Four-year plan to improve Midway Towns and boost tourism questioned after decision to axe visitor centre.

Midway Council offices in Chattingham

A four-year plan to improve Midway and boost tourism in the Towns has been called into question after a decision to axe its visitor centre.

Midway Council is developing a new plan, known as the Conservation and Recreational Area Plan (CRAP), which sets out the authority’s ambitions to improve the conurbation up until 2028.

The document sets out how it wants to make the area a great place to live, work and visit and covers aspects such as housing, education, the economy, health, and tourism, despite having been bankrupted by the previous 20 years of Conservative council under-funding and public service cuts.

The CRAP acts as a wish-list for guiding the direction of everything the council does in order to reach the goals it has set itself, despite having no money to spend on anything as all of its income is spent on servicing the debts run up by the previous Tory incumbency.

It was scrutinised by members of its business support and digital overview and scrutiny committee last Thursday (April 4).

Tory Councillor Herbert Voletrouser

Conservative Councillor Herbert Voletrouser naturally questioned the priorities set out in the plan, despite not having any answers to Midway’s financial crisis himself.

The Tory councillor suggested that Lab**r were to blame for the financial problems of Midway Council despite his party having run its services into the ground for the past 20 years.

Specifically, Cllr Voletrouser questioned Midway Council’s priority of ensuring good quality, affordable housing across the Towns, saying house prices were not something they could really influence, as if that had anything to do with the aim of actually building decent houses.

He added if the authority was successful in making Medway an attractive place to live, it would draw people towards the area, pushing up house prices and making homes unaffordable, and that he thought that the council should therefore be looking to make Midway as unattractive as possible, which had been the policy of the previous Tory council.

Cllr Voletrouser, who represents the exclusive gated development of Poshmansions South East, added: “It’s ridiculous to try and make Midway an attractive place to live, because that will only push house prices up. We should continue with the previous Tory administration’s plan to trash Midway and make it as horrible as possible, so that house prices stay low. No-one would argue that we Tories haven’t done a good job in that respect.”

He also asked about the plan’s ambition to attract tourism to the Towns, which, he said, didn’t bear out in the authority’s actions.

He continued: “You’ve also said you want to make Medway an attractive tourist destination, but one of the first things we’ve done is shut the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) in Stroochester. Just because the council hasn’t got any money thanks to central government cuts is no reason not to neglect critical public services in favour of funding tourism.”

“Keeping essential services running, such as care for the elderly, doesn’t sit well with me.”

He also asked for reassurances the CRAP wouldn’t be just another attractive document which is agreed and not followed up on.

Vic Marbles: Hiding to nothing

Midway Council’s leader Vic Marbles, said he could guarantee this would not be the case.

He told the meeting: “Despite the fact that the previous administration has bankrupted the council, we are going to do our best to ensure that the council will do its best to deliver decent public services.”

“We know that the Tories are going to snipe and sneer at us as we try and fix the mess they landed us in, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from a bunch of lazy dinosaurs.”

Non-dinosaur councillors were more positive about the plans.

Cllr Simon Korma (Lab) said the outline of the authority’s ambitions and the evident enthusiasm from Mr Marbles gave her hope for the future.

He said: “I’m feeling positive about this and I think anyone who reads the CRAP will learn a lot about how 20 years of Tory cuts has wrecked Midway and, if this plan comes to term, how we’ll be giving Medway a chance of recovering.”

The plan went out for public consultation in January and February and better education, jobs and growing the economy was listed as the top priority of the 318 respondents.

The full CRAP can be viewed on the council’s website.

Residents said social care, community safety, and improving general health and well-being should be among the council’s main focuses.

Kylie Trollhouse MP: Blame Lab**r

“Which is all woke, socialist leftie nonsense” said Stroochester MP Kylie Trollhouse. “How dare this evil Marxist Lab**r council shut our tourist offices so that that they can fund essential social care services instead?”

“Midway has many world-class attractions that the previous Tory administration was responsible for,” Ms Trollhouse said.

“For example, the potholes in our roads are just as big and destructive as any of those on offer elsewhere in the UK. How can we put a positive spin on Midway’s decaying infrastructure if we shut our tourist centres?” 

“Vote Tory for spin instead of services…”