Round-up of the Medway Messenger’s main stories

In the first of what I hope to be a regular feature, I shall give the brief points of the main stories in the Medway Messenger.

Friday, June 1, 2007

Day of reckoning

Medway Council is cracking down on illegal parking in Medway’s main routes by issuing fixed-penalty notices without the normal five-minute parking attendant observation.

This zero-tolerance policy is in response to calls to get Medway moving, and not as a result of the two-way system in Chatham, according to Medway Council.

Great Expectations unfulfilled?

Dickens World (River), the new £62 million theme park based on Dickensian London, has received a mixed reaction on its opening weekend.

Although most people seemed to like it, some complained about the admission price and the long queues and some got turned away altogether, because everyone decided to visit it on the opening Bank Holiday weekend.

High hopes for Tour de France

Council chiefs predict that the Tour de France should bring in 10 times the £150,000 it has cost in Tourism revenues when it comes to Medway in the summer.

The cyclists would take 22 minutes to pass through Medway, going through Strood, Gillingham, Chatham and Rochester, but as usual, the Liberals have decided it is a bad idea to raise Medway’s profile nationally and internationally.

Fight to save Municipal Buildings

Former Gillingham Mayor of 1962-3 Freddie Cooper is spearheading the fight to save the Municipal Buildings (Watling) if and when the Council moves into the former Lloyds building in Chatham next year – a move backed by all three Political Groups.

The move would be made in order to save taxpayer’s money, and invest it in public services, but Mr. Cooper doesn’t want to see the buildings go for sentimental reasons.

Lib Dem Backs Tory

Former Liberal Mayor Dai Liyanage (above, right) is backing River Ward‘s Craig Mackinlay (above, left) in his bid to become a Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in one of Medway’s constituencies.

Both have a long history through the local Round Table, and Dai says that “Craig is the best candidate that the Conservatives could select,” whilst assuring us that he remains a committed member of the Liberal Democrats.

Expect my comment on this last story later on today.