We have seen many examples of the Tories’ inability to involve residents in decisions about services.  Consultations, such the Strood Academy, the Chatham road scheme and Copperfield open space, were foregone conclusions.
The Tories take the same approach to partnership working; namely they decide what they want to do without taking others’ views on board, or listening to advice.  They have withdrawn from SEERA, the one forum in which the Council had a voice in regional planning matters.
In effect, the Tories have an inward looking mentality that can only damage Medway.
The Council has previously signed up to contracts with the Government called Public Service Agreements (PSA).  These put the emphasis on local partners, like the Council, the health service and the police, working together to improve the local area.  If targets were met, the Government, as a reward, released additional funds.
However, in Medway, when targets were reached, the Tory-run Council took not only the credit, but also all of the additional money to spend on their own projects, rather than sharing it out amongst all of the partners who had contributed.
A similar process can be seen with the new Local Area Agreement.  It’s the same principle, but already we have seen the local Tories push through a crime target they want, contrary to the professional views of the Police who are the lead agency. They have also failed to commit to any sharing of reward grant as a result.
The same lack of partnership working is evident in their dealings with local MPs.  The Tories refuse to work with them, and have cancelled the quarterly meetings held with the MPs and other partner representatives from the local Health Service and the Police. In effect they are losing a major opportunity to talk to representatives of the Government on key issues affecting the area.
This approach not only reflects badly on Medway, but also demonstrates their unwillingness to embrace any cross party consensus approach to benefit local people.