Making a difference to the people of Medway

Cllr Howard Doe: City status for Medway would put us on the map

Letter posted on Thursday, 17 December 2009

Sir, Medway is worthy of city status and 2012 would be the ideal time for our community to receive the recognition it so rightly deserves. In fact we have great expectations for 2012 in Medway.

2012 will be a year of celebration. It is Charles Dickens’s bicentenary and with our historic ties to that great Victorian writer, we will certainly mark the occasion.

We will also be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Royal Engineers arrival in Chatham – another opportunity to show our respect and appreciation to those who fight and die for our country.

All eyes will be on Britain in 2012 as London hosts the Olympics and Paralympics Games, and Medway is well positioned to benefit from this.

It is also hoped that our series of cultural and sporting events will culminate in the Chatham Historic Dockyard receiving World Heritage Status.

Importantly it is also the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and customary for the monarch to mark such special occasions by bestowing city status and Medway will certainly seek this as we did in 2000 and 2002.

Medway is already a city in all but name. It has the largest conurbation in the South East and is being transformed through the ongoing regeneration projects, which is creating jobs and bringing new business opportunities.

This will not alter the character of our towns, for it would be five towns within a city - preserving each town’s uniqueness whilst bringing us together to establish Medway firmly on the map. What better way to complement our year of celebration and the improvements we have seen in Medway.

Cllr Howard Doe Portfolio Holder for Community Services Member for Rainham South