Whichever you choose to believe, it is clear to me that the Labour MP for Gillingham and Rainham, Paul Clark, has lost touch with his constituents after his expenses claims were revealed.

In the independent report by Sir Thomas Legg, it was stated of Mr Clark that: “[i]n default of evidence to support payments for mortgage interest of ?11,750.35 for 2008-09, I must regard these payments as having been invalid. Accordingly my recommendation is that Mr Clark should repay the whole of this sum”.

Mr Clark responded, via press release, on his website, essentially saying that he will not be paying back the money he overclaimed.

Unsurprisingly, and rather justly, Mr Clark’s behaviour and attitude has been .met with disgust, with opposition candidates and activists, divided by party, yet united by indignation.

Residents in Gillingham and Rainha.m will feel the same - and with only a few months until he is likely to be voted out of a job, is showing disgraceful disrespect to his employers.

Mr Clark is showing exactly why we need a change in British politics - before people are put off permanently.

He needs to pay back the money, before his days in Parliament are up - which will not be long:

People in Gillingham and Rainham have lost trust and faith in their MP!

Last week I went on yet another rant about the Chatham World Heritage Partnership, who seem to be hell-bent on bulldozing their way through anything they desire to get their own way.

The truth behind their twisted plans came out following a meeting of the Partnership aimed at new “ambassadors”, in which officers continued to express their desire to evict the Air Cadets, despite the fact that it is not the Council’s land.

It took a long time for anyone from the Partnership or Medway Council to privately admit that they do not own the land, and indeed are still publicly silent on this matter.

1039 (Gillingham) Squadron Air Cadets was founded in 1942 with the same aim as every other Air Training Corps squadron: “to prepare young men for entry to the RAF”. After the war (in 1946) the squadron, like many others, was disbanded, yet re-formed in 1950 and has continued ever since (although their aims have moved away from being a recruiting agent for the MOD). More information on their history can be found on their website.

For most of their existence, the Air Cadets have occupied the building at the bottom of Marlborough Road, and, whilst the road layout and local area has changed throughout the decades, the Air Cadets have continually maintained a single purpose building, with regular inspections to ensure it remains safe and viable.

Throughout the years, hundreds of cadets have come and gone (including myself), but the building, which was also once home to the Gillingham Girls’ Venture Corps (if you remember back to this post last June and this associated news clipping from c. 1974), and the organisation has remained.

Sharing a new building with other youth/community organisations is not an option. At present the facilities enjoyed include classrooms, offices, a reasonable-sized parade ground and ample off-road parking (when inconsiderate morons are not parking on the double yellow lines right in front of the gates!). If a new building were to be considered, it would need to be solely for the Air Cadets - anything else will effectively signal the end of the squadron, and almost seventy years of history!

Perhaps, before I wrap this post up, I should declare, at this point, two further interests in the building:

1. One of the girls in the Gillingham Girls’ Venture Corps news clipping is my mother, another an auntie (although I shall not be pointing out who they are in the photograph!); and
2. The present Commanding Officer of 1039 (Gillingham) Squadron has been in the organisation since he was 1969, and at Gillingham Squadron between 1969 and c. 1987, then from 2000 to the present day. He is also my father.

It should further be noted, however, that none of the above mentioned people have coerced, or even merely asked, me to write this (or any previous Cadet-related) article. Everything written on this website is my own personal opinion, and I take every care to distance myself from other organisations - particularly non-political organisations such as the Air Cadet Organisation - in the process of blogging.

I was an Air Cadet for six-and-a-half years, a fact which I have never made a secret of. Perhaps that makes me biased. Now, for the time being at least, I am on the outside looking in, and gauging a more balanced perspective, and understanding from the public’s point of view - and discovering how many people genuinely agree with me.

Back to the original point, though. In that last article, I mentioned that:

[T]he land the Air Cadets occupy is currently held by the MOD (or one of its derivatives - I haven’t got the money to check the Land Registry details - yet!).

Well, I have since been in possession of a copy (though, not an “official” copy, but valid for research purposes nonetheless) of the Title from the Land Registry, which is being kept on file by myself for future reference and which has been made available to the staff at 1039 (Gillingham) Squadron, which states quite clearly that the registered proprietor is (effectively) the MOD.

Of course the current Secretary of State for Defence is the Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP (yes, that is the relevance of the photograph), who would be about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse-kicking contest if the situation ever arose that the cadets needed him onside. Happily, however, it seems as though his days are numbered.

It useful, though, to know at the outset of any campaign who your friends are and who your enemies are - advice which will be forwarded on to the Air Cadets should the need arise.

Already some local politicians have shown which side they will be backing should the necessity arise (and should it arise during their tenure in local politics) - and I can promise you that they are not likely to admit in public what has been revealed (either directly, or indirectly) in private (but then, to coin a phrase from Channel 4’s recent docudrama Mo - if you want a friend in politics, buy a dog!).

Party politics aside for the moment (as any campaign run by, or on behalf of, the Air Cadets would be above party politics), I can promise that if anyone (politician or council bigwig alike) wishes to side with the Partnership and oppose the retention of such a valuable youth organisation, this blog will fight you all the way.

If, on the other hand, you wish to support the Air Cadets and their continued success, this blog will welcome you with open arms.

The choice, as they say, is yours!

The family-run Greenfield’s boot fair was forced off of the site to allow the development of a proposed Tennis Academy last year, and so moved to the Sans Pareil field near Wainscott, Rochester.

However, the plans have yet to be finalised, and the earliest likely start date for development is the end of 2010.

As a result, the Greenfield family have been given permission to use the field for a fourteen-week run, beginning on Easter Sunday (4 April), after which they would have needed planning permission to continue.

Once the fourteen weeks is up, the family will return to the new site in Strood.

Pitches can be booked by calling Mark Greenfield on 07811 022987.

A controversial planning application for the former Shell garage site on the A2 has been refused by Medway Council’s Planning Committee.

Boundwell Ltd had applied to build a shop, hot food shop and two apartments on the site, but the Planning Committee ruled that the proposals would be detrimental to the area.

Councillors from Twydall and Rainham Central had spoken against the application before the committee decision refusing the application on the grounds that:

1. The proposed take away would be likely to encourage indiscriminate parking on the main A2 (a busy distributor road) in front of the site and in the general vicinity and this would prejudice conditions of highway safety on the A2 London Road. The proposal is therefore contrary to the provisions of Policy T1 of the Medway Local Plan 2003;
2. The proposed use would be prejudicial to the amenities of the locality by virtue of additional noise and disturbance, anti social behaviour, smells and inconvenience to local residents. This would be contrary to Policies R18, T1, BNE2 and BNE3 of the Medway Local Plan 2003; and
3. The proposal would be likely to generate an increased number of turning movements into and from the site onto the A2 London Road, where there has been an increase in vehicle numbers on the A2 since the former petrol Station closed, and this would add to the number of accidents in the area contrary to policies T1 and T2 of the Medway Local Plan 2003.

The application had been met by mixed responses, with 79 favourable comments and 56 comments against. 206 responses were?received?in total.

The Rainham Central Conservative councillors said that “we do realise that something has to be done with the site and also called for it be redesignated as housing” whilst Paul Clark MP thanked everyone who opposed the campaign.

As well as providing all the latest Twydall news from Alan W Collins, the Twydall Ward website provides useful information for Twydall residents, including information on housing and elected representatives for Twydll and the Gillingham and Rainham parliamentary constituency.

In line with one of the website’s aims of “promoting and advertising local businesses and services across Twydall ward for local residents”, a directory of the shops situated in the shopping area Twydall Green is also available on the website, with details being continually added and updated.

Due to the early stage in the website’s life - and the amount of potential the website has for growth - it is being launched in “beta” release, a state which it is set to stay in for a couple of months.

Alan Collins said, “This exciting project has been in the pipeline since October and I am thrilled to finally be able to launch the beta version.

“It is still quite primitive at the moment, and there are some pages which are not quite finished, but the basic design and the news content is now in place, with the ability and potential to add much more over the coming weeks and months.

“I welcome the input and suggestions from Twydall residents on how to improve the design or the content.”

The website can be found at www.TwydallWard.co.uk.

For many Medway residents, the general election will not be the only time they head for the polls this year.

Residents in Gillingham North, Gillingham South, Rainham Central, River, Rochester East, Rochester South and Horsted and Rochester West wards all face the prospects of a second visit to the polling station weeks after the general election.

Of course, not all of the wards will face a by-election, but at least one of them will almost-definitely be heading to the polls a second time, and anywhere up to four wards may see the familiar signs up more than once.

Which wards will, it’s hard to say. But all (bar one) of them are represented by councillors hoping to bag a 60,000 pounds plus per year job representing the likes of you and I in Parliament (and trying to not to be tempted by the lure of expenses!).

The exception, of course, is Rochester South and Horsted, where former Conservative Councillor Nick Brice has yet to decide on his future after being caught kerb-crawling. However, I am not going to be drawn into a discussion about whether or not he should go, as that is not what this article is about. Smart money says, though, that we are unlikely to see a by-election there any time soon.

So to the crux of my thinking. In Rochester and Strood, Geoff Juby (LD, Gillingham South), Teresa Murray (Lab, Rochester East) and Mark Reckless (Con, Rochester West) are all hoping to replace Bob Marshall-Andrews as the constituency MP. In short, unless something major should happen between now and then, one of the above will be vacating their seat on the council.

In Gillingham and Rainham, Paul Clark MP has announced that he will be trying to cling onto his seat, facing a challenge from Rehman Chishti (Con, Rainham Central) and Andy Stamp (LD, Gillingham North). That gives a two-in-three chance that there will be a second by-election.

The more observant will realise that that still leaves River ward. Well Bill Esterson (Lab) is leaving us to fight his own battle up in Sefton Central, although he’s not actually leaving the council just yet - but that’s another story.

So I’m going to throw my neck on the line and make a prediction - that by the end of the year, by-elections will have been held in Rainham Central, River and Rochester West wards, as Conservatives Rehman Chishti and Mark Reckless see the fruits of their hard work pull off and win huge majorities in the election, whilst Labour’s Bill Esterson secures a wafer-thin majority.

In the subsequent by-elections, Rainham Central (one of the Conservatives’ newest safest seats) would remain blue (although I cannot thus far see any possible contenders for the candidacy), River would turn blue (as it already turned half-blue in 2007, but again I cannot see any possible candidates) and Rochester West would also remain blue (and I have in mind a possible candidate, or two, but shall remain tight-lipped for the time being).

But don’t hold me to that!

Once again the truth behind their twisted plans has emerged, and once again I am forced to go on the offensive against a partnership which seems hell-bent on getting their own way and screw anybody else.

Once again it falls upon me to tell you, the Partnership, in the strongest of all strong possible terms, to sod off!

Now, you may be wondering what has rattled my cage so much as to break one of my biggest unwritten rules, but those of you who have been following this website for a while will already have a good idea.

About eighteen months ago, a question was lodged with the Partnership regarding the Gillingham Air Cadet building in Marlborough Road, as it “borders” the planned new community centre. The response was as follows:

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.

After being informed that, surprise surprise, the Partnership had been misinformed, an apology was issued by them after this angry rant. All documents from that incident - and before it - have been documented, and all are accessible in the public domain.

So what has set this rant off, I hear you cry? Well last night there was another meeting of the Partnership, which I sadly had to miss. However, I was there in spirit, and my spirit picked up on yet another ridiculous attempt to destroy one of the last remaining great places for young people in Gillingham.

Answering a question from the audience, one of the new project officers spoke of demolishing the “two buildings” at the bottom of Marlborough Road to make way for a new community building - namely the old Kindergarten and the Air Cadet building.

The ensuing argument, which I believe she lost, went, according to my spirit, along the lines of the Partnership doing everything they can to evict the Cadets, and relocate them anywhere the Partnership pleases.

Thankfully, the reality is different. Thankfully, the land the Air Cadets occupy is currently held by the MOD (or one of its derivatives - I haven’t got the money to check the Land Registry details - yet!).

If the Partnership wishes to bulldoze away an important part of Gillingham’s society - they can expect a huge fight all the way.

I cannot fathom why they can’t get the picture!

Speaking after Cllr Esterson was selected to fight the Sefton Central seat in Merseyside, Mr Collins questioned how he would be able to continue to serve his constituents to the best of his ability at the same time as fighting an election halfway up the country, claiming that any attempts to do so would be “unacceptable”.

Alan Collins commented, “Other Medway councillors are also fighting election campaigns in Medway constituencies, but I cannot believe that anyone can work their hardest for their ward constituents whilst they are also fighting an election 250 miles away.

“If Cllr Esterson spends more time working hard for the constituents who have already elected him here in Medway then he will anger his new colleagues in Sefton Central and face a tough battle against a local councillor in the constituency.

“However, if he spends more time in Sefton Central, he will be showing the utmost contempt for his River Ward constituents, a situation which is quite simply unacceptable.

“Cllr Esterson needs to be honest with his River Ward constituents about what is going to happen over the next couple of months.

“If he cannot devote enough time to his constituents, Cllr Esterson should resign and allow someone else who can put the time in to do so.”

Cllr Esterson, who held his seat on River ward in 2007 whilst his colleague lost to the Conservatives’ Craig MacKinlay, is looking at a notional majority of 4,950, according to Rallings and Thrasher.

A councillor in Medway for 15 years, Cllr Esterson holds a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, trained with a large accountancy firm and later became a director of a training consultancy, according to the Liverpool Daily Post.

Cllr Esterson said ‘I’m proud to have been selected by the members of Sefton. It’s a great privilege to have been given this chance and the campaign starts here to keep Sefton Labour.

‘Claire Curtis Thomas has served the constituency with great pride for more than 12 years - campaigning on Labour values that she cherished; equal rights for all, fighting for the protection of the environment and standing by the vulnerable.

‘I intend to prove to the residents of Crosby, Formby and Maghull that I can win this seat and, more importantly, that I can do the best possible job in representing them at Westminster. My 15 years as a councillor will enable me to achieve this.

‘I will stand up and fight for a fair deal for all in Sefton.’

Cllr Esterson will be up against local Conservative Councillor Debi Jones, who was selected as the Conservatives’ candidate in a full open primary in August 2006.

According to her website, ‘Debi has successfully campaigned against the erection of several telephone masts in residential and conservation areas. She sees the proliferation of masts as a great problem nationally and was part of a working party with Sefton Council to ascertain the effect, either actual or perceived, that masts have on the public.’

Amongst the selections for the two wards are the three sitting councillors in Chatham Central and Medway blogger Tristan Osborne for what was once Labour’s safest seat, Luton and Wayfield.

Chatham Central councillors Vince Maple (pictured), Julie Shaw and group leader Paul Godwin were all re-selected to stand in their ward in May 2011, whilst joining Osborne in Luton and Wayfield will be Christine Godwin and, perhaps controversially, Sam Whittington, who lost the seat for Labour in last September’s dramatic by-election.

Whilst Chatham Central is likely to remain red, with two independent councillors and one conservative councillor, Luton and Wayfield is likely to become a key battleground seat in 2011.

Results pages will be updated with candidates in due course.