Making a difference to the people of Medway

Deputy Leader Alan Jarrett: The new government knows the value of prudence

Article posted on Friday, 11 June 2010

How nice to see that the incoming government has learnt a thing or two from Medway Council. At the moment this relates to the high-pressure financial problems faced by the country.

In tackling the huge scale of government spending two initial steps have been announced.

Firstly, a freeze on recruitment within the civil service; secondly the introduction of a ‘star chamber’ process for deciding spending priorities.

I welcome both initiatives, not least because I introduced a freeze on recruitment at Medway Council several years ago.

That does not mean that no posts are filled when they become vacant, but it does mean that searching questions have to be answered first.

I have presided over Medway’s star chamber for budget setting for the last 10 years and this allows a rigorous approach to financial control to be adopted. At last we have a government that wants to inject some financial realism into public spending.

Here in Medway we have to hope that the inevitable national financial cuts will not harm any of our major regeneration projects.

A couple of these projects will make a real difference to our lives. The first is the construction of the bus station in Chatham, due for completion by April 2011. The council works for this project have caused a degree of disruption around Chatham although the delays are being caused mainly by some very untimely utility works.

The second project was approved by Medway’s Cabinet only this week and that is the new bridge due to be constructed on the A228 to Grain at Stoke. The new Stoke Crossing comes in at more than £9 million and will make the journey out to Grain quicker and safer.

Crucially, together with the road improvements at Fenn Corner, also on the A228, this bridge will help to unlock one of the biggest brownfield sites in the South East. It will bring new employment to Medway – a crucial consideration in a time of recession.

There are difficult times ahead of us all and if central government learns some of the lessons of prudent use of public money, for which Medway Council is renowned, then we will all benefit in the long run.