Medway Council Agenda

A new year dawns with the echo of cuts, closures, job losses and complaints as the long campaign for the May election begins in earnest.

Labour is buoyed by poll leads, the River ward win and the simple fact that once people begin to think about local issues it boils down to the incessant traffic jams, bodged bus station and poor fiscal management of the Conservative administration.

People are very very unhappy with the current Council. There is enough residual anger now for a change in a number of seats in May.

The Tories enter the long campaign in the weakest position in a decade. Some of our MPs openly criticise the incompetence of the current Leader and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group in surgeries. The selections for Council seats have not been based on merit but rather the internal political agenda's of the MPs to secure themselves against a battle royale over the next three years which will see Mark, Rehman and Tracey slog it out for the two seats that will be created from the Boundary re-organisation.

We have the Tory factions squabbling over who will take over when Chambers resigns, retires or is ousted this year if the results are poor. The Rochester & Strood faction is privately briefing against those in Gillingham & Rainham and no doubt vice-versa. It is clear that this administration is not firing on all four cylinders in the interests of local people.

It is falling apart and thats before people even discuss the major programmes of work which have been mismanaged.

So it is on this backdrop that Council meeting takes places next Thursday 13th January at 7.00pm in the St George's Centre (hopefully heated).

First the public questions. The first on the Pentagon Toilets and the second on the totally bodged programme of roadworks in Chatham which have paralysed the town for 4 years and which has undermined business and trade. A road scheme no one wanted, no one voted for and which has very little cost benefit after taking into account the capital cost and the opportunity cost of the project. In time alone, people who live and commute in Medway will have wasted at least an hour every week stuck in or having the secondary effects of a Tory traffic jam. It matters. This blog believes the project will have cost millions in wasted time alone and for limited real benefited.

Councillor Vince Maple (Labour) then asks the question which could define the evening on the financial impact of the Chatham bus station. The Tory programme has run over-time and it is likely it will not be complete within this budget year. The rumours are that the Conservatives have asked for loans from banks, there are also rumours and leaks that they have been desperately lobbying the minister to get an extension on the budget into April. Either way the impact of another mis-managed programme is ill-timed. Ignoring the fact that the 'mushroom patch' is not considered sensible by thousands of bus-using pensioners who, yes, vote, and you get another dynamic for May. The Tories have annoyed the highest voting segment. Pensioners. If the Tories can not secure a concession from the Minister then there will be a million pound (or more) black hole in the project during the local elections...

There are a number of motions.

The first on the Tory Police cuts and the plan for the Tories to waste millions on elected Police Commissioners whilst we loose bobbies on the beat after 20% cuts to Kent Police budgets were announced in November 2010. This is a fundamental test on the credentials of Tory Councillors on law and order. Will they seek to politicise the Police against the interests of the community, Police and KPA or will they back Labour and oppose the unnecessary and unrequired move to inject party politics into policing.

The second on the EU budget is a warning shot to Rehman Chisthi to stop sucking up to government and start to act in the interests of the lunatic right-wing fringe that is the Tories in Medway. Public interest is limited given the pro-federalist agenda of the Cameron government which makes this whole anti-EU motion but a hollow fig to those gullible enough to believe that the Tories in government are anti-EU. This blog warned in its previous incarnation that Cameron would need to move to the centre on this, he has, but he has failed to take a rump with him.

UKIP should take note, there is a massive exposed flank of Conservatives just waiting to be poached. Labour will tease splits here.

The last motion is on the cuts to Sure Start which is well timed given it has been threatened in other Conservative-controlled areas such as Wandsworth. There are major concerns by those who run Sure Starts that Tories will cut paid staff and force the centres to try and hire volunteers when none exist. This will undermine the service to the poorest. The Tories have put out a rebuttal, but we will wait to see the final budget figures.

Particularly interesting is the Council Tax document which shows that since the Conservatives won the last election they have failed to collect approximately £4.2m in Council Tax. What is interesting is that other Conservative Councils in Kent have improved performance. The Medway Tories have wasted your money and failed to collect it from people.

The Rochester Riverside programme also comes to Council with a confirmation that Crest has withdrawn and that Hyde will be building social housing close to Doust Way from October 2011. This blog will raise the concern that creating a pocket of social housing at one of the major artery roads to the privately rented-site needs to be well managed and scrutinised. There are strong cases of poor management in the past, specifically, Canal Road in Strood where the housing project has not worked as planned. Positive news that road improvements will be happening in advance but given the amount of money which has been spent on making the site usable, it needs to be well managed and not rushed.

For full details on the meeting and attending please visit the Medway Council Democracy site.