Tory claims Libdems support Boris Island - er no we don't

I was interested to read the report in the Medway Messenger about former minister and Liberal Democrat Jeremy Browne has stated that Boris island is a good idea for the economy and that the nation should take a risk and will ultimately benefited.

This however is not the view of the National party, who voted in conference not to support the move, and the local party who have always stood in opposition to the Airport in the Estuary and indeed on the Hoo peninsula and Cliffe.

Liberal Democrat Council group leader Geoff Juby stated in the paper that;

It is all very well having these grand ideas, but has he ever run a business? Does he really know what he's talking about? The answer is no. I think a lot of these academics don't understand the practicalities of having an airport at Cliffe.

Ultimately this story is saying that an MP has an opinion, much like the Conservative Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, or indeed the Conservative MP for Tatton and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne who is said to back the idea - this is not Liberal Democrat party policy nor is it likely to be in the near future...

Which leads me to part II of this post.

I saw a tweet earlier from Cllr Chris Irvine (Con) stating:

Lib Dems throw support behind Thames Estuary airport. You really can't trust them #NoEstuaryAirport pic.twitter.com/W0Mzr3rYHe
— Chris Irvine (@cgi247) April 17, 2014

Just the adding of the letter S makes it look like the whole party are backing this horrific idea that will shatter the fragile eco-systems in the North Kent Marshes and will significantly damage the way of life here in Medway and indeed across the waters in South Essex.

I find this quite interesting as Cllr Irvine is currently attacking Labour PPC Cllr Osborne for being disingenuous on Local  TV about  his housing status and yet here we are with a slightly disingenuous statement that implies Party policy has changed massively to the detriment of the people in Medway and even had the tag line saying you cannot trust us...

Huh...

Pot... Kettle...

Medway Messenger's review of Citizen Journalists

I was very disappointed to read David Jones' review of Citizen Journalists in yesterday's Medway Messenger.

He begins by asking a straight forward question; Are citizen journalists little better than the tiresome individuals who write rambling, often near incomprehensible, letters, to the editors of local newspapers? Discuss.

He then goes on to question the validity of the term and whether or not it is good for greater transparency or for democracy in Medway. Having been to a Full Council meeting in the past I can say that there are is a small selection of people in the Public gallery, usually those who have a question or an interest in a specific subject. If you then factor out the political activists (such as me) you end up with a core of four maybe five who are genuinely interested in the running of Medway council. Their tweets and blogs are always interesting reads and pick up on subjects that are glazed over (due to necessity and shortness of space etc) by the paper. Also for people like me, who cannot attend the meetings due to family commitments and yes - the new series of How I met your Mother on E4, the digital stream of information means I can see what is happening as it happens rather than just relying on a half page article in the paper. Clearly this is aiding transparency.

I agree that I have problems with the term Citizen Journalist. It is not something I would have chosen and I don't think any of the others who have been chosen to represent this manufactured term have either. Most of us are either interested in the subject or are Party members of one party or another. At no point do we consider ourselves journalists, I think commentators would be a better term for us as Journalist makes me feel like someone should be paying me for this!

It is indeed true that we have not undergone any formal Journalist training or have a vast wealth of experience. It is also true that I, like most people have my own bias and loyalties and yep, it shines through in my work sometimes. HOWEVER this is true of the Messenger as well. Dare I remind them of the City status story that condemned the Liberal Democrats in Medway of betraying the City bid by writing to Nick Clegg and asking him to not consider Medway despite the fact we had not agreed to it and were representing our constituents who had said they didn't want it? Whom did we betray? I would also argue that, seeing as the Messenger has the lions share of the printed media in the Medway towns, it is good to get someone else's point of view as like David I've read reports from meetings and wondered: Were they at the same meeting as I was?

When I did my much underusued History degree we were trained to absorb information be it written, oral or pictorial. Once notes had been taken draw out the key information and weave as unbiased a piece of narrative/argument as possible using facts, notes and quotes to back up your argument. I was, interestingly, told that a History degree was a great start for a career in Journalism so does that mean I'm half trained?

Only the Von Ranke school of history sought to get rid of bias and personal spin by only writing out the facts and this makes for boring journalism and history!

Citizen Journalists (God I hate saying that) are important in a way as they do add to transparency and the more voices that speak about things, the more information gets out and the more people may become interested in the subject and hold our elected body to account more. So I think it is unfair to knock it as an idea, just not the name - someone think of another name... please...

Also, and this is a personal request not related to the above; don't ask me to look at stories, or ask me what I think our MP/Councillors are thinking/doing or not doing. I'm not a professional Journalist, I write when I can on what I find interesting - cheers.

My letter to the paper about Jarrett's "Hitler" comment

Here follows my unedited letter to the Medway messenger regarding Councillor Jarrett's "Hitler" comment at the last Full council meeting published on 21st February 2014:

---



Gillingham Bus station after the July 1940 air raids that rocked the town

It has been several weeks since Councillor Jarrett made his ill-judged comments about the last Labour
government's handling of the financial crisis as comparable to Hitler's efforts to bring the country to its knees and many people like me are still offended.

Although he retracted the comment at full council, the damage was already done.  
I was no fan of the last Labour government and its policies and was disappointed by their failure during thirteen years of office to keep their promises to sort out the mess left by the Thatcher/Major Conservative administrations.  

Many Gillingham residents would argue that without Libdem policies that have reduced the amount of income tax they now pay and granted them 15 free hours a week of nursery for children, they would be faring little better under Cameron than they were under Brown. 

However you cannot compare the political failings of any government to the Second World War with the bombing of British cities, the U-boat blockade and the deportation of British citizens in the Channel Islands to concentration camps. Indeed on 18th July 1940, Gillingham was bombed and people killed across the town, including Beatty Avenue at the end of my street. Many other residents lost friends and loved ones fighting the Nazis. 

I would implore Councillor Jarrett to apologise publicly for his ill thought out words in a public forum such as this newspaper.  

Chris Sams 

Greater transparency at Medway Council & citizen journalists

Interesting news came out of the debacle that was Thursday night's full council meeting with yesterday's announcement.

From this day forth there shall be a row of seats saved for "Citizen Journalists" at every Full Council meeting. The Conservative overlords have recognised that there is a hard-core group of tweeters and bloggers who attend these meetings and publish what is said or happens for good/ill.
It also means that should there be a repeat of Thursday night then, unless they cause a similar disturbance, they will not be ejected and can continue scrutinising and reporting.

This is good news for politicos and activists (as long as they've reserved their seat that morning) who can transcend any angry mob.

In a modern democracy it is time we looked at recording / videoing and streaming key meetings of public significance not evicting ppl.
— Tris Osborne (@cllrtrisosborne) January 24, 2014

It does however throw up an interesting question, one that Labour Councillor Tristan Osborne has asked before, and that is one of greater transparency and that maybe these meetings and scrutiny meetings should be live streamed onto the net and archived so that more people can see how the council reaches it's decisions. At the moment, not all of us have the ability to down tools and abandon families to go to these meetings regularly and should they be available on line we could see them for ourselves and not just rely on the Medway Messenger to report these issues.

This is a good move for local democracy, it is just a shame that its announcement was in the shadow of such a bad night before.

Tracey Crouch MP on Legal highs

In Today's Medway Messenger local MP Tracey Crouch has written her column on the dangers of Legal Highs and their availability.

Sometimes we talk about things in Westminster from a theoretical high level basis which we think might be right but until something happens in your backyard or you meet someone affected the relevance of the chit chat becomes real.

This has happened on two occasions recently with the issue of legal highs. One was informative, the other tragic.

I have spoken in Parliament several times on the dangers of legal highs. Very early on in my time in the Commons I sat on a Committee that banned a particular legal high that had become incredibly popular but had caused some extremely dangerous adverse affects in those who had consumed it. More recently measures were proposed within a Bill to look at how Government deals with the thorny issue of legal highs and in response the Home Office started a review.

However two events have made me recognise that this is not just another debate on the use of drugs, this is about how we can protect our youngsters from taking something that they think is harmless because it is deemed ‘legal’.

I met a young girl recently who had taken legal highs. It made her unwell and distracted. But beyond the health consequences what shocked me most was how easy it was for her to purchase them, despite being under age. She has stopped taking them now and is well on the road to recovery.

Then sadly the news broke this week that a young man, suspected of purchasing a legal high in a shop in Chatham, died of a heart attack. There is an ongoing investigation into the precise cause of his death but the ready availability of legal highs, despite their labelling of not fit for human consumption, is a worrying trend.

Government must publish its review into these highs soon and should look to America, which has banned the "analogue chemical formation" of these drugs for the solution. How many more parents must suffer because something deemed legal is actually rather deadly?

It raises some interesting points and questions. Legal highs, like alcohol do pose an interesting dilemma. Even though they are deemed legal the amount of research into the possible damage it can do the human body over the long term.

As Tracey has stated there are cases where they have caused illness, withdrawals and even death though until the Coroner's report is out on the lad from Chatham I'd shy away from linking the two.

Many would argue that it is up to the individual who takes them, and to an extent I do agree. After all if you drink too much beer (not at today's prices) you will damage you liver and incur a large amount of health issues - yet these dangers are well publicised. Smoking too. As long as you're not hurting anyone when you take it or breaking any laws, what is the harm?

However not as much is known about "Legal Highs" and their effect. Before making them legal perhaps some more serious stringent tests should be done. After all any chemical compound that enters the body can have an unknown amount of side-effects and the more complicated it is the more dangerous it can be. The human body is a highly balanced chemical equation and everything has a running order. When you mess with it bad stuff happens.

I'd be interested to see how the young lady managed to purchase them whilst under age. Now with Challenge 25 everywhere you should be looking at the suppliers and clamping down on this sort of thing rather than the chemical itself?

The other question is the role of Government in deciding what it is good for the people or not. Many would argue that this is an extension of the Nanny state deciding what is good for us and we should be allowed to think for ourselves. Although, normally I would agree with that I would also argue that the role of Government is to also protect its citizens and ask the questions (and debate) that a 22 year old out on the lash would not. Indeed asking questions as to whether these substances are good for us over the long term or their supply is a being policed properly and how readily they are available to people. Is this not what an elected body should be looking at and encouraging debate on these subjects?

Ultimately if the Government want to stop people having them so readily they should do what they have done with alcohol and cigarettes and just put a levy on them!

Cllr Juby's Column; Do we take Democracy for granted?

We moan about successive governments, whether or not we support any particular party, but I think we don’t appreciate how lucky we are that every five years, we have the chance to make changes.

Democracy only works with the consent of the people, and we are fortunate that we do have a right to organise public demonstrations. though these may cost us, the taxpayer, a lot of money on policing! The fact that we have a free press does mean that it is rare for things to get out of control and the police are accountable.

Yes, we have had our riots with arson and looting, but this pales into insignificance when we look at other countries which are struggling to achieve democratic government.  The whole of the Middle East, as well as some countries in Africa, South America and Asia, seems to be on a knife edge. The only people who pay the price in the end are the millions of innocent men women and children who are either killed or maimed, or end up as refugees causing huge problems elsewhere – and incidentally to us as well in terms of overseas aid.

Politicians of all parties spend a lot of time on doorsteps trying to persuade people to vote and what we all hate is apathy – the ‘It doesn’t make any difference’ attitude.  Parliament is full of mudslinging as to who funds political campaigns – if political parties were funded centrally on their membership numbers it could encourage more of us to actually become involved.  Why should big business and trade unions call the shots for the rest of us?

Everything from cleaning the streets to international negotiations is decided by politicians, maybe some of us need to do some soul searching well in advance of the next elections!

I do tend to agree with Geoff on the issue of Party funding. The current trend at Prime Minister's questions is about Lynton Crosby or Unite and the petty placed questions that have cropped up time and again over the last three weeks have all monopolised this well trodden path and not addressed issues that could/should have been brought to the Prime Minister's attention.

The Liberal Democrats are mainly funded by members for the members and have no vested interests and I think the Conservatives and Labour party need to show the same willingness to cap donations from groups and show themselves as free from direction of vested interests.

That said, I think Parliament also needs modernising and rules changed. Pitt the Younger no longer walks the halls, neither does Earl Grey, Lord Salisbury or Asquith - the rules and language are antiquated and has been used to create this Party partisan fighting that ultimately doesn't help anyone. The public needs to get more involved yes but I think that Parliament also needs to be flexible and actually engage more with the Public and the best way to start this is by cutting the bickering, keep it constructive and actually debate the issues rather than who is responsible for the problem in the first place.

Governments have failed the NHS & Residents of Medway

NHS is in trouble but Politicians haven't been listening

Yesterday was a sad day for our Democracy and the House of Commons.

The Secretary for Health Jeremy Hunt made announcements relating to the Keogh commission report and on going problems with the Nation's hospitals, especially dealing with unnecessary deaths.

Twitter exploded with comments about what was being said in Parliament and most party members and supporters that I follow were horrified by the level of partisan tweets and comments in Parliament. Tories going after Andy Burnham, Labour blaming the Coalition for deep cuts and mismanagements. Both sides of the house sat sneering at each other and shouting like the crowd at a Roma vs. Lazio game - Not the seat of power of a First World country and people who should know a lot better.

Even on a Local level the various Party politicos have started winding up the noise about the incompetence of the others - Andy Burnham this and Tory cuts that. The Labour PPC for Chatham & Aylesford has released a press statement on the subject and their various Twitter feeds have been releasing stats showing what has come into being since 2010. The Tories and some Libdems have been passing around a petition to get Andy Burnham to accept responsibility and resign... It needs to stop.

The NHS has had problems for a long time. Medway Hospital has had issues for at least a decade. Back in March I wrote about my family's problems with Medway hospital back in 2007.I also referenced problems that Rehman Chishti highlighted in 2008. It is irresponsible for the Labour Party to say this has all been since May 2010. However the Coalition needs to take ownership of the cuts and recognise that they have also had a massive impact and they need to be reexamined.

However lets look at the NHS Chief Executive at Medway Hospital who administers the cuts. Instead of keeping care and staff levels up efficiency savings were made and then a stupid amount of money was spent on a motivational speaker for the staff!

Then there is the merger with Darant Valley which has been beset with problems for Medway. Who was given a voice for this concerns? Only NHS trust members - not the staff or the residents who use the service. Even the elected representitve of Gillingham South ward, Lib dem Geoff Juby, was ignored by the Chief executive.

Of course there is also the Local NHS hospitals. Medway is the only local hospital with a 24 hour A&E where as the others can close at a certain time or redirect cases up to Medway. This obviously throws the already stretched triage and Emergency staff to unacceptable levels with priorities being thrown all over the place. When I took my infant son up with a suspected case of Meningitis we had to be hurriedly discharged (after thankfully pronouncing him all clear!) as they had an emergency case literally outside the curtain that desperately needed the space.

It also means that Medway has a catchment area of One Million people in North Kent covering Sheppey to Dartford and can include Maidstone and Canterbury on a rough day. This is a horrendous amount of space and people for one A&E and hospital to cover.

A culture of target meeting and figures started to develop in the 90s and now hospitals are stuck trying to meet Government targets and not treating the sick as human beings rather than Statistics. Party Politics has been using the lives and deaths of the sick and elderly for years as a way of measuring the success of policy and to beat the other party over the head at PMQs.

This HAS to stop.

Many politicos sit and wonder why the public are fed up with Politics and don't vote and it is because of incidents like this that push people too far. If Politicians, and I use this as a broad stroke - I know there are exceptions, could stop acting like Children and trying to constantly get votes and score points and actually sort this problem out. People's lives genuinely depend on it and too many have been lost already.

What needs to happen is for the three main parties to get together and work out what is the best for everyone and stop acting like children. Medway Council need to look at things, the Department for Health need to look at Medway Maritime management, priorities and staffing. Most importantly of all Politicians of all ilks and creeds need to listen to the residents, of the horror stories that will hit the Press this Friday and of people's general disgruntlement and actually do something about it rather than play the blame game which is a game that frankly, we all lose at.

Privitisation of services just not affordable

A few weeks ago Libdem Council group leader Geoff Juby had this to say in his Party People column for the Medway Messenger.

I went on a day trip to France to visit friends living in a tiny hamlet in the countryside. What an eye

opener.

Britain is part of Europe but we don't enjoy the same economic benefits as our partners. First, utilities - water rates where they pay in a year what I pay in a month, and their equivalent of council tax is £140 per year (including TV licence).

As many of our utilities are now provided by French-owned companies, I wonder why there is such an enormous price differential - perhaps we are paying for cheaper service for the French.

It makes one wonder if privatisation has really benefited us, as both Conservative and Labour governments have pursued privatisation with enthusiasm.

Thirteen years of Labour Government forgot the working population as it created a cosy relationship with big business and multiple money-gobbling quangos.

Our NHS is wonderful for many things, but the dental service seems to be cheaper in Europe and much more patient focused - I know of cases where friends travel to Europe for dental treatment rather than pay NHS charges.
In France, electricity is cheap, with lots of wind farms serving small villages (the village is allowed to keep some of the profits). Planning is much easier, but i think this probably because local government MEANS local - a mayor for any settlement of more than 20 people, and has decision making powers.

Here, we seem to going for ever bigger councils and decision-making has to pass through so many layers of officialdom. Also, nobody seems to be accountable for misinformation, as purchaser of blue badges are finding out when they apply for renewals within the two months specified, only to find out it takes weeks longer and they are left stranded.

Indeed, privatisation is forcing average working families into a forced servitude. With ever increasing bills for utilities and even commuting to and from work and with the average wage rising by one or two percent people are getting priced out and have to wonder whether or not to put the heating on or draw a bath.

With the 40% cut to Council nurseries in Medway the fees ware likely to rise by a similar amount which will price many working families out of child care. It will become uneconomic for one partner to work part time as they're wages may not cover the bill of one child and especially not two. This will leave many working families in the Medway towns reduced to one wage and having to make some very real choices as to what they can and cannot afford including utility bills.

What will our Government or Local council do to help us or will we remain as indentured customers to big business.

Letters to the editor on local child care.

My letter to the Medway Messenger that unfortunately didn't get published.

I would like to congratulate Councillor Mike O’Brien on hisappointment to portfolio holder for Children’s services but also to draw hisattention to this;

Due to funding cuts our local nursery is unable to take children under two years old. This is a bitter blow for my family as my wife has two months of maternity leave left and was preparing to go back to work with my son’s name down for the local nursery. We have two months to find a nearby nursery that will take him or my wife will have to give up work for at least a year cutting our already stretched household income virtually in half.

Many of my wife’s friends who, like us, were hoping their second child could go to the same local place as their first born are now faced with either giving up work or taking both children elsewhere, something that is not really an option for us.

The point is that both my wife and I have both worked our whole adult lives and paid all our taxes and now we find ourselves being persecuted for wanting to work. Had the Council really thought through this move before implementation and will they reverse it?

If not, it seems that they don’t care about hard working residents and will leave us contemplating which vital utility bill we have to live without.

Chris Sams,  Gillingham.

Cllr Juby on Politics, Thatcher, Law and Legislation

Local Liberal Democrat Group Leader Geoff Juby's recent column in the Medway Messenger:

Love her or hate her, I think the rumblings over Lady Thatcher's funeral will resound for some time. As someone who was very badly affected by her policies in the 80s I had very little time for the lady.

Like many others who are now feeling the pinch right now, I also take a jaundiced view of the suggestion that the costs to the nation probably totalled about £10 million

However, someone is involved in politics at a national level pointed out that it was a golden opportunity for the world's foreign ministers to meet up. High level international meetings are invariably over hyped with fairly rigid set agendas, and I am wondering how many quiet private meetings took place behind the scenes with no intrusive press questions to answer.

Maybe history, or an indiscreet autobiography, will one day reveal the answer.

On a different tack, there has been enormous coverage of the consequences of the benefits cuts, but the long term effects of the cuts to legal aid will probably be far more devastating.

We Brits have always prided ourselves that justice is available to everyone, but now access to the courts will be available to the wealthy. People who have been subjected to abuse will not have any recourse to help.

There is also the question of official powers - it is a dangerous situation when anyone in any position of authority, whether council, police or official security companies under contract, can feel confident that they can't be sued for unfair treatment or false accusations.

So much is happening so quickly that I sometimes wonder how much slips through the net of publicity and we are only going to become aware of consequences when it will be too late to change legislation.

I think Geoff hits the nail on the head with his final point - the benefits changes have been brought through under the banner of "Hitting the Scroungers" gaining support from voters only to find out that they are getting hit in the pockets too. NHS needing reform, which it does, could be a back door opening to Privitisation. We all need to be careful and scrutinise what is actually being said and for the love of all that you hold Holy - Don't take your MP, Councillor or MEPs word for it... Read the stuff yourself and then decide whether you agree or not and don't get sucked into the hyperbole of the media or Political spin - go to the Source.

I Partially agree with Vince on Government and Council spending

In last week's Medway Messenger, Vince Maple, leader of the Medway Labour group wrote this in his

Labour leader, Councillor and all round good guy Vince Maple

column:

Politics, local or national, is ultimately about priorities. When you have a limited amount of resources you have to decide about what is the priority. I think we have seen in the last few weeks the clearest indication of where the Tories' priorities lie.

Since my last Party People column, we have seen some changes in Welfare and taxation, which show the priorities of the Tory led Coalition and have been implemented by the Tory councillors here in Medway.

We have seen the bedroom
Tax, which is impacting on vulnerable people including the disabled, who are now having income deducted because they may need an additional room for their medical treatment.

More than 14,000 Medway residents, including disabled residents, those who are seeking work and those hard working on low incomes, would have received a council tax bill they simply cannot afford.

Many people are calling this the Pickles poll tax, named after Eric Pickles, the Tory Local Government secretary of state, who was happy to claim £280 expenses for his monthly food bill from the tax payer, but is now forcing literally thousands of residents in Medway to make the impossible choice between buying food or paying their council tax bill.

So what is the priority for the government if they are making these changes?

A tax cut for millionaires. Yes, at the same time as these changes we see people who are earning £1m getting a tax cut of £100,000 - hardly all of us in it together.

It is quite clear to me that when it comes to the choices and changes to be made, the Tories and their Lib Dems partners have got their priorities wrong.

I must say I agree with a lot of what he said however this was my response which was sent through to the Messenger and published today.


 I partially agree with what Vince Maple said in his Party People column last week.
The changes to the Welfare system and the Bedroom tax is and will have a serious impact on Medway's residents who are struggling by on low incomes or solely on benefits due to a lack of suitable work.

Further to that, families like mine are caught by the council's priorities. Cuts and funding changes to our local Sure-start centre have been announced and that my young son will not be accepted to nursery until next year. This means my wife cannot return to work and I will have to try and support my wife and two children on already stretched wages. At the same time the council is pumping money into the tunnel and an open top tour bus!

However I do disagree with his final point that the Libdems in government have their priorities wrong. Since joining the Tories in 2010 they have given free nursery places to two year olds, cut income tax on the first £10k earned a massive boon to Medway's residents, index linked state pensions, frozen fuel duties and have been fighting for a mansion tax for many years targeting the rich to support the poor.

The libdems, especially locally, are working hard for those in need against the cuts - believe me, I'm one of them!

Medway Council cuts negatively impact children and families

Ollie & Sophie

I've been becoming more and more disillusioned with the cuts and removal of services over recent years.

What started as efficiency savings and the trimming of dead and dying wood was necessary. However as time has gone by the cuts have gone to deep and with misdirection of the banner of attacking the "benefit scroungers" they are starting to attack those who genuinely need it.

Local Labour leader Vince Maple talked about governing bodies having different priorities in his recent article for the Medway Messenger and how they choose to act. He especially criticised the ruling Conservatives locally and nationally for their choices of where the axe should fall.

For example, and this is a personal example, Medway's conservatives have changed the way money goes into Sure Start centres which equates to a severe cut to their budgets.

Many of my regular readers will know that I have two children; Sophie (2 and 11 months) and Oliver (9 months) and my wife was getting ready to go back to work around the end of July. We'd put Ollie's name down and were waiting for the green light.

Last Saturday we received a letter saying that the centre would no longer be accepting children under two years old!

There has been talk of staff numbers being cut and the current staff, all of whom are excellent, having to reapply for their posts. A meeting has been called to discuss the changes and how it will effect services.

However, the big problem is, IF we can't get Ollie into a nursery then Sam cannot go back to work and our household income is cut by a third. It would be an impossibility for the four of us to exist on my wages alone what with utilities, council tax, rail fare and even food prices all rising.

Serious choices would need to be made and we might have to pull Sophie out of nursery all together, which could be bad for her development. Further to that choices will need to be made regarding power, water even food and heating in the winter. Our already cold house may have to become devoid of all heat in the winter save for low heat on the bedroom heaters which will impact all of our health, just so that we can get by.

In this times it would be reasonable to turn to the state for help but with the new welfare reforms can we expect much assistance?

What I am struggling to understand is that the Coalition are trying to get people back into work and supporting those who aspire and work hard. However thanks to, frankly, fiscal mismanagement, the local Conservative council have put a few people out of work and effectively blocking others from returning to their jobs and possibly forcing people to look at benefits?

It is nonsensical.

My family have always worked, we've never taken anything we haven't been entitled to and we live with in our means. The very epitome of what this Government is trying to encourage and yet we're being kicked in the nuts - and not just us but also the other families who have applied and the staff at the centre which will have a knock on effect on the development of the other children.

Thanks a bunch.

Cllr Juby: Where is our money safe?

Cllr Geoff Juby's recent column in the Medway Messenger:

The recent crisis in Cyprus, where the more you save the more you lose seems to be called

for by the EU, is putting another nail in the coffin for ordinary people who struggle all their working lives to save for retirement, only to find that their savings are practically worthless.  At the moment it seems that if you are elderly you either have to have a very large savings pot, or none at all. Too many people find that their savings are not giving additional income because of low interest rates, yet they are deprived of benefits because they have a few pounds put by for a rainy day. We are trying to encourage young people to make independent pension arrangements, but what incentives are there for them?

We used to trust our banks, but events over the last few years mean that anyone with decent savings has to juggle money so that if a bank goes bust they don’t lose too much, and now we have the added worry that governments might just decide to help themselves to our cash to pay off debts which were partly incurred by bailing out the banks in the first place.

  Whatever budget steps are taken it always seem that the very rich seem to be protected (like the reduction to 45% tax on high earners). Small local businesses fold because business rates are at an unsustainable level for all except the massive high street chains. They force down the prices they pay for goods to a level which enables them to crowd out independent retailers and still return massive profits.

We can no longer trust in money investment in property, small business enterprise or gold – we will all end  up keeping our rapidly devaluing twenty quid notes under mattresses!

Lodge Hill, planning and Medway Regeneration

Earlier this week I read a really good blogpost on the Nightingale situation at Lodgehill and followed it up with the local press reports from the week before and felt moved to write to the Medway Messenger letters page for this Friday, on behalf of the local party - having received my Chair's green light.

Unfortunately it wasn't published but I have published it here instead, I have also expanded the letter as well as I have more space to manoeuvre and to explain.

The original letter appears in Italics.

I am sure I can speak for many who care about the conservation of England's wildlife when I say I'm pleased about the colony of Nightingales on the Hoo peninsula and the SSI.

Too often we see local authorities ready to send in the bulldozers and play havoc with our biosphere.

I was very disappointed by Councillor Chambers' comments in local and national press regarding Government agencies "delaying" the "much needed homes"

I'll come to the housing part in a moment. I want to concentrate on Cllr Chambers' comments (and those of Cllr Chitty the portfolio holder for this sort of thing) as they directly bemoaned a Government agency stopping another Government agency from doing its much needed business.

As Britain's natural habitats are quickly being eaten up, ancient woodlands, marshlands, green fields all swallowed up for the ever expanding urban areas.

Britain's natural wildlife is also in rapid decline, the number of sparrows have fallen, foxes are forced to enter urban areas in search of food as their natural habitats are destroyed.

We should be welcoming the discovery that this stretch of land is so vitally important to the Nation's Nightingale population.

Yes it is annoying, from the council's point of view, yes it voids the vasts amounts of tax payers money spent on the project up until now but to fight it and to remonstrate with another faceless "Government agency" (backed by the RSPB) over something like this is foreseeably a bigger waste of money and makes you look like a lot of (excuse my Anglo-Saxon) uncaring bastards.

It would be better to put your hands up say "Fair cop gov" and then look at ways that this could be exploited for everyone's benefit. Perhaps a nature walk, better roads out to the site and amenities for bird watchers, naturalists (not nudists!) and tourists. Make it part of the local economy in a good way so people will say:

Let's go to Medway, they've got that lovely park with the Nightingales

Does that not sound better?

Although the project would provide much needed jobs surely we could reemploy the resources on much needed regeneration within the existing towns like our crumbling roads and abandoned houses.

Win for the council, win for residents and win for nature. Don't waste more money on an appeal and tearing up a rare habitat and reinvest in what we already have?
 

It is true that the Medway does need more affordable housing especially new housing, to attract young couples to the towns to breathe in some life and much needed funds.

There is also a need for jobs. The average wage for someone in Medway is around £14k PA, this is not really enough. I'm in the job market at the moment looking to reallocate from working in London to working closer to home so I can spend more time with my young family and my bed! However as I'm not a labourer, nor qualified for teaching, estate agency or driving I'm finding it pretty hard to find anything at the moment and am forced to stay in my current employ.

Why did a young couple such as myself and Sam reallocate to Medway in the first place?

Well the answer is two fold;

 1. My grandfather had passed away and left me half the value of his house and we could get a mortgage.

2. Sam could be closer to her Mum who has not been to too well and as her younger Brother's guardian it would be better to be closer to home.

Otherwise, we might have stayed in Winchester where we had more opportunities and albeit a smaller flat.

The Medway towns needs something to attract workwise as well as the housing.

Unfortunately much of the existing Medway towns is run down and in dire need of regeneration. I'm not talking about Cllr Jarrett et al's plan to glorify Chatham Central, I mean residential, urban areas such as Gillingham North and South, parts of Chatham, Strood...

There are plenty of spots which could do with rejuvination, empty houses that could be sorted out and could be sold on to young couples. The Government have put in a scheme to make housing improvements easier, why not take advantage of this and encourage renevation businesses locally.

There's jobs, there's money, there's decent housing.

There are also other sites, former industrial and commercial sites in Medway where the same projects could be carried out on a much smaller scale and over a wider area.

In short, this is a kick in the nuts, unavoidably so and nothing that can be blamed on political ineptitude, it is just one of those things. However there are things that can be done, a redistribution of the resources and taking this opportunity to do something positive.

Also, as Councillor Chris Irvine said in his blog; It'll be interesting to see what this development will have on the plans for Boris Island etc...

Medway Council "Failing to protect Children"

Sorry for the slow write up on this, hectic weekend of elderly care and hospital trip with little Ollie-bob, I only got around to reading Friday's report this morning!

Any way....

So, the Medway Town's safeguarding Child care has been rated as wholly unacceptable by Ofsted (read the report here). Councillor Wickes has apologised, as has the new(ish) Children's Director Barbara Peacock, for failing to... well here's what Cllr Wickes said:

I apologise for our failure to deliver the service our children and young people deserve.

There are many problems with cases being signed off and then being re-referred. According to Jenni Horn & Rebecca Hughes's article in the Medway Messenger (Council is failing to protect children dated 15-2-13) in 2011/2 32% of closed cases had to be re referred and so far this year 46% of cases have been re-referred which is almost twice the national figure of 24%!

One of the big problems is that the initial assessments of cases are not being done thoroughly and they have not been necessarily identifying the risks or problems faced by childrens. I don't want to jump onto a scare mongering band waggon but this is a similar situation that saw the death of Baby P a few years ago and the sacking of Sharon Shoesmith. We can be glad that nothing like this has happened in the Medway towns and hopefully this Ofsted report is the wake up call that was needed to rectify this.

Although it is easy to blame Councillor Wicks for this failing as the portfolio holder there are greater issues at foot as well and we should not be focused fully on this - though I will return to this momentarily.

I am heartened that the Council seem to be taking this exceptionally seriously with the Chief Executive that they are determined to improve and we've had in place an improvement programme for some time. Amongst the bad news budget, which I'll write about at a later time, Councillor Jarrett has found money to pump into this exceptionally lagging department with new systems coming in to release Social workers from paper work and back into field work as well as a new £1.4m electronic recording system. There is also a board of different departments and agencies getting together to advise and improve and assist - all good news.

However this does rather reek of being caught with your trousers down!

Ms Peacock has only been in post for some five months and with a record of improving Children services at Sandwell is definitely the right person to have on board. To some degree we should be looking at the previous head of department Rose Collinson, who was also in post during the Medway Test debacle and left post last summer. There also needs to be questions asked about the appointment of Duncan Clark who was assistant director of Child services on a 6 months contract. He was forced out of a job by Kingston Council because under his stewardship the safeguarding department's inadequate rating. Medway Council hired someone to such a vital post with a record of failure? 

So, what to do about Councillor Wicks? Well, it is a tough one. Opposition parties are calling for his head and although I do not believe all of the blame lies with him, this isn't the first time for a major failing to fall at his door. As I mentioned earlier there is the Medway test debacle which rocked the Medway towns a couple of years ago. He is portrayed as a bit of a well meaning bungler and whether that is the case or not the public have lost confidence in him as portfolio holder. If this was National Government he would have gone or been promoted sideways. It would go a long way in gaining trust with the public if he did stand down or was replaced so as to completely draw a line under the whole affair - new heads, new board and new direction bent on immediate improvement.

He won't go though... after the Medway test problem the Tory cabinet closed ranks and he held onto his position and this will no doubt happen again.

I do believe questions behind the scenes in Gunwarf need to be asked and much soul searching is needed as to how the service got in such a bad way as well as what can be done to rectify it.The Council have failed to protect one of the most vulnerable sections of our society and now real action needs to be taken to;
a) Make sure it doesn't happen again
b) Improve the situation drastically.

As I say, let us just be thankful that no one appears to have fallen to foul of this godawful mess and it was caught in time. Better this way than with a death on it's hands, better still if the Children's services wasn't in a shambles in the first place though!

Medway Council and unfair taxes

On the day the Liberal Democrats across the country are campaigning for fairer taxes we are faced with silly and unfair taxes here in Medway as this press release shows;

It was disappointing to learn from the Council, in response to my question last Thursday, that they are intent on pursuing a council tax policy which will result in an enormous waste of taxpayers money.  Charging council tax to the poorest in our community, and then pursuing those who cannot pay with the resultant magistrates court costs and officers time, may result in those who have low paid jobs, and stay put, being sent to prison, and those without jobs simply ‘disappearing’.


The Tories don’t seem to have learnt the lesson from the days of the iniquitous

 ‘Poll Tax’ when large numbers of ordinary citizens were sent to prison for short periods, thus gaining a criminal record, and councils still had the costs of trying to collect arrears which could paid off at the princely rate of 50p a week!


The councils own reports freely admit that the cost of collection will probably be more than the monies collected, so the council tax for the rest of us will have to increase to make up the deficit.  Mickey Mouse economics or what?  There are other options, such as raising tax on second homes and empty properties – this could not only increase revenue but bring back into use many of  the empty, neglected properties which blight our towns and deprive families of much needed homes.  Why can’t the council pursue this ‘win-win’ option rather than using time and resources to make the situation worse?

This was a matter raised at Full council the other week by Vivienne Parker of Rochester South and Horsted Liberal Democrats who posed a question on the night.

With the Cut from central government coming down to the local authorities many councils will have to look at raising the local taxes. According to a report in the Medway Messenger there could be as many as 14,000 households across the towns will have to cough up 25% of the new bill even though they were exempt due to low earnings in the past - 700 homes will have an extra £400 a year just to fill the void of the £4million hole.

I understand that the Council needs money but to strike the poor like this seems somewhat uncaring and ill thought out. Surely there must be another way?

Cllr Stamp (Ind) said For someone on a fixed low income it will just plunge them further into debt and they will have to make difficult decisions whether to buy food or put the heating on.

Made even more poignant when you realise the average reported (To the CAB) debt in the Medway towns is around £40k!!!!

It wouldn't seem so bad if the council weren't seen to be wasting money on vanity projects and overspends with poor planning - money just poured down the drain with the knowledge that there would come cuts one day from central government. It all seems very Victorian.

What did Conservative Councillor Jarrett portfolio holder for Finance have to say?

He began by blaming Labour's economic mess, which frankly is an over used argument considering the fact that this council has been wasteful and could have seen this cut on the horizon for years - I know I have and I'm just some bloke on the street!

Also the courts have the right to write off debts people can't pay for... Great! So we have to take people to court to find they can't pay and then let them off.
Let me get this straight... we spend money to get money out of people we already know don't have it and then write off the original debt... but still spending money on taking them to court... Brilliance!

To the concerns of rising poverty he said;
I do share some of the concerns but we are where we are. - Thanks Al.

Silence from Medway council over future of elderly care homes

Concern over the elderly and specialist care homes within Medway council are again under scrutiny. (some bits archieved here and here) Maureen Ruparal, a former Libdem Councillor who led the fight to defend the selling off of the Dementia care home of Nelson's court has again raised the issue with a letter to the Medway Messenger:


The ways of Medway council become more and more hard to understand.

  Residents, staff and relatives of service users in our linked service centres are fed up with sitting in limbo and not knowing what is happening.  At a meeting last Autumn, after the campaign to keep these centres in council control was lost council officers assured us that we would be kept informed, and we were also promised that specifications for the tendering process would be run past us before being published. 

 So far, nothing appears to have happened at all (after one and a half years of uncertainty), and I am forcibly reminded of the shambles when there was a huge rush (and incidentally huge expense) to empty out the sheltered schemes over six years ago.  Then Shalder House, one of the homes in question, was only sold last year!

  Private sector care homes in Medway have taken a bit of official criticism over the past few months, can we hope that the Tory controlled council are having second thoughts about disposing of the best run care homes in the area?

Medway Council are apparantly still not taking this seriously.

This is an important issue for residents and their families and will have serious ramifications if not addressed and handled correctly.

It is too late to save the homes, we tried and failed.

It is not too late to make the process of privitisation as painless as possible but we need the Council to assist in this and be as transparent as possible.

It is not playing politics to say;

Families and residents are concerned and worried, they can't be left in bureaucratic limbo - they're listening, time for the Council to start talking.

Cllr Geoff Juby on Taxation and TV liceneces

Liberal Democrat group Leader, Geoff Juby's column from this week's Medway Messenger - Needless to say I agree with Geoff on the Taxation!
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In recent months there has been a lot of publicity given to the subject of taxation and benefits.  Are we in danger of following Greece, Spain and Ireland in running into massive deficits because of an inability to actually collect the taxes due? 

Major multinational corporations pay little or no UK tax – and many of the members of parliament, and the House of Lords,  who should be addressing this problem are themselves in a questionable situation with regard to their own tax payments.

Isn’t it time that companies took a pride in publicising their tax contributions instead of trying to avoid them?  Public opinion is a powerful sales tool – how many of us would actively support a commercial company who boasted of the millions paid into the exchequer each year!


The poor and disabled are suffering humiliating interviews and loss of income because of the publicity around a few false claimants, and it’s costing almost as much as the savings to fund the appeals and administration.  Apart from a very limited number we all pay what is now an unnecessary tax calling itself a television licence! 

Sometimes I wonder whether the BBC might be better accepting advertising like every other television channel – I have not been able to discern any particular commercial bias in the multiple channels available to us. Now nearly everyone has access to Freeserve, and I don’t think I am the only person to comment that the BBC news coverage can fall short of that provided by other channels. 

Proportionately the licence fee falls very heavily on low income families who may rely on television more than those who can afford foreign holidays, theatre trips and other entertainments.  Let’s hope that the Christmas telly is good, and in spite of current hard times, we all manage to enjoy the festive season.

Officially Miserable Medway.

Its official the Medway Towns are the second least satisfied area in the South of Britain.

Strangely, I’m not that surprised.

Lets be honest, what is there to look forward to in the Medway area? It is run down, dirty, a shell of its former self, a Council that seemingly care more about big projects than the day to day lives of the residents, raising personal debt, 11500 children in poverty, no good high streets, expensive rail and bus services and low incomes. There is nothing to look forward to, apart from the Olympics and Jubilee, just the same old grind day in day out.

There is little wonder then that the Medway towns are also one of the worst hot spots for obesity (30% of adults), high levels of smoking, teenage pregnancies and a low life expectancy linked mainly to cancer and smoking related diseases.

Well we all need vices to resort to to make ourselves feel better about life and if things are so bad then why not?

As I write this I’m watching The Never Ending Story with my daughter (for the 999^th time) and I was just moved by the scene in the Swamps of Sadness;

Everybody knew that those who let the sadness overtake them were doomed to sink into the swamp.

This is true of Medway too. It’s easy to let all the problems over take you and get sucked down but at the same time is life really that bad?

I mean, we’re still living in a First world country, we’re not being shot by Government troops, forced to work in sweat shops, our children aren’t dying after a few months from drinking filthy water… Things are not as bad as they could be. It is worth bucking up a little bit.

The Medway Messenger cited some comments from Facebook;

It lacks atmosphere, there’s not much to do in the owns compared to Maidstone, but it is much better than Dover (Says Mike Canham Croom)

Fair point.

Medway Youth Council suggested the creation of a Reward card for young people. Every time they went to Medway Park swimming, or to the Ice bowl they could get points they could put towards getting a free game of bowling. In the wake of this survey it would seem that their plan, which we support should be implemented. Encourage kids to be more active and to enjoy the towns.

Put down the Burger pick up a bowling ball!

Dawn Adamson wrote;

House prices are becoming out of reach for most people living in Medway and wages are far lower than average and as an ex-Londoner I find the people less friendly too.

OK, house price rises are the same everywhere at the moment as are wages. The nature of capitalism is to keep prices up and wages down and make more money for those on the top. Unfortunately there is nothing you can reasonably expect the Council to do anything about.

There is something that YOU can do though.

For Pete’s sake smile, or say “Hello” to people you see regularly.

At my end of Gillingham there is a street cleaner who always says “Hello” as I go to work and always waves and says “Hello” to my wife and little girl and it is surprising how much of a difference it makes to your day.

Smile’s are infectious, and I know this is easier said than done considering everyone’s personal woes, but try it. Be polite to people in the street, patient with those who work in shops, stop using the C – word as an adjective especially at 11 O’clock outside my daughter’s bedroom window!

The reason that the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland did so well in the survey is that life on isolated rural communities is painfully simple and life in big urban conurbations is difficult but lets get on with it before we get sucked into the great mire of sadness. Similarly we need to encourage our youth to get off their backsides and do things get energised and I think the Council should seriously look at this proposal from the Youth Council.

Also, be proactive with happiness. Be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Dodgy siren and Hazardous waste - the woes of the Isle of Grain



LNG plant on the Isle of Grain

There has been quite a stir on the Twittersphere over recent months with local resident Jack Hope (@jacklhope) bombarding local politicians/politicos for help and about the Health and Safety concerns of the village of Grain and the Liquid Gas plant in their proximity. It is something I have been meaning to look into and right about for sometime but time is constantly flitting past me without me being able to do half the things I want to do - It’s now only 4 weeks until my second child is born!

Any way, now I've got some wind in my sails and a couple of articles from Friday's Messenger, which saves me a lot of research time and FOI requests!

Right first off the Siren.

Now as I understand it, there was a lot of pressure from residents, led by Mr Hope, for a warning system for the villagers in case there was an emergency at the Gas plant. Although the chances of there being a problem at the plant are exceptionally low there are indeed concerns for the villagers who live in close to the plant.
The fact that should there be a major incident the residents sit under a blast or gas radius, there's only one road onto the island etc...

That's by the by though and the Council Health and Safety committee has looked into it and I do not know enough to add to the war of words and opinions on this matter so I shan't attempt to.

What can be said is that the Council promised to install it last September and this week it was tested, three loud blasts were sounded.

One minor *cough* snag was that it wasn't audible across the whole area!

Parish Councillor Chris Buckwell (con) said; I spoke to two or three villagers, one of whom didn't hear it
Nor did the local Primary school.

Councillor Mike O'Brien, respected head of Community Safety who was part of a Council team present for the test is quoted as admitting it was Work in progress and We had a whole team of officers out there investigating it and once we have sat down in the cold light of day and looked at the results properly we will know where to go next

The Siren cost £24,000 and as Councillor O'Brien says [It] wasn't legally necessary but I thought it was a good reassurance for the residents. My firm belief is the residents of Grain have absolutely nothing to fear.

I would like to remind Mike; somewhat cheekily that White Star line said the same thing about the Olympic class liners. It was considered that the safety measures in the design were sufficient enough to withstand any collision "likely" to occur and that they had the Legally required amount of lifeboats and a few extras. Cue an Iceberg and the Titanic.
What I mean is, when it comes to disasters it doesn't matter what safety measures are put in! Some one should have looked at the design specs before it was implemented and questioned if it was loud enough. Still, I'm sure its being looked at now.

Next up, a hazardous waste dump?

The Development Company Peel is in the early stages of proposing a 120 acre site right next to the village of Grain. This is not the first time that such a site has been proposed and Parish Councillor Chris Buckwell defeated the last one. Things are different now of course...

The last Government changed the rules of such building schemes saying that if it was of National importance it could over rule elected officials and locals... Well that's not democracy or respecting one's citizens. Good Job Labour.

Unelected planning inspectors will make the decision instead of Medway councillors. We're very disappointed about that. Says Cllr Buckwell.

The site itself well deal with cleaning Industrial Gas burners, using specially created bacteria to eat pollutants, soil cleansing and other measures but will not handle hospital or radioactive waste. There is also an agreement with the company that they will fully consult with the residents at every stage of the process. Ultimately though it will be up to the inspectors rather than the elected Council.

Although it is to be a wide open process and with the company giving exhibitions to the Villagers I would trust that should they truly oppose the site stringently with good cause that it would not go ahead.
Though I would strongly suggest to the people of Grain, Mr Hope and Cllr Buckwell - look at the Localism Act. An awesome bit of Liberal Democrat inspired legislation that gives local neighbourhood groups the power to fight such moves and Councils. I'm not overly clear on the details, as I said at the beginning Time is escaping me but seriously guys... take a look... it may help.

References.

Gas leak warning siren seen - but not always hear - By Dan Bloom, p 21, Medway messenger 29-6-12

Village earmarked for a SECOND hazard-waste dump - By Dan Bloom, p 11, Medway Messenger 29-6-12