult to decide who was the victor - prospective government minister-in-waiting or the post-Chishti era pupils in Rainham Road who will soon have the chance to cast a vote themselves.

***

Local development frameworks (LDFs) are not the world's most exciting creations.

But they are beginning to shape our lives in ways we could never imagine.

They have replaced Local Plans - the things which determine who the community intends to provide for its future.

Every council has one - or has one being pulled together.

Medway has two.

Or correctly it has had two.

The first had to be scrapped after the council ended a bitter slanging match with a determined Planning Inspector appointed two years ago supposedly to approve the scheme.

It cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, involved massive teams of developers' barristers ganging up on the forward planner responsible for the proposals, and was withdrawn by the regeneration director at the eleventh hour.

It saved the council's face.

The problem was Medway had put forward plans based on the original rules. But they were continually being developed and changed.

Today, the first sight of the revised development framework - heavily reworked by a small team of planners under Brian McCutcheon, the forward planning manager - will be produced at a press briefing on the changes.

It promises to be the start of a fascinating week which has seen the cancellation of a special regen overview committee (where the revised LDF was expected to be rubber-stamped, and forwarded to Cabinet and then council for approval), the scrapping of an employment committee meeting - and the full council meeting.

Not that many councillors would bother to read the LDF - it's too complicated/big/much time (delete as appropriate). Nor will many of them bother to attend the public debate as it enfolds along clearly defined lines.

The framework seeks to protect countryside while providing enough development land for homes and schools, shops and offices, and ensure that there is land for the jobs to be created.

Every planning application will be affected by the LDF. It will be the rock on which good developments should grow, and bad ones founder.

It tells anyone who bothers to consult it whether they live next to a future factory, if their garden is earmarked for a motorway extension, whether a park and ride scheme will be built on your neighbour's cabbage patch, or if the fields behind your home are to be protected from development in the next 30 years.

Last time Mr Cunningham was concerned there was insufficient land allocated for the thousands of jobs that Medway is guaranteeing to provide for the 50,000 additional residents coming as part of the Thames Gateway expansion.

The Medway Magna development proposals seem sure to reappear.

They were proposed by land owners and developers who want to convert most of the rich farmland between Maidstone and Medway (especially between the M2 and the Darland Banks) into housing, factories and logistics bases.

It was heavily opposed by the council, and by the regional government office.

But times change.

Certainly, it will be interesting to see what else has changed.

___

Friday, June 12

I advised Medway's residents yesterday to take a trip to a suicide clinic in Switzerland rather than rely on care locally as they grow older and more infirm.

In case you doubt it, this gem of an statement was sent to me setting out the council's official position on the spending cut backs so heavily criticised by Age Concern and Help the Aged.

I quote it in full.

"Medway raised its eligibility threshold to Substantial and Critical in April 2008. This brought the council into line with over two thirds of councils that have a threshold at this level. The decision to raise the threshold was because of the increasing demand for services. The increase in demand has been mainly driven by the good news that people are living longer and the advent of heroic [CORR] medicine, which means that more people than ever are living longer with very complex needs.

"As part of the decision to raise the eligibility threshold, the council identified £500,000 to be invested in the voluntary and community sector to support people with low and moderate social care needs. Part of the commissioning intentions for this money includes investment in services for older people.

"The increase in demand for social care and health services will continue to increase and this presents a challenge for both the council and NHS Medway. The council is currently finalising an Older People's Plan that will address all aspects of older people's lives. The plan is being developed in partnership with NHS Medway and a joint commissioning strategy for health and social care services is being written at the same time so that it ensures that the vision and the priorities identified in the Plan are achieved."

"Last year 08/09 the council overspent on services for older people by more than £300,000 in order to ensure that we delivered our priority of older people maintaining their independence."

Now let me comment.

The first paragraph proposes that because there are so many needing assistance from the council they'll make it more difficult to get help because of "the good news that people are living longer and the advent of heroic medicine, which means that more people than ever are living longer with very complex needs."

Heroic medicine? I've no idea!

The second paragraph says they are throwing money at voluntary groups this year. Well, hip-hip-hooray. Age Concern and Help the Aged are voluntary groups, and they were the ones that were highlighting the council's one of 35 giving bad service to the elderly even though they tick all the "excellent" boxes for government watchdogs. There is no assurance for someone in a sick bed that if they give their house key to a volunteer that that person has been cleared by Criminal Bureau Records checks - like council workers, teachers, and a host of other local government and PCT staff: It's a cost the voluntary groups may not be prepared to foot.

The third paragraph says a report is being written. That ticks a few more boxes, but does it really improve the care for those forced to lie in dirty beds, surrounded by filth, and unable to wash because they are too incapacitated?

The final paragraph sums it all up: the council failed to budget accurately. That is not their fault: social care is one of the most imprecise areas for anyone estimating how many people will need carers, how many will need chair lifts, or how many will need walking sticks, Zimmer frames, rails to climb stairs and the multitude of other costs of Care in the Community.

The politicians will argue who is to blame.

Meanwhile, behind the fluttering curtains, a little lonely old lady may be vainly trying to raise assistance before she soils herself.

***

Official questions have been raised about the time primary school children took out of class to attend meetings where their schools' futures were under discussion.

If I was one of the heads facing the Inquisitor General I would have no hesitation defending the actions.

They were studying.

Subjects covered included Current History, The Democratic Ideal in Medway, Political Awareness, Choral performance, Communications Skills, and the Changing Role of the Church in Modern Society (well, that was where the original debate took place).

If I sent my children to London (and there happened to be a lobby of Parliament) the following lessons immediately spring to mind: How to Win Friends and Influence People, Discuss River Traffic on the Thames and Medway, Statuary in the Street Scene, Democracy at Work, Prime Ministers and the Future....).

Lots of worthy lessons there for the kids.

All of those were exercised (even though some people would prefer they were exorcised).

 

Thursday, June 11

First the good news (unless you are one of the thousands going to be disappointed).

If you were thinking of coming to Chatham for Armed Forces Day, forget it.

All 30,000 of the free tickets to the event in the Historic Dockyard have now been allocated.

It was a "first come - first served" allocation, and the tickets went in a couple of weeks.

The event is expected to become an annual event hosted by each of the national capitals in the UK on a rotating basis.

But history will remember the first was at Chatham.

Planes will be winging in.

Ships large and small will show off the Royal Navy's influence in the way Britain is still a great power.

And the Army will be there in force, including men and women fresh back from Afghanistan and Iran.

The capitals may offer bigger shows in the future.

But the first opportunity anyone had to say "Thank you" to the men and women who served this nation, our present-day warriors - and those to come - will always be Chatham.

We may not be a naval town any longer.

But our significance as a military base stretches back nearly 500 years.

And we can still show the rest of Britain - we are respect the risks and sacrifices our boys (and girls) take for this country.

***

Now the bad news (unless you don't care about the sick and elderly).

Three star, excellent Medway Council was slated in the bounds of the House of Commons yesterday for failing to care for the most vulnerable in our society.

As we wander around our streets, how many curtained windows hide a lonely, dirty old man or woman no longer capable of getting to the toilet or of washing themselves.

You might think very few.

Age Concern and Help the Aged were saying differently yesterday.

Excellent Medway was named as one of 35 areas where, just because you can't get out of bed because you are now so old and infirm, doesn't mean you qualify for basic social help.

You don't.

You have to be really desperate - some would say at death's door - before anyone you can trust will come in to help you.

This isn't the fault of the Conservative administration (who cut back on the care a few months ago so that you only have to fight for help if you need substantial support).

Nor is it the Labour government (because it is drawing up a Green Paper that will right all ills).

Because if you can't reach behind your head to wash your neck - tough! It stays dirty.

Your back is so crippled from years of manual labour so much that it is almost impossible to get out of the bed to which you are increasingly confined? - too bad if you need the loo. Your sheets get soiled.

A harsh view?

Not if Age Concern and Help the Aged are to be believed.

This is the norm for those of us who retire, and start to seize up.

The trouble is, there are more and more people facing life at 100, with few funds to provide the care for themselves.

This is excellence, as determined by the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the government's watchdog.

Heaven help those who age in a failing area.

The fact is, don't get old.

Get a one-way ticket to Switzerland. Euthanise before you require "help from the State" that is no longer there.

***

The whisper is that around 50 questions about the schools review are being posed by members of the public to Cabinet members at the next council meeting.

This administration may have discovered a determined opposition.

***

Quote of the week from Cllr Diana Chambers, chairman of the council's planning committee.

"The proposed extension is in keeping with the house - but it didn't have any design about it in the first place," she said.

I'll spare the owner (and his architect) from blushes.

 

Wednesday, June 10

Council estates across North Kent are pretty open places with lots of green lawns, mature trees and (generally) small gardens.

Now the green areas could be built upon.

Medway is working with Dartford, Gravesham and Swale councils to agree a new Multiple Area Agreement (MAA) by next month.

The disruption to council-owned estates is contained in a short, blobbed sentence buried deep inside a report that was only released on Wednesday.

Housing is one of three key areas for the four councils to agree to ensure the regeneration continues (always subject to a change of government, of course), the others being transport and skills.

Housing blob four is the key one. It is at the foot of the third page of the report, written by Medway's chief executive, Neil Davies, who is pulling together the other councils and delivery boards.

It is fully endorsed by all the council leaders but specifically Medway's Rodney Chambers.

It simply says: "The redevelopment of existing Council owned estates to deliver increased density and therefore additional new homes."

In simple terms it means squeezing more people into areas which are generally less well served than the rest of the community.

It also ignores (yet again) the need for major reconsideration of the oldest residential parts of the Thames Gateway which are full of Victorian and Edwardian pre First World War properties that in general terms would have been in the past designated as today's slums.

They stay.

***

A former Local Government minister has been appointed the new chairman of English Heritage.

Baroness Kay Andrews succeeds the late, and much respected former Leader of Kent County Council, Lord Sandy Bruce Lockhart who died of cancer last year just as he was stamping his unique authority on the organisation.

Baroness Andrews said: "He was a great man and a wonderful champion of England's heritage. It will be the greatest privilege for me to take up the baton and be directly involved in the protection and promotion of the historic environment all around us and under our feet."

One of the first things she could well do is look into the decision of one of her officers not to list the Civic Centre in Strood.

The 1903 building is probably the best building in Strood, and on Friday night an attempt will be made by local campaigners to save it.

Why?

Because of its importance to the history of Medway's industrial heritage.

If they succeed they will save cash-strapped Medway Council £700,000 - as well as the headquarters of the Aveling and Porter empire which was the world's greatest manufacturer of steam rollers and traction engines, as well as one of the most successful diesel engines.

Tuesday, June 9

There were plenty of red, embarrassed faces at the election count in Medway.

For an organisation that handles around £600 million of our money every year you would think they could add up.

Seems there weren't enough fingers around on Sunday night.

The count began last Thursday and finished a few minutes after midnight on Monday morning.

During that time they had confirmed they had received 16,073 postal votes and - on Thursday - another 43,762 voters had wandered in to the polling stations to complete the voting sheet. That makes 59,835 sheets …. doesn't it?

Except they actually had seven more completed forms …..

Until they found a further three.

And try as they might, as politicians across the South East waited for the all-important call with Medway's vote, the electoral registration team simply could not explain why there were seven … eight … nine … 10 more votes than anyone expected.

What had gone before was the prelude.

At 6pm on Sunday the lullaby of manually counting 59,800-plus sheets of paper got under way.

Everyone expected it was going to be a lot simpler than the 2005 council election. Then the count finished at 4am and involved up to three crosses on each ballot paper.

The massed council staff (around 100 of them) expected to be away by 9pm. After all they only had to count one overly long piece of paper with a single X on it, 59,000-plus times.

At the end the votes cast should equal the number of voters who had handed in their votes.

"One and one equals two just didn't work this time!" one politician glowered at me.

The whole of Europe waited on Medway. And especially Labour who feared they could lose their local stalwart, Peter Skinner.

Finally, exasperated collators of the South East's Allez-Ooop Yours to Europe told the chief executive, Neil Davies: "Give up."

They were prepared to accept that they couldn't make the books balance, and would put up with a discrepancy of 10 votes more than expected.

***

There is some good news for Medway's administration.

When all the money is totted up it looks as though they will end up with more than £2.5 million to put in the bank from last year's underspend.

Some money has already been allocated to useful projects - including doubling up on the payments necessary to knock down the Civic Centre - or Aveling & Porter building if you prefer.

***

I gather there are official questions about the time lost from classes for primary school children taking time out of class to attend meetings where their schools' future was under discussion.

If I was one of the heads facing the Inquisitor General I would have no hestitation defending the actions: Current History, The Democratic Way in Medway, Political Awareness, Choral Practice, Communications Skills, the Changing Role of the Church in Modern Society (well, that was where the debate took place).

If I was to send my children to London to lobby Parliament the following lessons immediately spring to mind: How to Win Friends and Influence People, Discuss River Traffic on the Thames and Medway, Statuary in the Street Scene, Democracy at Work, Prime Ministers and the Future....). Lots of lessons there for the kids.

All of those were exercised (even though some people would prefer they were exorcised).

 

 

Monday, June 8

Fun and games on the party political scene today - as you might expect.

All three MPs are keeping their heads down.

Two are junior ministers - and there is a shuffle taking place as I write. The other has a habit of switching off his phone when it's not important (well, he never stood a chance of getting a ministerial job).

The Conservatives were upbeat - but not ecstatic.

They had won - but UKIP are now breathing down their necks.

UKIP's Bob Oakley, one of their prospective candidates in the General Election, was more upbeat.

Referring to Rehman Chishti, the Tory's candidate, he said: "The Conservatives candidate is not that popular within his own party."

Mr Oakley, who relaxed yesterday by taking part in a boat race on the Medway, forecast: "I think we shall do well in the general election."

Alan Jarrett, Conservative councillor, council deputy leader and vice chairman of the Chatham and Aylesford Constituency party, said he expected the Tories to pick up many of the votes. People were using the European election to lodge protests.

"So many people are browned off with the three main parties there was always the likelihood that UKIP would come up strong," he said.

***

The Conservatives certainly tightened their vice-like grip on Kent County Council. Well, it has only slipped once in the last century.

Revenge finally came over that aberration in the county elections with the dumping of Mike Eddy, the Labour Opposition Leader.

He will be missed by his party - and by the county itself.

***

It may be a much-loved building, but the former headquarters of the Aveling and Porter steamroller makers has to come down.

The congregated Conservative cabinet councillors wept crocodile tears as they planned the demise of their former nest on the Medway bank at Strood last week.

They are basking in the knowledge that it will provide millions of additional pounds as a valuable development site (or would if the building market had not been crashed).

Cllr Tom Mason floated one idea past his colleagues this week. And they quickly grasped at it: the council's PR team is to put a favourable spin into telling the tale.

Their first task will be explaining why it is costing local taxpayers £800,000 to knock it down and move the treasures from the building.

Only 12 weeks ago councillors were wincing at spending £400,000 to knock it down.

Why not save it?

Unfortunately, said one old croc to the others, the authorities chose not to list it.

Shame. It was full of lovely oak, terrific stonework, and oozing with that thing the council's first Chief Executive ignored Medway's history (of which the masses were proud).

 

Friday, June 5

  There were 15 boxes on the European ballot paper yesterday.

They ranged from old faithfuls such Conservatives, Labour, and Lib Dems, via the "We've been around for a few years" parties (for example, UKIP and BNP) to the esoteric newcomers (or at least I think they were newcomers!)

In case you didn't get there in time or were unsure which party was which, allow me to regale you with the facts.

Among those waiting on Sunday's count to know whether they will represent the South East of England in Strasbourg was the "Christian Party - Proclaiming Christ's Lordship" whose hopefuls included Je'ran Cherub and Kenneth Scrimshaw.

I was impressed by the five English Democrats who came from Dartford or neighbouring Wilmington, the Jury Team which apparently stood for democracy, accountability and transparency, and the No2EU (that's not an abbreviation for numeral deux) where one of its candidates was Jacqueline Loraine Berry from Byron Road, Gillingham.

The front runner from "Pro Democracy: Libertas.eu" was a Rochester candidate, Kevin Phillip O'Connell, from Priestfields.

One that really caught my eye (though it didn't get my vote because I had no idea what he stood for) was "The Roman Party. Ave!" and its lone candidate from Reading. He was a French bus driver - and we were the only region to have a chance of voting for his party.

If United Kingdom First swings the votes, it could denude Sussex. They mustered four candidates - all from that county.

Finally, I couldn't help noticing there were some less-customary, less traditional, names among the UKIP members hoping to win our support.

***

Some sceptics doubt Europe knows where Medway is. The probability is that it knows better than some people in the UK.

It has provided £1.85 million towards employment initiatives in the wider Medway community, while another £1.33 million has gone to the council's directorates "to delivery services".

There was also £175,000 to the Organisation in Action and Support of Engineering Skills for Disadvantaged Workers (OASES) which has helped 200 people get work at five large companies and 25 smaller ones.

Those involved included the Vines Centre Trust, MidKent College, IPS International Ltd, the University of Greenwich, and partners in the Netherlands, France and Finland.

A further £125,000 underwrote the Medway Global Grants programme, which supported 18 local initiatives with grants of up to £10,000, and backed 22 jobs projects in Medway between January 2004 and November 2006

***

Fastrack, the runaway public transport success between Dartford and Gravesend, is not being seen as the answer to Medway's transport problems.

For those who have not seen it, Fastrack is a bus-based urban transit system using reserved roads in some places to speed past traffic jams, pick up passengers and trigger traffic lights.

It has been so successful that for every five passengers an additional one uses it within 12 months.

The 19 or 20 per cent annual growth has broken all expectations.

But it cost the taxpayer £80 million to build the special roads. And whoever is Chancellor tomorrow, next week or next decade will expect that money to be repaid.

Well, it isn't likely to be this century.

We are caught in a trap. This was public investment for the common good, and it has surprised even the most committed supporters.

But there is a real need for an arguably bankrupt government to draw in its horns.

It is taking 3,000,000 car journeys off north Kent's roads each year, but the whisper is that the council will not back Fastrack as the solution for Medway's transport problems.

Not that they have any other solution as the administration continues to ignore the success of investing in Dublin transport, transport support in Brighton and Hove or spending on Fastrack.

And if anyone suggests guided buses as at Crawley, it's the more man's tram system, with lots of ugly concrete everywhere.

***

There are strange happenings in the housing department these days that might (or might not) be linked.

Clandestine meetings are taking place off council premises.

Tenants' representatives are interviewing staff before they can be offered jobs.

A housing association is providing accommodation for the meetings.

Could it be there are plans to offload the housing stock, but without the tenants having another chance to embarrass the administration by saying "We Love Council ownership"?

Oh - and still no one in the council has answered how hundreds of thousands of pounds of tenants rent money was given away to a bankrupt contractor.

The reverberations from the Erinaceous Three will continue for some time to come, I have no doubt.

Thursday, June 4

The Try Angle awards recognise the best of our young people's endeavours.

There are great stories of bravery, guts, personal development, hard work and achievement (often) against tremendous odds.

I have an interest in the event as a judge.

I was sceptical - until I got involved last year.

It is organised by young people and watched by a packed audience of several hundred at the Central Theatre.

Adults are there by invitation, and it is a night of excellent entertainment, quality - and often sadness.

So imagine my shock when I discovered the council expects the teenagers of the Medway Youth Parliament (a voice for young people that it established just over 10 years ago) to pay £2,000 for the privilege of recognising our young champions.

The show is tremendous, the entertainment is stunning and these youngsters showcase what everyone should be proud about - its own young people.

Come on Medway Council. Extricate digits, and waive the fees for this tremendous event.

Oh - hang on a minute.one of the other judges was the education portfolio holder, Les Wicks. Surely he can wave the necessary wand?

--------

Update!

Since writing about the Youth Parliament's bill for the Central Theatre, I have had some good news from Cllr Doe. He is meeting the Assistant Director with the Longest Title, Richard Hicks, tomorrow morning to discuss reducing the charges.

Meanwhile, Mr Hicks is also the gentleman responsible for the St George's Centre ... where the Youth Parliament is to be charged more than £300 to debate issues.

 

It is all very well for the council to say children are at the centre of everything, but it seems they could be priced out of democracy.

 

***

It may have escaped your attention. Today is European Elections day. Among the hopefuls will be a woman from Gillingham and a man from Rochester seeking posts in the smaller parties.   Don't ever say I don't keep you informed.

 

Wednesday, June 3

The Government is pumping £1.1 million into a scheme that could see Medway Council saving thousands of pounds a year repairing vandalised play areas.

The Playbuilder programme will see 11 sites this year being improved across the borough - mainly in deprived areas - with a further 11 planned next year providing the council gets the public involved.

So they are recruiting specialists to involve mums and kids as young as eight looking at the issues and coming up with ideas.

Inevitably there were a few attempts to score political points, not least from the Rabblerouser-in-Chief, Alan Jarrett.

The Deputy Leader and Chancellor of the Council suggested the cash might have come from "the money we didn't get for Building Schools for the Future," he told the Cabinet yesterday.

"We are jolly well owed it by the government!"

Maybe.

It could also be that the community is thinking the council owes them the right to be involved in a few decisions that affect their lives.

***

The decision to consult on the plan to close or merge 19 primary schools in Medway has been called in by the Labour opposition.

A special meeting of the Children and Adults overview and scrutiny committee will take place on June 8 at The Corn Exchange.

It is so that backbenchers can discuss the principles behind the consultations.

When the Cabinet decided to consult, their meeting at the St George's Centre was disrupted by loud chanting, banner-waving, musical accompaniments from children, pro-school T-shirts, interruptions . Virtually anything and everything that could happen, did happen.

This time, the protestors would be well advised to listen once the meetings start.

Not only will they discover the ground rules, but they might start to spot some of the flaws and weaknesses in the arguments.

Meanwhile, there are a few million pounds-worth of playing fields waiting to be sold for redevelopment (apparently, football posts count as previous developments within the terms of what is a brownfield site.)

 

Tuesday June 2

The scandals continue to be divulged in the House of Commons.

It is increasingly becoming a bitter comedy that shows just how far some MPs have strayed from the reality that the rest of us endure.

There's the MP who tried to reclaim £5 he put in the collection plate at a Remembrance Day service (the tight-fisted expletive could only put in a fiver?), the one who argued about the need for the taxpayer to foot the bill for his baby's bottle steriliser, the Sinn Fein MPs who collect various allowances but never recognise the power of parliament, at least two claimed 59p for boxes of matches (presumably to show them the light), there was £20 for mugs (sic!) from the Tate Modern, and a Shadow techno minister wanted cash for changing a light bulb (no jokes by e-mail, thanks).

Of course, that's on top of someone cleaning a moat and another building a duck house in the back garden.

Why should someone called John Greenway should be criticised for claiming plants. With a name like that he has to be an environmentalist. It seems perfectly reasonable to spend £500 on his 15ft by 20ft patio.

[Memo to Editor: Can I claim for cutting my tennis court and underground reservoir, or for the fountain of recycling water moved by pump power c/o solar panels that my wife has just installed?]

***

Cabinet today. That'll be fun.

Among the gems are advisory groups for the Cabinet (behind closed doors and overwhelmingly filled by the Conservative majority), the playbuilder procurement programme (which sounds as though it has come straight out of the world of unreality that is the House of Commons) and the Lower Thames Crossing.

***

The way history is being changed by Medway Council is quite insidious.

Most of the officers have no interest in the history of the Medway Towns, only in gaining their place in the Great Future.

It's little things.

A recent press release mentioned "the Royal Engineers Museum based at Chatham for 200 years."

The REs have never been based in Chatham (and the Museum is not 200 years old).

The museum is in Gillingham, to be precise in Prince Arthur Road. It was opened in the last century in the original Royal School of Military Engineering.

The Sappers occupy much of Brompton, using buildings that were built for the Royal Artillery and date back 200 years.

For officers seeking real facts, 90 per cent of the RN dockyard - once known as Gillingham Water - was always in Gillingham, the army was in Brompton, the Chatham Division barracks (HMS Pembroke) was also in Gillingham, while the Royal Marines were in Chatham.

Gillingham town centre was originally called New Brompton. That's because Old Brompton could not expand any more so they built a new community on the opposite side of the Lines It was renamed Gillingham in Edward VII's reign (1902-10 in case the history corrupters are uncertain), and took in the original town of Gillingham that was centred around Gillingham Green and the Strand.

Chatham Maritime (which is increasingly reduced to Chatham in a subconscious bid to raise its image) is a concept name of the 1980s, post dockyard closure, to try to give it a saleable image.

Let's have facts. Not spin.

 

Monday, June 1

The saga of which politician spends what (and, more importantly, it seems, why) has spread further into Medway.

It coincides with the news that council taxpayers fork out over £760,000 for the privilege of having 55 councillors.

As I wander the corridors of power (well, Gun Wharf, at least) I know quite a few of them work close to a 48 hour week on council business but others don't.

There really are councillors who still consider it is still an honour to be elected to serve the community.

Among those who could claim more, but don't, was last year's mayor, David Carr. He spent under £12,200 of the £13,578 he could have claimed.

Mayors work hard. They get little recognition, for example, for the fund raising that they do for local charities, but he raised over £9,000 during his year of attending more than 500 events, many out of the spotlight.

Given that the Conservatives currently have two thirds of the seats, it is not surprising that they collected around the same amount in cash - £528,000.

Labour's 13 councillors were paid £152,000 and the eight Liberal Democrats  received £77,200.

Don't be an independent. Ian Burt - the sole indie - collected £9,143.92.

The combined pay of married couples on the council generally depends where you are in the hierarchy, but if you both make it to the top it can be substantial.

Rodney and Diane Chambers collected over £51,000, the two Bambers over £40,000 while the Gouldens (£20,124) and the Kearneys (£18,211) trailed in some way behind.

 

Friday May 29

The poor old police are having difficulties getting their message of Medway being a crime-free community across to its citizens.

The latest to disagree is a shopkeeper who has been asked to take down a sign from his entrance saying "Wellcome to Beirut."

The "Wellcome" sign follows repeated broken windows at the shop and its neighbours.

According to reports, one local police sergeant asked him to remove the sign on numerous occasions because it gives the High Street a bad image.

But it's the bookseller's protest about what he sees as a lack of policing of the towns' vandalistic element.

I thought it might have happened after the Gills went on a victory rideabout on Sunday. (There were no problems then.) But I think the sign should come down. And immediately.

Neighbouring shopkeepers have protested that it harms the local trade.

I think it harms the image of inctreased educational achievements in Medway - of all shopkeepers, a bookseller of "rare books" should know 'welcome' is spelled with one L.

***

The new student accommodation in Pier Road, Gillingham is starting to lose its plastic wrappings, and I am not yet sure whether I like or loathe it.

It's a slab; white, two-tone grey and the red window shutters give it some colouring. It is on the edge of the planned Gillingham Waterfront development.

Chatting with some students recently they were sure they didn't like it. Their opposition had nothing to do with the appearance of the 604 flats built for the University of Kent. It had everything to do with a reported £400 a month rent charge for the en-suite rooms they are being offered.

As they pointed out, they can squeeze three or four of them in a Gillingham apartment for less than that.

In my younger days we could squeeze 35 in a mini, or 27 in a phone kiosk - and shut the doors.

***

The international standard length for buses and coaches is 15 metres (over 49 feet).

At the moment the buses in Medway are upto 12 metres (The Kings Ferry have some that are slightly longer).

But there is nothing in law to stop them being 10 feet longer.

I hear the prestigious new bus station plans for Chatham are designed for traditional 12 metre long buses.

When Arriva go for bigger buses (as they will one day) they may not fit.

***

I understand there are no plans by the Conservative administration to discuss the appalling treatment of the Erinaceous Three - or the overspending which went on under the administration's so-called watch. Shame on them.

 

Thursday May 28

I am beginning to sense an element of panic in the bid for World Heritage status.

The original plan was to get the status for the Great Lines - the traditional killing field dug in front of the dockyard to slaughter an invading Napoleonic army.

But after nearly 200 years as a great open space, it is becoming a city park.

To reinforce its right to be counted among the great places of the world, the dockyard and the army quarters within the defences, were included. So was Fort Amherst.

Today it was announced that the river was being included, so that they could add Upnor Castle to the collection.

Why not bring in Rochester Castle, which provided the ballast for the Armada battle fleet in 1588? It also has claims (dubious, but who worries?) to being where Claudius' victorious army crossed their Rubicon to send the Britons under Caractacus fleeing. And it seems the Bayeux tapestry was actually made there (according to the Bayeux authorities, that is).

Add the Cathedral, where generations of royalty have worshipped, and where there is a classic juxtaposition between the Crown and Church? It is, after all, England's second cathedral.

There's the Rochester Bridge with its unique status.

And if we are talking about unique features, add the Tunnel, too (it might attract some funds to repair it since the government are disinterested).

Really!

Are we clear just what we are trying to achieve?

The more I look at it the less I believe world heritage status is actually going to be achieved.

That would be a tragedy. And unjust because here was where the labouring men set out to create the British Empire that for 400 years achieved what no other nation ever achieved: world dominance (though I suspect the You Ess of Aye would have some views on that).

The council needs to return to basics, and be clear what it is trying to tell the world about Medway.

Is it a magnificent Georgian military complex?

Is it a waterway surrounded by history?

Or is it a shopping centre (of the future, certainly not the present) that is surrounded by historic remains?

The UN - which is keen to award the status to non-European areas because they are dominating the World Heritage rankings - must be clucking at the latest endeavour of the council to dissuade them from considering Chatham a logical ranker in world status.

Wednesday, May 27

It becomes increasingly difficult as the years go by to segregate out-and-out political campaigning from public events where politicians just happen to appear - especially when there is an election in the offing.

But we journos have to - there are rules on fairness (even to politicians).

So - today the Tories went for the former.

They've launched a website which has the usual suspects talking about how good they are and how the world has been transformed (at least in Medway) by their efforts.

They have ignored the fact that some of their tips for saving cash are down to the Labour government... things like free bus passes for the over 60s, home energy efficiencies and the Coldbusters scheme.

You can find out who, what and why on www.medwayconservativegroup.co.uk/recession.php

The rest (well, Labour, Libs and Greens) just happened to turn up at the third Love Music Hate Racism music event on the riverfront at Chatham.

Not that the messages to "keep out the racists" were political or anything like that....

***

Brian Green is a politician with a fascinating history.

He was elected to serve Maidstone as one of its county councillors when he was a Labour councillor.

Then he jumped ship, and became an independent.

He retires in a few days time... and is urging electors to vote for the Greens.

The representative of the Maidstone South East electorate said: "Local Greens have shown that they don't just care about the environment, but that they care about people, jobs and communities."

***

Meanwhile I have had yet another email from BNPs chairman, Nick Griffiths, asking for cash. This time it is because their website went off line. He really is beginning to sound like an MP in waiting.....

***

If you thought it was going to be easy to vote on June 4, think again.

You have one "X" to mark the vote - but 15 different parties from which to choose.

***

Finally a last minute bit of news - the St George's Centre is to be opened to allcomers for the weekend of Armed Forced Day.

The building was the church serving HMS Pembroke.

It contains memorials for more than 130 local ships, actions, individuals and groups, and holds unique memorabilia covering the three main services.

Since the Second World War the Korean Veterans and the 24 Royal Marine Cadets killed outside the church in 1951 have also earned a place on the walls of the former church which now doubles as the council's main debating chamber.

It will be open on June 27 and 28 between 11am and 5pm.

Tuesday, May 26

So the excitement is nearly over.

The Gills have been promoted after a truly nail-biting climax to the season.

But there is also real gloom.

My team slipped from top of the table to sixth in a matter of weeks (rugby is the only language you talk if you hail from Gloucester).

Then there is the small matter of a minor election - for the European Parliament.

Gone is the opportunity to vote for identifiable individuals you trust to reflect your views for the next few years If ever there was the prospect of voting for minor parties instead of going for one of the big names (figure or party) this is it.

The big boys (and girls) must be terrified at the public's response to the ongoing revelations of their expense claims.

I love the Chancellor of the Exchequer pulling in accountants to do his tax returns. (Gillingham North voters must be lining up for their returns to be done by the same team.) There's the backbencher who thought it was completely acceptable for you and I to pay for his moat to be cleaned. (That went down well among the well-healed burghers of Strood.) A colleague needed a duck house on his pond. (Ah, Luton and Wayfield voters completely understood that requirement.) The absent-mindedness and the mistakes made by people sent to govern over us....

The list of apologies and righteousness is amazing.

We all said they sought the House of Commons for the perks. Seems we underestimated just what those were.

I haven't seen any mistresses' accommodated yet, but I am sure James Urquhart would approve.

This would have been the time Screaming Lord Sutch and his Monster Raving Loony Party really could have got someone elected - other than as an Isle of Sheppey councillor.

But those who came after must be looking at their electoral returns with avid interest. Just think: £2 million a year in expenses. (How do you make £2 million to be able to spend it, and reclaim it?) Yes.

The prospects for the big parties next week are bad.

For British society it could be worse. Irretrievably worse.

 

Friday May 22

Last Friday night there was a little party at Gun Wharf, thrown by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.

It was given for the people who so far had helped with the regeneration of Medway - the Medway Renaissance crowd, various partners and so on.

Nice speeches I gather, plus nibbles and vino.

It followed the successful completion of the first audit of the council's £6 billion efforts at regeneration. It's a process which will go on long after I have retired along with the councillors and officers who are currently responsible for the project.

They had cause to celebrate. Two stars may not seem excellent (it's only "good") but no one has yet got three. But the government's rottweilers said there are "promising prospects" for improvement. So three stars could be round the corner.

The Audit Commission sent an advance copy of its report so that I could read all about the council's achievements.

For those few, those happy few, not in the know about auditors let me explain why the council partied. The auditors are the arbiters of what is right, what is wrong, and who should be hung by their fingers while their tenderer parts are introduced to nutcrackers - because they don't do things the perfect way the auditors would.

Well, yesterday there were red faces all round.

There was a real howler in the report, with the Audit Commission blaming the council and SEEDA, the regional development agency. And them saying in return: "You wrote it - not us".

Meanwhile gleeful printers were rubbing their itchy palms as they made urgent alterations to the report and removed an offending paragraph, three hours before posting.

The report (labelled "ver. 1.0 FINAL") clearly said there had been nuclear waste dumped at Medway's prime regeneration site by the navy and the army. But (according to the auditors) SEEDA spent £84 million cleaning Rochester Riverside site.

Someone, somewhere got it wrong - completely and utterly.

The nuclear waste in Medway was at Chatham Naval Dockyard. But that was cleaned up between 1984 (when the dockyard shut) and the early 1990s. Trainloads of waste was removed and fast-tracked (reputedly to Bedfordshire) to be safely disposed.

Medway Council didn't exist then. Nor did SEEDA.

SEEDA's predecessors, English Partnerships, did the costly clean up at Chatham Maritime. And today the Two Towers (empty blocks of apartments officially called The Quays) stand on the former nuclear slips.

What happened at Rochester Riverside was a lot simpler, a lot less costly and somewhat less potent.

There was nasty stuff from the old Rochester gasworks that was cleared. Loads of estuarine grit and gravel replaced it.

And SEEDA? - they provided £16.19million to help buy the last remaining bits of land.

But nuclear waste?
It's probably that mushroom cloud rising from the Bristol office of the Audit Commission's senior manager, Claire Bryce-Smith, who expected SEEDA and the council to check it for errors.

When, by the sound of it, the council was more interested in the star rating - and thanking its friends.

***

There are some curious notices appearing around Gun Wharf.

Without going into too many details (you may have just eaten) there has been what could be delicately described as a wipeout.

The printed signs in the men's toilet cubicles encourage an unidentified member of staff to seek medical counselling for his (or her) problem.

He (or she) is advised the service is independent and totally confident.

I did find it somewhat curious that the email address to contact was counsellingformedway@care-first.co.uk.

Can the rest of the Towns' residents be counselled, perhaps over council tax, or because of stress from school closures… or maybe because they are on the homelessness list?

Wednesday, May 20

There must have been ashen faces in many rooms at Gun Wharf when the judgement of the Erinaceous Three became known last week.

The three brave men had fought valiantly to highlight the shocking way their bosses ignored the £25 million contract rules.

Instead, they threw half a million pounds of council tenants' rent money at a contractor that was happy to milk the fatted cow - then go bust with £220 million of debts, all within a year.

Last week, councillors were being assured by Neil Davies, the chief executive, that the council's case was solid.

Instead, it was found to have failed all three.

A tribunal heard how managers were allowed to pick on them, raid their desks, get rid of them, and ignore the serious concerns they raised.

One of those to ignore what was happening was Mr Davies.

He had received emails setting out what was happening from one of the men.

The process continued in the tribunal where one of the men - the only one still employed - was smeared with sex allegations by his former assistant director, Geoff Ettridge.

What Mr Ettridge's team found in a sealed envelope in the man's desk were girlie pics of the man's wife on holiday.

The council's Human Resources team was slated for the way it mishandled the processes of making redundancies - a process that it has had plenty of experience with in recent years.

And the council says it was "disappointed".

It has not said what it is doing to sort out the endemic mismanagement in HR.

It has resolutely not apologised.

And it has refused to talk to the media about the way its highly paid staff fell well short of the standards expected of a reasonable employer - or a good council.

In a brief interview with me, Cllr Howard Doe, who as portfolio holder has been responsible for the housing department on and off for eight years, said he knew nothing of the past history. It sounded like he had attended the Pontius Pilate School of Washing.

The three men won cash awards that the council taxpayers will have to pay.

They were not as substantial as some whistleblowers have received from past tribunals where there are no boundaries on payments for whistleblowing abuses or racial prejudices.

They were backed by their union, UNITE, and needed its support.

No less than five assistant directors, plus two HR managers and the Head of Public Protection and Regulation, gave evidence against them.

As one opposition councillor, Paul Harriott, a former chairman of council housing, said: "It stinks."

Cllr Doe hopes that's the end of it.

I doubt it.

 

Thursday, May 14

The mortgage on my family's home is not as big as many but I still know when it is going out.

So if I was in the extremely fortunate position of being a Member of Parliament with a fat cat penchant for high expense claims, I would still know if I was £800 a month better off when it came to an end.

It seems £800 a month (something many in Medway would dearly love to receive as a wage) was a drop in the ocean for one notable backbencher.

Elliot Morley, the former Labour minister, says it was an oversight.

It must have been.

The mortgage no longer existed but for 20 months - if the Telegraph's revelation is to be believed by more than just Mr Morley - he claimed £800 every month for that non-existent mortgage on a non-existent property for no less than 20 months.

But - like so many MPs and big names in the House of Commons - his was "an oversight".

This was a man who was a Minister in a government elected to clean up the corrupt, illegal disgraces which brought the last Conservative government crashing down.

***

One of Medway's MPs has now been swept up in the allegations.

Bob Marshall-Andrews, Queens Counsel, world traveller, wine connoisseur and a man not without a quid or two in the bank, has been quietly preparing to stand down as Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood, at the next election.

It was peaceful, that is, until he suddenly found himself tarred by the Daily Telegraph brush of being one of those money-grabbing expense-laden MPs.

Within minutes I received a letter from him to my editor saying he was being unfairly treated (another of the cries going up from most MPs accused by the Telegraph of overplaying the expenses game).

MPs do have to spend a fair bit of cash to run their offices and to provide themselves with another home - usually away from where they reside.

I don't know the whys and wherefors of BMA's case (black, leather, attache, Marks & Sparks, sixty quid, not unlike the one I bought for use at work) but it will now be interesting to see whether the QC joins - or even leads - the ranks saying they will sue the national paper.

[Memo to Editor:

Sir - can I reclaim the cost of my attache please?]

***

The House of Commons (the Mother of Parliaments, the critic of corruption in so many other governments) has been severely damaged by the past few days revelations.

What is so disgraceful is our MPs blissful lack of awareness of what we, the public, expect.

It is their blatant disregard for what is morally (if not legally) right.

It is the expectation that we should pay for their vagaries.

Do you wish your employer paid your mortgage? Bought your pet food? Footed your maid's cleaning bills? Excavated the muck in the moat around your castle?

It has to stop.

The trouble is the House of Commons Fees Office approved all of this.

That has to go, and be replaced by the auditors who run the rest of our lives.

(Has anyone thought how much tax was being paid by those MPs on those expenses? I'll bet someone somewhere will hand over the repayment cheque to the Fees Office with a tear in his or her eye - and drop a letter to the Inland Revenue reclaiming overpaid tax.)

 

Wednesday, May 13

Anyone who thought the local school population would not be geared up to protest about the plans to close or merge 19 primary schools was proved well and truly wrong yesterday afternoon.

As a late-arriving reporter I had to push my way between angry mums and dads, past determined teachers and carefully step over toddlers to get to the press bench.

I doubt the St George's Centre has ever witnessed so much anger, even when mourning men lost to stupidity, bad luck or enemy efficiency at any time during the past 104 years.

The old church was packed out.

Banners waved, children sang defiant tunes in praise of their schools, dads shouted down councillors, who determinedly plough on with their set piece speeches despite mounting anger from the mums.

The message that the Cabinet 10 tried to get across, led by Les Wicks, the children's portfolio holder, was "Don't blame us - blame the government."

They blamed the government for saying that schools with 10 or more percent of empty places should be acted upon.

In the background, Labour councillors - silenced by Medway's peculiar rules of Cabinet "debate" - listened, and smiled.

The Cabinet message did not get through to the opponents to change.

And they know that there are financial reasons behind the whole process that will drive forward the decisions.

What the protestors missed were the comments made after they left.

The next item was to approve the plan to turn the old Upbury Manor school in Gillingham, which has gone through various renamings, from being New Brompton College into an academy.

Unlike the primaries, it has already gone through the consultation process, the meetings with possible objectors and those who support the idea, and it was largely supported.

Cllr Wicks told his colleagues: "I doubt we will get any barracking from pupils and staff at New Brompton"

And he was right.

"It offers a great deal for young people including some of those young people in the audience we have just had, bless them."

Cllr Alan Jarrett, the deputy leader, recalled "the furore that was less emotive" over the creation of the first academy, at Strood.

But his words about people misrepresenting what the council was trying to do fell on deaf ears. Indeed, the ears had already left, as the drum-beating and chanting attracted the attention of the Chatham maritime security force.

I am delighted to say I shall not be sitting on the top tables when the schools are visited, and the proposals are debated with those mums, dads, teachers and toddlers.

It takes a brave (or a foolhardy) politician to do that.

 

Tuesday, May 12

It was only to be expected.

With the embarrassments that are repeatedly being heaped on the shoulders of Her Majesty's Government and her Loyal Opposition by the antics of our elected members, the minority parties are really getting a foothold.

The Greens are getting their leaflets delivered house to house, demanding all MPs expenses are open to public scrutiny ("That housekeeper was offering me special services - but they were dusting the azaleas and digging out the moat!") UKIP are raising the spectre of pulling out of Europe (blocking the Channel Tunnel, I suppose).

And the BNP are repeatedly pleading for funds ("A fiver here, a contribution there") to pay for their TV channel, and their administration set up which promises to make the major parties blanche at the prospect.

***

Will there be a mass demonstration this afternoon before the Cabinet meets?

It seems increasingly likely as the primary schools gear up for the battle to save themselves from closure or merger.

I'm not going to rehearse the old arguments about the mishandling of the PR side. Someone within the education set up should be asking serious questions about the way the whole thing was rushed.

We journos are perfectly happy to report the embarrassments, the anger , the dissatisfaction and the community response to the way our elected representatives decide what is in the best interests of the community (whether or not we agree!) just as we are perfectly happy to report the councillors' words this afternoon.

Meanwhile, where did I put my helmet and flak jacket?

***

I haven't driven the M2 at midnight for some months - but my son was motoring along the other night and, spot on the clock changing to 0001, the motorway lights were automatically turned off.

Good green policies being pursued by the Highways Agency.

Imagine the savings if all street lights were turned off at midnight.

Of course, it would put the CCTV cameras at a disadvantage, it would increase the risk of a tipsy pedestrian wandering into the path of a speeding car, and it would make it increasingly likely that the more nefarious of our citizens would be making unwelcome visits to homes, businesses and other places with possible quickie financial attractions.

 

Monday, May 11

The state of the roads in Medway continues to remind me of third world locations.

OK, so more are tarmaced than in the major cities of Japan.

So what? They are crumbling, pitted and collapsing.

One problem I reported to the customer care line (01634 333333) was in Canadian Avenue, Gillingham. I had pointed out it was collapsing. It was filled in with a bucketful of tarmac.

Just a few weeks later that repair, too, is sinking.

Watch this space - it might become a big space.

It could suddenly open up - like a number of deneholes and former chalk pits in Medway have done over the years, occasionally with tragic consequences.

But a bucket of tarmac will do - for now.

***

The question of political expenses continues to dominate the Daily Telegraph's pages.

According to the Green Book 2009 (what they can or can't claim): "Parliamentary allowances are designed to ensure that Members are reimbursed for costs properly incurred in the performance of their duties. They provide support for:

• employing staff (Staffing Expenditure)
• provision of facilities, equipment and supplies for themselves and their staff (Administrative and Office Expenditure)
• overnight stays away from home whilst on parliamentary duties (Personal Additional Accommodation Expenditure)
• communicating with constituents (Communications Expenditure)
• House stationery and postage (Stationery and Postage)
• travel between Westminster, the constituency and main home (Travel expenditure)

Our three MPs claimed a total of £392,000.

Two of them - ministers Paul Clark and Jonathan Shaw - were among the quarter of all MPs who employ one (or more) family members.

My favourite expenses claim to date is the one attributed to John Prescott - for two toilet seats.

Seems we both suffer the same problem.

Except I replaced the seats at my expense.

 

Friday, May 8

There would seem once again to be a split between local and national Conservatives.

It involves the question of council tax.

David Cameron is urging councils to cut their tax levels.

Give 'em their due, Kent County councillors (where the non-Tories have held power once in 100 years) duly dropped the rate of increase to just over two per cent.

Medway - also Tory - slammed in a four and a half per cent increase, though at one time it looked like they needed 12 per cent to balance the books in the new financial year.

But from the middle of the old year a ban on spending helped the situation, and Medw