Rochester divided as council leader makes last ditch bid for city status

KentOnline / KMTV

With the Leader of Medway Council writing to government last week to get the local authority recognised, Oliver Leader de Saxe has been out in the former city to find out if people really care about the bid.

Transcript

00:00When does a city cease to be a city? Well in Rochester's case when those in charge

00:07didn't do the paperwork. Back in

00:101998 when Medway Council was being created

00:15Rochester upon Medway City Council didn't appoint the trustees needed

00:21Making it the only place in UK history to lose its city status. The question remains

00:28More than two decades on do people here

00:33Actually care? Very much so I think that Rochester should return to Rochester upon Medway a city

00:39And if Medway if the rest of the towns want to become Medway City, that's fine

00:44But I do believe that Rochester should return to being a city by itself

00:48Yeah, I'd like to see Rochester at least. Definitely bring more tourism in even local people would come back to

00:55Come to see the local events

00:59So I'm worried about the state not necessarily the

01:02Status I mean is because we I do a lot of work on the local community

01:06We obviously refer to it as the Medway towns

01:09But yeah, because I know Rochester was a city

01:11But I don't know it depends whether or not it's a benefit to the area being a city or not

01:16So what makes a city a city? Well, it's not actually one of these

01:23Cathedrals are a common misconception about what grants a place city status

01:28It's less to do with God and more to do with the government who themselves are embarking on a major shake-up of Kent's

01:36local authorities

01:38Raising the question of whether this is the last chance

01:42Medway has of getting its city status back on track

01:47It is about that inward investment is about saying actually

01:51Medway is proud of its history, but proud of its future as well. But from a practical perspective

01:56It's highly unlikely that Medway as we know it the two hundred and eighty five thousand

02:02Residents are going to be in a position to be able to move that forward because if the rules remain the same, of course

02:07It will just be those larger unitary authorities

02:10Which of course will be part of but won't be Medway by itself

02:14The leader of Medway Council has already written to government in a last-ditch bid to regain city status

02:22But not everyone is happy with the letter

02:26anything sensitive like this to do with identity has to be

02:30Has to be put out to consultation. You have to have the people with you have to win hearts and minds to do something like this

02:36But unfortunately what's happened over the years with these multiple bid multiple?

02:40Bids for city status. It's just been it's just been done to us

02:45It's been done to the community the decision now rests with government

02:50but for some

02:52Rochester not Medway will always be a city is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to cities and

02:59Rochester has been acknowledged as a city for well over a thousand years

03:04It's the it's this thing

03:06The city of Rochester society would describe it as a city by ancient prescriptive rights

03:11In other words, if people recognize it as a city, it's a city

03:14It doesn't matter what anyone else says, but whatever happens next in this tale of two cities

03:19It certainly won't be a fairy tale ending for everyone here in Medway

03:26Oliver leader the sacks for KMTV in Rochester

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