Corbyn as leader is definitely a good thing!

A new direction for Labour under Corbyn?

In case you have missed the news Jeremy Corbyn has been elected as leader of the Labour Party and this is something to be celebrated.

Celebrated? Really Chris? Why would a LibDem be celebrating this?

A fine set of questions to which the answers are; Yes, really and it is a long complicated rant so buckle up....

Firstly, I am a big fan of democracy and political theory - it is one of my vices and I'm a HUGE fan of Hobbes "Leviathan". I studied the evolution of Political theory at university for a semester and found this evolution fascinating and for a time I flirted with Marxism. To be fair I worked for MacDonald's at the time and it seemed to be a fair leap.

Anyway - at this point I was ripe to be attracted to a strong Labour movement and the Labour Party there was just one thing in the way.... New Labour.

New Labour has always struck me as a Diet Tory movement which was geared to winning elections and that was it. Throw in my opposition to the Iraq War and other policies such as ID cards etc and I found myself realising that beyond my radical reaction to my employer I had no real socialist beliefs and that liberalism was where my heart truly lay.

However I have always maintained that the Labour party should be a working class party and that for me and many others it had long ceased to be that.

Can I back up this assertion?

Why yes.

The rise of third (and fourth) party politics is a massive clue to this. In 2010 the Liberal Democrats attracted a large amount of votes from people who were looking for something different rather than the two same old parties who seemingly offered us nothing different. In 2015 following the Coalition that saw us being lumped into the same boat as Labour and the Tories the working classes flooded to UKIP seeing Farage as someone new and out of the Westminster bubble. Indeed according to our intel, streets that had been historically Labour were turning to UKIP instead. Why? Because Farage seemed to be voicing the working family's fears and beliefs rather than Westminster protocol and edited press statements.

What has this got to do with Corbyn?

Jeremy Corbyn is of the old school of Labour, a genuine Left winger who will (hopefully) steer the party away from the middle ground and actually represent the working classes again. No more of this abstaining on key votes as they did under Harman recently. The Party membership are obviously vexed with this New Labour fad and want to return to their old core values, the values the party were founded on, the very values and voters who were that much more extreme than the Old Liberal party back in the 1920s that saw the party rise to prominance. This is the same shift again almost a century on.

Finally there will be a gulf between Right and Left which will give the voters something to get behind.

There have been a lot of smug Tory tweets claiming walkover in 2020 and that we are looking at another five year term of Conservative government based on today's Labour leadership result. I wouldn't be so sure... After all if Corbyn can steer the party left and actually start representing the working classes again then they will draw a massive amount of support away from UKIP (always a good thing) and if he stands on anti-austerity (and means it) then he will gain even more votes and we could see the rise of the Labour party.

It also means that dissatisfied centralists in the Labour party may come looking for a centre party and join the LibDems(?).

So what about Medway?

Well on the council level it is too early to say. Many people have predicted the Conservatives losing seats in the last two elections and they've still walked away with a massive majority. I think it is too early to say for 2019.

I will predict that Corbyn's tenure (if done right) coupled with the absence of Mark Reckless, will see the end of Medway UKIP's showing on the council and (hopefully) see a massive fall in their vote share across the wards.

For the LibDems locally it won't make that big a difference with us still campaigning on our strengths and strong work ethic.

As for the 2020 General election - it is way to early to call that... IF the right candidate (and my money is on Naushabah Kahn) is against Rehman Chishti then we could see a swing to Labour. Sadly I fear the same might be true in Chatham & Aylesford IF the right candidate comes along and the voters of Chatham go back to Labour rather than UKIP then not even Tracey's record could save her but that is a pretty BIG IF!!!!

Though these predictions are, as Joey from Friends once said; Moo ("Its like a Cow's opinion - it doesn't matter"). I stand by my belief that Labour will now return to its roots and represent its core supporters - the workers which can only be a good thing for British politics having a clear divide between Red and Blue.

Two more local Tories defect to UKIP

Today the Medway UKIP were proud to announce that they are now the third biggest party in the Council having leapfrogged us (LibDems) having gained two new councillors via defection.

Yep, Councillors Vaughn Hewett and Tom Mason, both former mayors, have joined UKIP. No one seems too surprised at Mason but Hewett has raised a few eyebrows.

The big question is; Is this a prologue for May’s elections?

Hard to say at this point, all that can be said is that two people have swapped party, they were not selected by the people and their constituents in their wards will not get a choice until the May local elections.

The other thing is that these two former Conservatives have been close to the cabinet and the failings of the Conservative administration in Medway over the last God knows how many years. UKIP like the rest of us opposition parties is to defeat this incompetence with fresh voices and faces not bring those same faces back under another label.

Some might say that they have swapped sides because they saw which way the winds were blowing but that is just probably the ramblings of a bitter cynic isn’t it? After all if you are going to defect you should do so for your convictions and beliefs and that the new party represents our outlook more than your old party right? I’m sure that was for that reason, there has been quite a bit of desquite in the Local Conservative party with a long running split between the Rainham and Rochester branch and definitely between backbenchers and the cabinet.

It also makes me wonder about the disinterest and/or distrust of traditional parties that has grown to the point that people will vote UKIP even if they stood a pot of lard.

All that I can say is that Medway’s political landscape is going to change, maybe not the personnel but the colour of their ties and rosettes.

Letter to the Messenger about Policing in Gillingham South

My letter to today's Medway Messenger regarding the anti-social behaviour and policing in Gillingham. This is the letter in its original format.

---

There is growing anger in the Residential areas of Gillingham where residents are feeling abandoned by the local police. Time and again there is antisocial behaviour on Sturdee Avenue, Valley road, Franklin road and on the High street. Alleyways are haunted by youths smoking and under aged drinking and sometimes worse.The Forrester's hall on Sturdee Avenue was broken into and vandalised regularly and this has been reported to the Police on more than one occasion including by myself on 5th January.

However it took the neighbourhood watch meeting, which I attended as a resident, and the pressure of LibDem councillors Diana Smith and Geoff Juby that the council has acted. More importantly a WPC and PCSO were spotted securing the property on the 28th January the day after the meeting!I tend to agree with one of the residents that if we were living Rochester then the Police and indeed Council officers would have acted more swiftly and attended the neighbourhood watch meeting in the first place!

The people of Gillingham South ward deserve better from both the council and police.

Chris Sams, Sturdee Avenue

Anti-social behaviour in Gillingham South

 

Police patrolling Valley road tonight

Last night I attended the Valley Road neighbourhood watch at the Sturdee Club on Sturdee Avenue. Though I don't live in Valley Road, it was suggested I went along by Lib Dem Cllr. Diana Smith as I knew about a couple of the issues from first hand experience. 

 

Forrester's Hall sits opposite the Cricketers pub and has been used in the past as a polling station and general hall for hire, indeed two of my daughter's birthday parties were held there. In June 2013 the caretaker told me that he hoped to sell it but I never heard more than that until January 5th this year. On my way home from work I noticed the side door open and the lights on. Further investigation showed the extent of the damage with windows smashed, floor boards ripped up and evidence of a fire and alcohol consumption. I duly dialled 101 and informed the police. In the following week I saw students of Robert Napier school (in uniform) entering the hall before school though being late for work I did not have time to confront them and the hall has since been locked.

 

On other occasions I've encountered groups in the alleyways and garages between Sturdee and Valley who have either been confrontational or exceptionally sheepish but never thought much about it, except on one occasion when I was walking my children home from Woodlands. 

 

Last night proved the situation has become much worse. According to the residents of Valley Road, a street I had experienced as quiet and sleepy, a group of youths were causing mayhem. There was vandalism to vehicles, property, theft, dangerous driving of scooters, foul language, under aged smoking and drinking and even drug abuse. They use the alleys and garages as a rat run away from the main roads and escape route from the police should they turn up. The sense of outrage among residents was very clear to see and action is being demanded.

 

Gillingham South Liberal Democrat Councillor Geoff Juby, together with his two fellow ward candidates for the forthcoming 2015 Local Elections and Cllr. Diana Smith, with her fellow Lib Dem candidate for Watling ward listened and contributed to the meeting by promising to look into the cost of gating up the alleyways and the effectiveness of the consultation process. The Community Warden for Rainham North, who was also in attendance at the invitation of Cllr. Diana Smith also agreed he would pursue the matter and was a useful source of information.

 

Residents have been advised to report ALL anti-social behaviour on 101 and all public property damage to the council on 01634 333333. There were a lot of individual experiences of the antics of a small minority of youths but as a community everyone needs to stand up and say ‘No’ and this is what happened last night.

 

There was no police attendance at the meeting last night and despite the PCSO’s letter of apology stating that not only was it his off duty night but he had prior plans (all understandable), there was anger that no stand-in would come. The residents are feeling abandoned and not important enough, strongly suggesting that if we were living in Rochester then this would have been sorted out very quickly. 

 

We will be following these matters up and collectively updating residents at an early future meeting.

Conservative Councillors are causing a revolt

There is something very worrying happening at Medway Council that is having a very bad effect on democracy in Medway and is turning voters against the elected council, especially the ruling Conservative party.

At every full Council there is an allotted time for Public questions to Portfolio holders. It is true that this is often used by Politicos and Party members to make a point as well as one or two people with burning issues but used to fit neatly into the time frame.

Recently though there have been more and more questions are being brought to the Full Council meetings especially about tetchy subjects like Rochester Airport and Strood Library's relocation. The peasants are restless and the council are apparently not doing anything about it.

We've had Councillor Chitty say that Consultations are merely and FYI for the Public of the Council's intent and then last night Cllr Doe said a decision had been made and there was no point in consultation.

This coupled with the very dismissive and often condescending manner with which the Conservative Councillors have dealt with questions is causing more and more discontent. Questions have been answered with diatribes that don't answer the question, dismissed or in a few cases refused as in the case I saw, Cllr Jarrett said I am not in the habit of repeating myself.

At the last meeting there was a full blown revolt with hand clapping and meeting disruption where the Mayor (who wasted public money on the creation of her Christmas cards - including the rental for a fake Snow machine!!!!) ordered the public gallery emptied before leading the Council out. Last night Police officers were on hand when the same thing happened. One member of the public [
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/theyre-hell-bent-on-shutting-us-16333/]
stormed through the cordon to tell the Conservative cabinet what he thought and accused them of not listening to the people who voted them in.

This Conservative Cabinet have such a large majority that they don't need to listen to the opposition parties (even if we combined with Labour to do so) but they aren't listening to the voters either. It is seriously becoming a problem. What was a small campaign of people who genuinely care about Strood Library and becoming a Medway wide issue and a symbol of an elected body that is mishandling of their dealings with the public and the protesters.

They have thrown out the slight bone of "Civilian Journalists" for those hardcore politicos and generally don't have public questions as we're too busy writing or tweeting but they are still not addressing the Public or their issues. Thirty minutes isn't long enough, everyone should get the opportunity to ask one question (maybe not the supplementary if there are too many questions) and they should be handled with respect and clarity not dismissed or treated with contempt.

In one attempt to save time they have cut the verbal asking of questions and displayed them on a screen at the front of the Hall - which sadly cannot be read by anyone in the Public area. Or if you're visually impaired you will not know what the answer was in relation too.

Something has to be done and before the local elections next year... the locals are getting restless and arrogantly treating them is not the way.

UKIP are most welcome in Medway

Blue and Red will get dented by UKIP

No - I haven't defected, nor have I banged my head and gained one of those epic life changing concussions where one loses all grasp of sanity.

For once in my life there is an iota of reason in something I think...

The Medway Tories have held the Medway towns in their iron grasp for too long. They have an arrogant outlook that means they are right at all times and surely anyone who is against them is against the whole towns!?! (see my posts on Medway Knockers)

Indeed when the Liberal Democrats dared to stand against the wasteful and unwanted City of Medway proposal we were denounced as traitors. When the people of Strood stood up against the moving of their library, or the people rejected the privatisation of the specialist Dementia unit at Nelson Lodge what did the ruling council do?

Bugger all.

The Council carried on with what it wanted to do regardless as in Councillor Chitty's words: A consultation is merely the Council informing the public of its' intentions.

Their massive majority means that they can bulldoze through anything they want - be it dodgy investment in Rochester airport or perhaps voting to become a part of Austria (something I could get on board!) They are even able to keep the inept like Cllr Wickes at the helm of education two years after he should have bowed out despite a consummate amount of public pressure!

As the race for 2015 and the local elections begin the various parties begin their march. The Tories are looking to fortify their position, maybe gain some more in Watling ward and play on their (our) record in Coalition.

Cllr Maple is preparing his Labour troops for a sweeping victory in swing seats, parliamentary seats and indeed wipe the Medway Libdems from the face of the Medway political map.

We are planning on holding our seats as well as modest gains in Watling, Rainham North and Gillingham North at the cost of Cllr Cooper or Stamp following their defection from Independent group to Labour. The latter one is of particular interest as I'm in the mix for that.

So why are UKIP welcome?

Firstly - it could cost the Conservatives quite a few seats as their vote divides in places leaving the way open to another opposition party, maybe Labour, maybe us depending on the area. The Tory's massive machine could lose up to a third in the enfilading fire from the right and protest votes - big hitters like Jarrett and Chambers could find the Tory heart lands dissolving in two.

Secondly - street campaigns and statistic collecting have shown the majority of people switching to vote UKIP have come from the Conservatives but also from Labour rather than from us. This is good as where as the big two need to go out and rally their voters and try and win back hearts and minds we just need to cling to our loyal voters and sway a few soft liberals - even soft Tories who are tired of this council's arrogance or are pro-Europe and fear the knee jerk drift right that may come from Cameron's leadership post '15.

This UKIP phase may just be flash in the pan, as we were once (if you listen to our critics) and if one of my friends stated once that those who say they'll vote UKIP are less likely to vote anyway then ultimately I'm wrong and another blue tide will sweep this Tory autocracy back into Gunwharf in 2015 having learnt nothing and the peoples of Medway can look forward to another four years of darkness with only Labour and the Libdems trading a few seats here or there.

Of course if I'm right... and let's face Gentlemen and Ladies of the Medway Conservative party... you've got to be looking at the Purple peril and thinking it is a possibility.... how prepared are UKIP? What are their strengths? Can they divide you?

Of course we'll have to wait and see in 2015 and I can only hope they do grow in the Conservative heartlands like the tumorous growth they are.

The Strood library move protests and Medway Council

One of the hot topics to hit the Medway Political scene at the moment is the proposed move of Strood Library from its current spot on Bryant Road, where it shares a building with the popular Community Hall and has parking for up to ten cars, to the main high street in a rented retail outlet that is currently home to a Community project.

There has been a lot of angry protests online, in local newspapers and indeed at the Full Council meeting on the 23^rd January where placards were held and the disruption caused by the blunt and arguably rude answers received from the Conservative benches caused an outbreak of civil unrest which halted the meeting – twice – and resulted in the ejection of most of the Public Gallery. One of the causes was Councillor Chitty’s dismissal of the 5000 strong petition that was handed in objecting to the move because not all the signatories lived in Strood, in fact some were from Higham and Maidstone, overlooking the fact that residents of Higham may still use Strood library.

The Council has been working on the creation of Community Hubs within the Medway towns for quite some time. In the Council’s Cultural Strategy (2009-14) it proposes that all Library and Council services should be housed in central locations and one building making the Council that much more accessible. [1] This has been a process that has been on going and debated at Gunwharf openly for some time. The Council plans for Strood Library have it put in a much more accessible location near really good parking and on the bus routes so that the elderly, who are the Library’s key demographic, can get there more easily and anyone who needs the Hub can just nip in whilst doing their shopping in the centre of town. All very compelling reasons to have the Library move.

So why the objections?

There are several on-going arguments about the relocation and what it would mean for Strood which the Council has argued against. Firstly that the Community project, which does a lot of good within Strood, is being evicted has been turned over because their lease has run out with the Private landlord. It is unfortunate but the Council argue it is coincidental and they should be rehoused within five to six months. Secondly, Councillor Stephen Hubbard of the Labour group points out on their website that the Tories are “milking the cash cow” of parking in the centre of Strood and that Labour don’t want the original building pulled down for high density housing as Strood is already too overcrowded. [2] This is despite the fact that the Library has only ten spaces and whose key demographic would tend to use Public transport for free rather than drive and that no one has stated that there was a plan to redevelop the original site.

Medway Council has said that it will keep the local Community hall, the only one of its kind in Strood, for the youth groups and programs such as Judo, Ballet, talks, children’s activities and any other local Community group that wanted to use it which is a welcome move however it does beg the question about why move the Library out of that building and add another expense to the Public purse by renting a smaller shop space.

Another issue that has been raised is that of Public safety. Kim West raised warnings of at least eight crashes outside the proposed location since August last year (3 KM Medway Extra 29-1-14) and that one car almost went through the window. This has been treated as circumstantial and dismissed by Councillor Doe at Full Council who focused on the revitalising effect the move will have on the High Street and the shops.

The biggest problem has been that the Library’s move has been symptomatic of the way the Conservative Council has dealt with things recently. They haven’t listened to the public in the consultations, in fact Councillor Chitty responded at Full Council that Consultations are for informing the community of the Council’s decisions and not for helping to formulate a final decision. This was the same for the airport redevelopment and for the elderly care homes at Nelson’s Court and Robert Been Lodge. The basics of Consultation, where objections and problems can be aired and discussed before the council makes a decision are being totally disregarded and that is what has angered the protesters and the wider politico audience within Medway – the simple fact that they aren’t and won’t listen. If they did they might have taken into account the fact that two days a week the Strood Carparks are taken over by Market stalls effectively nullifying the extra parking, listened to concerns from people like Kim West, or they would have taken the petition and revaluated that this was clearly an issue the people of Strood feel strongly about rather than rubbishing it in Full Council.

Although this is an important topic for the people of Strood and has compelling arguments for both sides of the debate but the reason it has attracted so much anger and resentment is that the Council has, yet again disregarded what the public have to say and have yet again ploughed on regardless and handling the public.

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.

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.

Stop the Badger Cull in Medway

Many of my regular readers will know that I have been against the Cull of Badgers to combat Bovine TB within the UK.

It is a barbaric practise acting on very little evidence and is being carried out by brutal methods that are not being regulated properly. Usually someone is telephoning the sniper aiming at the badgers and measuring the amount of screams from the victim as to how much pain they are in rather than being on site. This cull has included the murder of young through direct action or by the killing of their parents.

The more costly yet effective route of Vaccination is being ignored in favour of the quick and simplistic Cull which does not cut to the route of the problem.

Now a petition is being put to Medway Council to:

We the undersigned petition the council to We, the undersigned, call on Medway Council to prohibit the culling of badgers on council-owned land and invest in vaccination programmes locally. We ask this because we believe culling to be inhumane, inefficient and unscientific.

This is a national issue which will be of direct concern to the people of Medway when DEFRA "rolls out" its culling policy in 2014. The object of the petition is to ensure that Medway's badger population is as safe as possible from slaughter and that the already available injectable badger vaccine against bTB is used in as many cases as possible. We ask this because we believe the culling policy is inhumane (DEFRA's measurement of "humaneness" is to time the screams of wounded badgers), inefficient (previous culls showed an increase in bTB because of badger movement) and unscientific (the majority of scientific opinion hold that a cull will have "no meaningful result").

Please take two minutes to sign this petition to stop the barbarism of one of Britain's favourite rural indigenous species and spread the word.

Cllr Stamp's website is hacked

Yesterday one of our activists sent me a link to a tweet from the Rochester & Strood Conservatives (pictured) with the message to take a look.

As a member of the Exec committee of the Medway Libdems I can categorically deny this had anything to do with any of our current members.

Our position was made perfectly clear in the Local Medway Messenger by our Chairman, Tony Jeacock, on the letters page the week after the announcement that the former Liberal Democrats who had defected to the Independent group in 2010 had turned coat again and joined Labour. It is something I wrote about at the time (including copying Tony's letter). Some commentators have been critical of the move saying that it was motivated by their own electoral self interest rather than representing those who elected them and not Labour candidates in the first place.

Although they have purged their twitter feed Medway labour accused a “known Liberal” however the person they are accusing has not been a member for several years.
Interestingly, it was Cllr. Jarrett the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group who publicly noted at the last full council meeting that Cllrs. Stamp and Cooper had belonged to three different political groups in as many years and who, jokingly said that there will always be a seat for them within the Conservative Group, a joke which Cllr. Stamp failed to appreciate, something I commented on at the time. 

It would seem to me that both Labour and Conservatives should be looking to clean their own doorsteps before accusing the LibDems of something which clearly we are not guilty.

I must admit though - it did make me smile when I read it, however briefly!

Cllr Tolhurst and Medway Knockers

Cllr Tolhurst

I had the (mis)fortune to sit through the debate on the future of rtochester airport a few months ago. I won't go into the detail of the debate but there was something that sparked an emotion that was not frustration or anger.

It was confusion.

Councillor Kelly Tolhurst (con) gave a very rousing speech in defence of her party's plans, by far the best argument I had heard from any of the Tories that night. Councillor Jarrett had defended the position with all the airs and graces of a bison negotiating it's way out of a liquidiser and Councillor Chitty was as convincing as Adolf Eichman's defence top that of with... sorry I am digressing.

Councillor Tolhurst argued that as a local girl and local business owner she was proud of Medway and of the airport.

There came the phrase that Councillor Jarrett had used in the past.

Those that criticised were Medway Knockers who sought to have a go at any good that was in Medway and undermine my attempt to make it better.

This made me think back to other eras of History where anyone who questioned orders or government decisions were termed "Unpatriotic" "Rebels" or "defeatist" often followed by punitive measures.

It is true that there are those who say No to everything the ruling party say or support - that is the Labour Party.

I was born in Gillingham, I had family here and stayed at my Grandparent's every weekend for many years.

I have lived here since 2007, I was married here, my children were both born here and next year my eldest, Sophie, will go to school here. Hopefully this is enough to qualify me as a resident rather than someone who has just turned up.

However I too was (at least) once referred to as a Medway Knocker for daring to speak out against the City status bid against the Status Quo - Worse yet I, and the party I belong too took action for those who didn't agree with the bid and were ignored by the ruling council.

We were labelled Medway Knockers even though our motivations were for the good of Medway.

The same is true for the Airport. THere are quite a few concerned residents who live near the airport who have safety concerns and others who see the £4.5 Million price tag and balk at the investment whilst services are cut and roads unrepaired. Others are more concerned about the Conservatives "consultation" process - which if it is anything like the selling of the care homes a couple of years ago, will be a simple exercise in futility and because they legally have to do it and their minds are already made up.

Pigeon holing and profiling is sp,etjomg we are all guilty of and at times we can be correct in our assumptions and quietly smug.

It is dangerous and either politically naive/ stupid or deliberately dismissive.

I don't think Cllr Tolhurst is any of these. Her statement was very passionate and angry in the face of Labour opposition so I'd notch this one up to the heat of the moment.

But you should watch out for the Conservative group and their, dare I say it, Liberal usage of the term!

Roads before Runways

Livingston Road Canyon.

One of the things to come out of the Rochester Airport debate at last weeks full council was a plea from freshly defected Labour Councillor Andy Stamp who in his report stated that a couple of roads in Gillingham

North had now reached such levels of deteriation that they were now unsafe.

If has been something of a common complaint around the Medway towns, our roads are in a dire straights and I have as many pictures of potholes on my phone as I have pictures of my kids. Some have been there for a long time and Livingston road in my ward of Gillingham South, is particularly bad - made worse because the holes were filled in last year so badly that they have deterioated in months as well as the excess gravel not being cleared away afterwards!

Indeed the pavements are dangerous too having been dug up and filled in countless times with scars that rund in long routes along our byways. The pathment outside the esplanade of shops in Sturdee avenue is cratered like the moon and is a trip hazard for elderly residents and disabled (like my daughter who has walking difficulties and has to wear splints) alike.

Would it not be better to sink the £4.4 million that is going into the Airport reinvestment into making our roads and pavements safe?

I'm not knocking Medway or the airport - just pointing out that there are areas that are in more of an urgent need of these funds - something the Liberal Democrats (and Labour) pointed out to the Conservatives last week.

I understand fiom Cllr Juby (Lib Dem) that he has petitioned to get Livingston Road and Balmoral Road completely resurfaced and many holes are to be filled on roads like Pier Road where cars were bouncing along the road!

What of the rest though? What do the Conservative led Council think the priority for the people of Medway is; an Airport used by hundreds or roads used by us all?

Full Council, Rochester airport, theatre, waste and local politics

Thursday night I went to the theatre. I wasn't watching a musical or Shakespeare or even or one of those modern ones where everyone speaks Dutch and it turns out that lead character is actually a moose. Unfortunately I was at Medway Full Council meeting.

It was awfully entertaining and a member of Democratic services showed me to my seat. I was nervous as I had a question to ask with a supplementary etched out if the answer failed to hit the right point.

The pageantry began on time when we were upstanding for the gold mace, officers and the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. All took their place at the table overlooking the Councillors and the audience quickly followed by opening prayers.

The whistle blew and kick off began with a short debate on the length of Public questions. Vince Maple, leader of the Labour group, argued for 45 minutes instead of the usual 30 due to the number who had come or until we got to question 25 so everyone got to ask at least one. It took enough time for three questions to reach a consensus and then it began. After the preliminaries it got to the public questions.

Up stepped the villains of the piece; Cllrs Chitty and Jarrett. They quashed repeated questions and concerns about the development of Rochester airport. Cllr Chitty has shifted all safety concerns to the CAA and swatted away safety concerns by saying that they would look at the safety measures fully as part of a crash investigation. Cllr Jarrett conducted himself in a boorish manner akin to Herman Göring with refusals to repeat himself and answering with blunt disregard to the situation. At this early stage I could tell that no matter what anyone else thought or said.

The Audience got to participate too with traditional calls of "Oh no its not!"
As well as new ones like;

"Utter Crap!" (my favourite) and "Have you read it?!" referring to a particular safety report that Cllr Chitty seems to be ignoring.

Then it was my turn. Clutching my scribbled notes I stepped up before the bench and tried to steel myself with the Anglo-Germanic Sams stubbornness and belligerence. I was not here for political reasons but first and fore most as a concerned parent.

Cllr Mike O'Brien answered my question politely and concisely and in the manner I should have expected but with the added sting that the 40% cut figure I had been lead to believe was true was in fact false. (proper blogpost will follow when I receive the written answer.)

"Do you have a supplementary question Mr Sams?"

My mouth dry, my notes irrelevant and my resolve crumbling into full retreat I stared at the microphone for what seemed an eternity before shaking my head and fleeing back to my seat mentally berating my cowardice.

The back and forth restarted and when the 45 minutes were up a further debate was had as to whether or

not they could just press ahead and get question 24 and 25 done and with much heaving and sighing it was agreed.

Cllr Chambers' report

When this was all dealt with and some of the public drifted away Cllr Chambers rose to his feet and like Chancellor Palpatine gave his report, soft and gentle, barely audible in the public gallery but full of barbs and excuses - It isn't our fault the schools were rated badly it is because Ofsted moved the goal posts! It is the press only reporting the negative things on us - we're doing a good job really...

Vince Maple spoke well and welcomed Commrades Stamp and Cooper to the mix and spoke scathingly of Tory failings on sure starts and waste on Rochester airport when other services were in danger. Clearly he was very much the hero of the piece.

Cllr Juby spoke briefly agreeing on some points with Cllr Chambers and disagreeing on others but the real limelight was being reserved for Cllr Jarrett's return.

A couple of sly swipes at Cllr Stamp for defecting (again) and continued bluster that impressed no one and made him no more friends in the audience but to be honest I don't think he cares.

Other bit part players came on with Cllr Stamp whining that Cllr Jarrett was making cheap political and personal shots at his expense which gained at least two scoffs from the audience (one being me, get a sense of humour or some thicker skin Andy, as my sister would say "get over yourself"). Cllr Osborne got up and, though I agreed with most of what he said, channelled the party political broadcast. He spoke like an air raid siren droning on and on and addressing the audience more than the opposition in a style that sounded like a party rally or hustings event rather than full council and it washed like a wave over pretty much everyone with no effect.

I admit that I don't know much about what is going on with the airport, I have been to busy worrying about my own problems and the Nursery situation that almost stopped my wife going back to work. However as a layman watching I thought Cllr Murray's amendments to slow agreeing on the future of the airport until after the consultation was finished was a good one. In the past the Council have been accused of holding consultations because they had to and that a decission had already been made. Such was an accusation about the Care homes like Nelson's court where it was pushed through and assurances have been found to be built on sand. Having seen Cllr Jarrett's and Chitty's performances on Thursday I think it is already a done deal no matter what the residents of the Davis estate (who live under the flight path) think or what the rest of us who have had services cut think of the £4.4m that is being allocated to this. Cllrs Cooper (lab), Juby (ld), Gilroy (Lab) Griffiths (lab) and others spoke at length about the services that could benefit with this money especially the elderly and children. Cllr Stamp argued that the Strand that is used by thousands a year could have the sea defences repaired (having fallen into the sea and are dangerous) and the whole area spruced up or a hundred people could benefit from the new airport improvements. Both opposition parties were united and voted in favour but the Tory administration shrugged and voted it down.

I had drifted off into my own world not long after that but Cllr Tollhurst's (con) defence of the airport plans woke me up. She was very passionate about it and condemning the Labour group for what happend some fifteen years ago and their aims to still concrete it over. She argued that if you were against it then you were "Knocking Medway" and we should be proud of the airport - I left not long afterwards somewhat confused and cross.

I've spent time asking myself if I really want to be elected to this theatre and as yet I still haven't found a really compelling answer yet. The only thing I keep coming back to is that things must change. I saw very little representation of the people of Medway there last night. A lot of the bit parts did, some of the leads such as Vince Maple did, probably under all the hot air and party bluster, Cllr Osborne did maybe, Cllr Juby and Smith spoke of it too but the top two or three Conservatives I... I just couldn't see it. They seem to be bulldozing ahead with the scheme and that is it, they know what is best and we will have to agree and see that they're right - yet again just like the bus station, Medway tunnel etc... etc...

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.

Rochester South and Horsted Focus and fairer Council tax for Medway

Vale drive on the Davis estate

One of the regular criticisms of the Medway Liberal Democrats is that their existence is limited to only Gillingham South and Watling wards in the Medway towns.

This however is untrue.

For example, one of our activists (Sid Kingman) has fought long and hard to convert derelect allotment space on Ottway Street (in Gillingham North ward) into a children’s play area. The opening will be tomorrow at 10:00 am if anyone wants to pop down there and see.

Then of course is Rochester South & Horsted ward where are activists are pretty active too. Last week Focus newsletters were dropped through letter boxes all over the Davis estate as Viv Parker and her team hit the streets.

The RS&H team have been working on several local issues including traffic safety. Having served a couple of Freedom of Information requests Viv has found that the junction of Beresford Avenue and Pattens lane, which was reported by a resident, has indeed been somewhat of a blackspot. Over an eighteen month period of June 2010 à January 2012, there have been three serious accidents, one including two children who walked out between parked cars and a three car pile up!

The Tigermoth roundabout has also been of concern and upon research it was found that between September 2009 and 2011 there have been five accidents with a serious injury to a motorcyclist.

On consultation with residents Viv will be pressing the Council further to improve road safety at these junctions for moterists and residents.

Viv has also been at full council asking searching questions of Medway’s ruling Conservative party.  As part of the Liberal Democrat Party’s aim to make tax fairer locally and Nationally, Viv has raised the concern that the removal of the Council tax benefit will be a return to the dark days of the Poll tax as those who cannot afford to pay are forced to. The fees are looking to be £15s a week, which doesn't sound like much but it does work out as 30% of jobseekers allowance!

Fuel poverty is considered to be spending 10% of your household income on gas and electricity so does this massive 30% mean there is such a thing as Council tax poverty?

  The Cabinet have ignored plans and suggestions from officers to use Council taxes to bring the 1400 odd empty houses back into use and instead opted for this (probably so they can blame the Government come election time). When asked by Viv if this would indeed be the case the response was;

It was down to the magistrates to send people to prison.

However this is ignoring the fact that Medway Council have to pay for the court proceedings in the first place and may end up paying a lot more to bring a case to trial than would be recovered in missing taxes from those who simply cannot afford it. More waste from Medway’s Conservative ruling body.

Indeed, on a national level the Liberal Democrats have cut 24 million people’s income tax by £600s a year and by 2015 it will be £700s a year meaning the first £10,000s you earn will be tax free which will make a massive difference in your yearly budgets in Medway – nearly an extra £58s a month which is the equivalent of two weeks food shopping!

We believe in fairer taxes for all be it locally and nationally and we are fighting for it.

If you are a resident of Rochester South & Horsted please do drop the party an email and we’ll do our best to help. Likewise if you want to help or join the local party.

Failure at the top of Medway Council Cabinet

When a football manager loses vital games, no matter how well their team performed, they are

Over seeing failure - Cllr Rodney Chambers

sacked or have the decency to resign.

When a military commander is defeated heavily in battle, no matter what the odds were against them, they are replaced or have the good grace to die in battle.

When a minister screws up massively or a Party leader losses an election by a serious amount they are promoted side ways, replaced or resign.

Not so for the Medway Conservatives.

The ruling Medway Council have been in power for quite some time with quite a majority, which against the trend they increased in 2011. Yet despite this there have been some well documented clangers that have been dropped from a very high height.

The Medway Bus station over spend, the bridge to no where on the Isle or Grain, the budget that simply doesn’t add up, the Darley rail bridge enlargement, the Ofsted results, the Medway test failure, farcical consultation and privitisation of vital elderly care homes, roads in dire need of repair – the list is fairly expansive and I could go on.

Who has resigned their post as portfolio holder in this time?

Anyone?

No one.

There had been quite a substansive move by politicos and opposition parties to get Councillor Wicks to resign as portfolio holder of Children’s services after the debacle of the Medway test and the Child services that protect the most vulnerable in society were rated unsatisfactory by Ofsted showing that basic consultation and referals were up to twice that of the acceptable national average. Whether he was personally responsible or not is no longer relevant, he should have biten the bullet and resigned as public confedence in him was/is exceptionally low and that is not what you need in someone who is overseeing our children’s wellbeing. I use the past tense as last week he was rotated out and Cllr Mike O'Brien has taken his place but it took two years for this to happen and this farce should not have been allowed to continue publically for so long.

Then we turn to Councillor Jarrett the portfolio holder for finance. After this year's budget meeting with figures that did not add up, parking fees shown as incorrect, failure to come up with a financial plan to pay for Medway Tunnel other than to rob from the road repair funds he has shown that when it comes to financial wizardry he is less of a Gandalf and more of a Paul Daniels.

When you slot in the other mistakes and almost reckless spending on capital projects gone wrong like the bus station or the Hoo bridge at the expense of Sure start centres and elderly care you are forced to ask serious questions about his financial management. Yes he is doing a tough job with limited funds and I do not envy him in that respect but at the same time he is wielding the axe and purse like a drunk headsman on pay day and my daughter who is just shy of three can add up figures slightly more convincingly. Again public perception is that the Sherriff of Capstone is taxing the heart and soul out of Medway’s poorest to pay for Mayoral dinners, capital projects and regeneration when they want a more “back to basics” approach. Confidence is being lost.

Then you have the top of the structure. Councillor Chambers the Conservative and Council leader prosiding over them all. Again, he has not been personally responsible for the actions of his subordinates but he is where the buck must stop. Going back to the original examples, should a goal keeper play consistently poorly and concede goals left, right and centre it is the manager who will lose his post first. After the disasterous German invasion of Norway it was Chamberlain who stood down as Prime Minister not Carton de Wiart et.al as military officers. So why has Rodney Chambers still clung to his position? Should he not act and forcibly replace those who have failed so spectacularly as any good leader would do? Should he take the bullet himself or more likely cling to the map table to the bitter end moving phantom divisions whilst a Red (and Gold) steamroller relieve him of command at the next local election?
  No - the rumbling Conservative band wagon continues unabated here and the back slapping continues.

Lodgehill development will be devestating for Nightingales

I have always been a Country boy. Despite being born in Medway I grew up in Marden on the cusp of the Weald. During my A'levels I specialised in biology (mainly ecology and Marine biology) and have always had a love of wide open green spaces and nature as a whole.

I'm also a realist though and understand that the human race needs to strike a balance with nature. New housing has to be built for families and for the economy. I also realise that there is limited space for this in the Medway towns which is why the council are particularly miffed by the whole SSSI declaration on Lodge hill.

But you know what? The council are wrong.

Lodge Hill's SSSI was established because 80 mating pairs of Nightingales nest there. Not just one or two or a percentage of Kentish Nightingales but a significant number of a species that is becoming endangered.

If the Medway Conservative council and Rochester & Strood MP Mark Reckless are successful in their campaign to over turn the Environment agency's ruling there will be a catastrophic impact on the Nightingale population which may never recover.

Ecology and Ecospheres are exceptionally fragile things. Slight fluctuations on temperature, climate or availability of any number of inputs can have knock on impacts for centuries. Two escaped rabbits in Australia caused havoc for a century with the local ecosphere and had to be controlled with myxomatosis. Over fishing of tuna has made a massive dent in the Pelagic shark populations. Removing a vital habitat from an indigenous bird population could push them to the verge of extinction in the UK. The Nightingale's requirements for nesting areas are specific, they aren't like other birds who are less picky, and if an area doesn't match their requirements they simply won't nest there. Further to this with a reoccurring nest site they know it is there, if it is destroyed they have to find a new location which could put back the breeding season and ultimately it could mean no eggs this year.

I find it somewhat nonsensical that on the one hand Cllr Chambers et al are arguing that Boris Island or the Cliffe proposals will damage or irradiate marshland which is an SSI and national heritage site but at the same time willing to wipe out the Nightingales' habitat.

Our nations ecology has been hit quite hard over recent years by destruction of green spaces and the changes in the weather and we as a nation need to take steps now before species like the Nightingale are gone from these shores forever.
Trish Marchant of the Medway Green party is encouraging people who feel the same to write to Natural England (at kent Land management team, Natural England, International house, Dover place, Ashford, Kent TN23 1HU) to voice their support for the SSSI. I join her calls on this and will be speaking to our local party to drum up support.

This is a green and pleasent land but Councils up and down the country are happy to risk serious ecological disaster. As a good friend of mine said when I told her of the Lodge Hill development (quoting Richard Adams);

Man will not rest until they have destroyed this world.

Is more CCTV the answer?

As is normally the case I missed Full council Thursday night, I was selfishly spending time with my family and

E4 Comedy night - my one and only vice.

As usual I did diligently read through some tweets from those more dedicated than I and it appears one of my favourite subjects was debated, CCTV.

I know that within Liberal circles it is somewhat of a dirty word, an obvious tool of the state to oppress and supervise its' citizens. This myth of the uniformed guard sat watching you as you walk down the street, that you are zoomed in on and examined has sprung up. As I've said in the past (though apparently I've accidentally deleted this!!!) -This is simply untrue.

There will be a disproportionate amount of cameras to operators in the control room, wherever that is, and the human eye can only view so many screens and interest is only piqued by something out of the ordinary. Watching crowds is like watching an anchovy ball in the ocean - you know what they're up to but you can't pick out a single fish and nor should you!

There are strict procedures for Operators and codes of conduct, there is also a level of training that all operators should go on which teaches you these important laws and codes. One important one for liberals is that you cannot zoom or follow an individual unless you have serious concerns, otherwise that is harassment, even if they are a known shop lifter walking through a Mall.

The other is that you only zoom in on someone to identify then then zoom out and you NEVER zoom in on a private residence. It is not only a sackable offence but can cause you to go to prison. So it isn't the evil all seeing eye many think it is.

There is another myth that it is the ultimate crime fighting tool. This too is flawed.

I do not deny that it is wonderful for capturing information and providing evidence to the Police. I've lost count of how many Police referrals I've signed or captured after the fact.

Also, for the sharper eyed operative you can spot potential trouble brewing and get law enforcement there or on standby and defuse a potentially deadly situation.

It is a fantastic tool for manhunts with freeze frames replacing dodgy photo fits for the public and police.

The big problem is they have to be facing the right way, sometimes - especially at zoomed in or at night, they can be too grainy for an accurate fix.

The other thing is, in my professional opinion as an SIA trained CCTV operator with some three years of doing this job, it doesn't cut crime.

It is hard to measure crime that isn't committed. It may deter some opportunistic crimes or move it elsewhere but it won't stop it.

I've seen footage of drunken brawls that have nearly caused death right in front of a security camera. I've seen thefts, break ins at a clearly labelled CCTV establishment and worst of all, I've watched a drunk guy accidentally take his own life and not been able to do a damn thing about it.

Alcohol or drugs lower inhibitions and people don't think of consequences until afterwards. Yeah, there is a good chance if all factors are favourable, that a criminal can be caught and convicted on the strength of CCTV footage and maybe they they will learn from it but at the same time there are ways and means of getting around it and the evidence. It is up to the operator to prove that the person urinating on a police car is definitely you.

Although I applaud the effect the limited deployment in Luton and Wayfield, I think that we shouldn't herald it as the solution to all our problems just yet.