Medway Council | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | 1 April 1998 |
Preceded by | Rochester-upon-Medway City Council and Gillingham Borough Council |
Leadership | |
Richard Hicks since 1 August 2023 | |
Structure | |
Seats | 59 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | 4 years |
Elections | |
First past the post | |
Last election | 4 May 2023 |
Next election | 6 May 2027 |
Motto | |
Forward Together | |
Meeting place | |
Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham, ME4 4TR | |
Website | |
www | |
Constitution | |
Constitution of Medway Council |
Medway Council is the local authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined.
The council was created on 1 April 1998 and replaced Rochester-upon-Medway City Council and Gillingham Borough Council.
Throughout the 19th century there had been proposals to join the Medway towns under a single authority. By 1903 moves began to take place: that year saw the creation of the Borough of Gillingham, to which, in 1928, the adjoining parish of Rainham was added.
In 1944, a Medway Towns Joint Amalgamation Committee was formed by the borough corporations of Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester, to discuss the possibility of the towns forming a single county borough. In 1948 the Local Government Boundary Commission recommended that the area become a "most purposes" county borough, but the recommendation was not carried out. In 1956 the Joint Amalgamation Committee decided in favour of the amalgamation and invited representatives from Strood Rural District Council to join the committee. [1] In 1960, a proposal was made by Rochester Council that the merger be effected by the city absorbing the two other towns, in order to safeguard its ancient charters and city status. This led to Gillingham Council voting to leave the committee, as it believed the three towns should go forward as equal partners. [2] On 9 March, the committee held its last meeting, with the Chatham representatives voting to dissolve the body and those from Rochester voting against. The motion to disband was passed on the casting vote of the chairman, Alderman Semple from Chatham. [3]
Under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 the City of Rochester, the Borough of Chatham and part of Strood Rural District were amalgamated to form the Borough of Medway, a local government district in the county of Kent. Gillingham chose to remain separate. Under letters patent the former city council area was to continue to be styled the "City of Rochester" to "perpetuate the ancient name" and to recall "the long history and proud heritage of the said city". [4] The city was unique, as it had no council or charter trustees and no mayor or civic head. In 1979, the Borough of Medway was renamed as Rochester-upon-Medway, and in 1982 further letters patent transferred the city status to the entire borough. [5]
On 1 April 1998, the existing local government districts of Rochester-upon-Medway and Gillingham were abolished under the local government review and merged to become the new unitary authority of Medway, administratively independent from Kent County Council; though, under the earlier Lieutenancies Act, Medway was placed with Kent, [6] and as this has not been amended, [7] Medway is still listed with Kent purely as a ceremonial county. Since it was the local government district of Rochester-upon-Medway that officially held city status under the 1982 letters patent, when it was abolished, it also ceased to be a city. The other local government districts with city status that were abolished around this time (Bath and Hereford) appointed charter trustees to maintain the existence of the city and the mayoralty. However, Rochester-upon-Medway City Council had decided not to and as a result their city status was rescinded. Medway Council apparently only became aware of this when they discovered that Rochester was not on the Lord Chancellor's Office's list of cities. [8] [9] Medway applied for city status in the 2000 and 2002 competitions, but was unsuccessful. In 2010, it started to refer to the "City of Medway" in promotional material, but it was rebuked and instructed not to do so in future by the Advertising Standards Authority. [10] Medway Council made a further bid for city status in 2012, when three cities were afforded the honour as part of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee civic honours competition. [11] Ultimately Medway was unsuccessful with the eventual winners being Chelmsford (Essex), Perth (Perthshire), and St Asaph (Denbighshire). [12]
Medway Council is led by the Leader of the Council, and a cabinet appointed by the Leader. The Council Leader is currently Vince Maple, after the Labour and Co-Operative Party won the 2023 Medway Council election.
The Councils is chaired by a civic Mayor, currently Cllr Nina Gurang, and a Deputy, Cllr Marian Nestorov.
The current composition of Medway Council's Cabinet is as follows: [13]
Party key | Labour and Co-operative Party |
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Post | Member | |
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Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council | ||
Leader of the Council | Vince Maple | |
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Portfolio Holder for Health and Adults Services | Teresa Murray | |
Portfolio Holders | ||
Portfolio Holder for Business Management | Zoe Van Dyke | |
Portfolio Holder for Children's Services | Adam Price | |
Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Strategic Regeneration | Simon Curry | |
Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Enforcement | Tristan Osborne | |
Portfolio Holder for Economic and Social Regeneration and Inward Investment | Lauren Edwards | |
Portfolio Holder for Education | Tracy Coombs | |
Portfolio Holder for Heritage, Culture and Leisure | Harinder Mahil | |
Portfolio Holder for Housing and Property | Naushabah Khan |
The Conservatives as the main opposition group appoints spokespeople to represent the party. [14]
Party key | Conservative |
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Post | Member | |
---|---|---|
Leader of the Conservative Group and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group | ||
Leader of the Opposition | Adrian Gulvin | |
Deputy Leader of the Opposition | George Perfect | |
Spokespeople | ||
Spokesperson for Planning | Gary Etheridge | |
Spokesperson for Children and Young People | George Perfect | |
Spokesperson for Health and Adult Social Care | David Wildey | |
Spokesperson for Regeneration, Culture and Environment | Phil Filmer |
The council has 59 councillors, elected every four years under the first-past-the-post system. The council chooses one of its members to act as mayor in an annual election. At the annual meeting of Medway Council, Cllr Nina Gurung was elected as the new Mayor of Medway. She is Medway’s first Buddhist Mayor. Cllr Marian Nestorov was appointed Deputy Mayor.
Affiliation | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Labour Party | 33 | |
Conservative Party | 22 | |
Independent | 4 |
Chatham is a town located within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham.
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the monarch of the United Kingdom to specific centres of population, which might or might not meet the generally accepted definition of cities. As of 22 November 2022, there are 76 cities in the United Kingdom—55 in England, seven in Wales, eight in Scotland, and six in Northern Ireland. Although it carries no special rights, the status of city can be a marker of prestige and confer local pride.
Rochester is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about 30 miles (50 km) from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillingham. Rochester was a city until losing its status as one in 1998 following the forming of Medway and failing to protect its status as a city. There have been ongoing campaigns to reinstate the city status for Rochester.
Medway is borough and unitary authority area in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998, when the boroughs of Rochester-upon-Medway and Gillingham were merged to form Medway Towns. The borough is governed by Medway Council, a unitary authority which is independent of Kent County Council, but remains part of the ceremonial county of Kent.
Gillingham is a town in the unitary authority area of Medway in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. It is also the largest town in the borough of Medway.
Rainham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Gillingham.
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham and Rainham. It lies on the northwest bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point.
Kent is a traditional county in South East England with long-established human occupation.
Medway was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1983 and 2010. A previous constituency of the same name existed from 1885 to 1918.
Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative. Since 2022, she has served as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household.
Rochester-upon-Medway was a local government district in north Kent, England from 1974 to 1998. It covered Rochester, Chatham, Luton, Lordswood, Walderslade, Strood and the Hoo Peninsula.
Frindsbury is part of the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, southern England. It lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the City of Rochester. Frindsbury today is part of the town of Strood and covers the most northern part of the town. Frindsbury refers to both a parish and a manor. Within the civil parish of Frindsbury Extra are the villages of Frindsbury, Wainscott, and Upnor. Frindsbury was also the name given to an electoral ward in the City of Rochester that straddled the parishes of Frindsbury and Strood.
Frindsbury Extra is a civil parish divided into commercial, suburban residential and rural parts on the Hoo Peninsula in Medway, a ceremonial part of Kent. It is contiguous with the fully urbanised Frindsbury part of Strood and is bounded by Cliffe and Cliffe Woods to the north, Hoo to the east, and the River Medway to the south-east at Upnor and a long, narrow meander of the river in the far south. On Medway Council it has councillors representing the Strood Rural ward currently on almost identical boundaries.
Donald Rossiter was an English professional association football player turned politician. During his footballing career he made two appearances in The Football League and gained a winner's medal in the FA Amateur Cup. He later became active in local politics and served as Mayor of Rochester, Kent.
The Chatham and District Light Railways Company was the originator and first operator of the electric tramway system that served Chatham and Gillingham, and was later extended into Rochester, Strood and Rainham. The system was in operation from 17 June 1902 to 30 September 1930, when it was superseded by the motorbuses of the Chatham and District Traction Company.
Rochester was a local government district with the status of borough and city in Kent, England, from 1835 to 1974.
Northampton Borough Council was the borough council and non-metropolitan district responsible for local government in the large town of Northampton in England. In 2021 the council was abolished and succeeded by West Northamptonshire Council; a unitary authority, and the Northampton Town Council, a parish council.
The office of Mayor of Medway is the ceremonial figurehead of Medway Council in Kent, England. The Office is currently held by Cllr Nina Gurung, who assumed the post on 24 May 2023.
Gillingham was a non-metropolitan district in Kent, England. It was abolished on 1 April 1998 and replaced by Medway.
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