Posted by I’m going to refrain from making too much noise on this subject yet – only to present the facts (as words cannot express the anger currently building up inside me).
On August 7, a meeting was held by the Chatham World Heritage Partnership to discuss how to move forward with regards to the Great Lines City Park. I think that this is an excellent idea, and a great way to merge and improve what we already have.
A question there was asked: “How is the air cadet building going to be included in the proposals?”. The response was both insulting and, in my view, totally outrageous:
“The Air Cadet building is reaching the end of its viable life, and is likely to be removed / replaced. The council is working with the cadets to find a suitable nearby replacement venue.”
One word springs to mind: b******s! The biggest load of crap I’ve ever read in my life! If Medway Council believes it can kick us out of our own building silently, then they have another thing coming! We will fight tooth and nail until our place at the bottom of Marlborough Road is secured!
After all, why replace a building which provides a valuable service for young people – teaching them respect and discipline, amongst other things – with just another place for yobs to hang around drinking, smoking and making a general nuisance of themselves?
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I don’t know what the current place is like from the inside, though it doesn’t give a particularly inspiring impression from the outside — or didn’t when I last went past there a year ago, after completing the Medway Mile nearby. Yes, I walked back to Chatham via the Great Lines on that occasion, and found the experience very rewarding — but that’s another story…
If there are genuine reasons why your present premises need to be replaced, well fair enough, and perhaps it is an ideal opportunity to get something better and up-to-date. Hopefully no-one would be averse to that.
Remember that the partnership is not “the Council” in isolation, any more than the EU is Britain by itself, or the USA is (for example) Texas alone, despite the tendency to elect Presidents from Texas; so if you do eventually lose faith it should be with that partnership. No part of that set-up can operate unilaterally.
Personally, I really hope that a godd outcome can derive from this, ideally a spanking new facility on the existing site.
John,
Firstly, it’s not Medway Council’s building (or, for that matter, their land) to decide whether or not it is nearing the end of it’s life or not! The last I heard, the owners of the building were against letting it go (although that was about 18 months ago, so things might have changed).
About five years ago, the entire inside of the building was refurbished. It may not look like much from the outside – but never judge a book by it’s cover! The facilities inside are fantastic, and we have a growing membership which, knowing Medway Council, would be abandoned if a nearby site cannot be found (as I said, there are no suitable nearby sites!).
I mean, why would the Partnership want to fund the building of a brand new purpose-built building which would be used a couple of days a week by a single organisation?
As for the “Partnership” – if the building is to go, permission to do so can only come from the Council, so responsibility will ultimately lie with them!
Thank you for clarifying the situation regarding the interior. That was what I was hoping would be placed here on (effectively) public record.
What the council has managed to achieve in most if not all cases is a replacement before losing an existing facility, so I’d press them on that if the present really does have to go for some reason. It would be my wish that it doesn’t have to go at all, based on what you have indicated (some interior shots might be helpful to publish here, as part of a campaign toward retention: just a thought).
As I am no longer on the Council myself, I cannot answer the questions you raise as I have no access to internal documents, so I’d suggest contacting the Portfolio Holder directly, presumably Cllr Jane Chitty.
By all means mention that it was my idea to contact her (i.e. blame me!) and that I trust your knowledge of the place and your judgment (well, apart from on Obama perhaps!) and see what transpires. I’d expect this particular issue could be dealt with sensibly via such an approach. Worth a try, surely.
If Medway Council choose to fight this, they will be fighting a losing battle! If they want to relocate us, they have to pay like-for-like on the land and the building – and I don’t think many taxpayers would be too happy to know how much that would cost!
It is early days at the moment, but the response seemed to imply that the Partnership is already in contact with the Cadets, yet it seems (from the information I have) that they have not been in contact with the people who will actually be able to authorise the sale and relocation.
As for contacting Cllr Chitty as you suggested – if they decide they want to pursue it, then she will be one of many people contacted. However, as I said, it is early days, so we’ll just have to see how it all pans out from here.