Last year Labour ended 20 years of Conservative rule at Medway Council after making considerable gains in the local elections.
One year on from the changing of the guard, Local Democracy Reporter Robert Boddy sits down with the leaders of the authority’s three main political groups to hear what they have achieved, how the year has gone, and what they aim to do next.
The Labour and Co-operative Group
From red routes and the local plan to infrastructure and housing, politicians across Medway are not short of ideas for the Towns - and with a general election to throw into the mix there’s all to play for.
Medway Labour were the big winners at the May 2023 local elections, wrestling back control of the council from the Tories and winning 33 seats out of 59 in the process.
At the time, leader Vince Maple declared: “People have asked for change and we will deliver that. We will work with the community.
But it’s not been all smooth sailing, and the group’s leader, now in charge of Medway Council, accepts they haven’t got everything right - but says he’s still proud of what they have achieved so far.
Cllr Maple said: “It's been an amazing year. There's been some real highs, but also some big challenges.
“Most councils will have fluctuations, but I think some of our highs have been very high and some of our lows have been pretty miserable.
“I think there's a real energy to the council as a whole we haven't seen previously.”
The successes Cllr Maple is most proud of are the introduction of a cost of living plan and the upgrade from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’ of the council’s children’s services department.
“For me personally, I’m incredibly proud of the cost of living plan because I receive emails almost on a daily basis that residents of Medway are struggling, so the ability to put in place an easy-to-access plan which gives tangible outcomes, meaning people will get more money into their pockets, has got to be a good thing.
“Undoubtedly the ‘good’ Ofsted for children's services as well. Some of that work happened before May 4, and it would be churlish not to recognise that.
“I was incredibly proud when Ofsted said children matter in Medway; for me, that was an absolute affirmation of the work that's happened over the last four years. I'm proud that on our watch, we managed to secure that.”
But, the administration has faced difficulties. Cost-saving measures had had to be introduced in the budget to avoid Medway Council filing for bankruptcy.
“It was always going to be challenging, but we got through it,” Cllr Maple adds.
“The process doesn't stop there, we've now got our financial improvement and transformation plan - that's our roadmap to financial sustainability.
“That will mean more difficult decisions. It will be a balance, and we will try and increase income generation and we will certainly try and do things more efficiently.”
There are uncertainties ahead, such as whether the household support fund, which offers assistance to the poorest families in Medway, will be extended by central government beyond six months, and the difficulties around the future of Chatham Docks.
But there are also, Cllr Maple says, exciting opportunities, such as designing the Local Plan to replace the one which has been in place since 2003, as well as mixed blessings like the recently announced general election which may see three council cabinet members leave their positions if they take up parliamentary seats.
“I want a Labour government, I want Keir Starmer, a great supporter of us here in Medway, to be walking through the door at number 10 and I recognise for him to get there we need to win seats in Medway – I want three Labour MPs in Medway, I'm working hard for that,” adds Cllr Maple.
“Does that leave me with a headache? Absolutely but it's a good headache because I'm committed to the gender-balanced cabinet and there are plenty of talented women in the Labour and Co-operative Group who I know will be ready to step up.”
The Conservative Group
Medway’s Tories have undergone a change after their defeat last May, with 23-year-old George Perfect taking on the leadership from interim leader Adrian Gulvin.
Now with a new leader and a new frontbench, the group says it aims to hold the administration to account - though they too have had their own problems.
In February, the then deputy leader, Cllr Elizabeth Turpin, left the group to sit as an independent councillor, saying the Tories were refusing to come to terms with their failures in the 20 years of running the council.
But Cllr Perfect says although no party can claim to have done everything right, on the whole the previous administration left Medway in a better place to live.
“We wish Councillor Turpin all the best, but I don't think we agree with her judgment on a number of different matters,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
“We’d been in power for 20 years and we didn't get every decision right, but you're taking decisions based on the information in front of you.
“With hindsight, we can sit here about every decision, every political party, every councillor, every member of parliament, every minister's taken in the past 100 years.
“On the big issues we made the right decisions - Medway is a fantastic place to live and we delivered improvements when we were in administration.
“But we're very much focused on the future and this is a group focused on looking to 2027 and beyond - that's my single focus, not rerunning arguments from the past.”
Cllr Perfect says he’s not impressed with the first year of the new Labour administration, particularly around their communication with the public.
He says the ruling party should have had the forethought to consult businesses on funding the Christmas lights, rather than cancelling them outright and securing funding later.
The new Tory leader claims they have also ignored resident’s concerns relating to the newly implemented red routes.
He added: “I think they've had a challenging year and I think I don't think they've got everything right either.
“They've taken a number of decisions which have come back to bite them, the Christmas lights for example.
“We then had the red routes, 64% against in Rainham and the administration decided just to continue railroading that through, didn't bother to listen to residents' concerns, didn’t bother to listen to our concerns.
“It's pooh-poohing residents' concerns when they have opposition - it’s not the right way to behave and I think we've seen that a lot from this administration.”
Looking ahead, Cllr Perfect accepts the election campaign will be difficult for the Tories, but says the group will fight for every vote in the three Medway constituencies.
“I think we've got two fantastic community champions in Kelly Tolhurst and Rehman Chishti, who have been out serving residents every day.
“They'll be out every day between now and the polling day to fight for every vote, and we're going to have a fantastic candidate in Chatham and Aylesford who’s going to also represent Rishi Sunak's vision and plan for the country.
“All elections are difficult. It's a long campaign, six weeks, but we're going to be out fighting for every vote.”
Looking ahead more locally, he says the opposition is focused on how the council performs on the upcoming local plan and improvements to adult social services, upholding the improved Ofsted report for children’s services, and reducing the authority’s reliance on locums and agency workers.
“We're going to be laser focused on that local plan, which was one of the things that we discussed at our first shadow cabinet meeting where we discussed that the administration have been dragging their heels on this - they've been called out by the secretary of state to get on with it.
“In children and adult services, we're looking very closely at the adult social care review which is absolutely vitally important for the council's financial stability and security.
“it's going to be a busy year, lots of issues going on across all the directorates, but we've got a brilliant shadow cabinet team which will raise the focus on it.”
The Independent Group
The Independent Group is the third political group on Medway Council, and they’re the only one with more members at the end of the year.
Originally consisting of Cllrs George Crozer, Ron Sands, and Michael Pearce, they’ve now been joined by Elizabeth Turpin after she left the Tories in February.
Cllr Crozer is hesitant to overstate the position of the group, saying they can’t directly change what the council does since they’re outvoted - but they can influence and act as a voice for the Hoo Peninsula.
“The Independent Group is in a difficult position because we don’t control anything, and we weren’t in the position to be the kingmakers,” he said.
“But what we are able to do is influence opinion and I think you can only really see what you achieve when you look back.”
He believes they have made a difference in representing the Hoo Peninsula, particularly around the creation of the Deangate Ridge country park and a motion to get the council to support a bid for parts of Medway to be included in a UNESCO world heritage site.
The Independent Group sees the £170 million HIF money slightly differently to the administration - saying it wasn’t enough to substantially change and improve infrastructure on the peninsula, and was instead just the opening of the door to housebuilding and over-development.
“The HIF was never enough money to truly unlock the peninsula, it was only ever cobbling together some kind of excuse so they could develop,” Cllr Crozer added.
“It was just one or two alterations to the Four Elms roundabout, putting traffic down the ministry of defence road which they could never acquire - it wasn’t sufficient.”
But Cllr Crozer doesn’t want the group to be misconstrued as being anti-development, and instead says they just want the right development which sustains the valuable assets of the peninsula.
Although Cllr Turpin didn’t directly defect to the group, they had been friendly for some time prior, being in neighbouring wards, and a shared passion for the peninsula brought them together in March.
“Previously we’d formed this sort of alliance with her, Gary Etheridge, and John Williams [Conservative Strood Rural ward councillors].
“We’ve got a kind of a mutual understanding and we've met regularly to see that we can do the best for the peninsula.
“She’s passionate about the peninsula, as you’ve seen in campaigns around the nightingales and others, and we're getting that message across.”
But contrary to some accusations, Cllr Crozer says the Independent Group isn’t a bunch of Tories in disguise and it’s not even very political - meaning they’re open to praising the Labour administration.
“We are all independents. Ron, Michael, and Elizabeth each have different politics than I, and from each other and we're not really whipped,” he explained.
“We are independents within a group who are each driven by a passion for our area.”
“I don't think the peninsula was very well represented under the Conservatives, just even telling people what is here - it’s a fantastic place.
“As far as the new Labour group is concerned, and I’ve been criticised for saying it, Simon Curry is the ideal person for the peninsula.
“What he does with climate change and stuff like that, I think the guy is passionate about what he does - he's certainly the best person Labour have for that.”
He says the Independent Group have ambitions for the next year around improving public transport and access to GPs - but they’re not so keen on the council’s healthy living centre approach.
He said: “I'm not convinced healthy living centres are right for the peninsula.
“We've got two surgeries, the Elms and St Werburgh, and when I see what they do there it seems right.
“There’s lots of things people need on the peninsula, we need better public transport connections because there’s lots of people feeling isolated in the villages and we need to encourage those communities.
“So if we can influence that in any way, we will try to.”
