00:21Welcome to the Kent Politics Show here on Kame TV. I'm Megan Shaw and if you live in
00:26Broadway, there's some good news for you as £60 million is to be invested in the area
00:31from the government. The Pride in Place funding is money that aims to prioritise communities
00:36first and will be given to Gillingham, Twiddle, Strood and Luton in Chatham. But who gets to
00:42decide where this money goes and what it is spent on? Here's our local democracy reporter
00:47Ollie Leder who went down to Twiddle to get local reaction.
00:49A sleepy shopping parade in the heart of Gillingham that could soon see major rejuvenation
00:57with Twiddle set to receive £20 million in Pride in Place funding over the next decade.
01:05One of three areas across Medway receiving this additional money from the government.
01:11It's really about empowering communities. So the idea is that you set up local community
01:18and neighbourhood panels where the community has a real say in how that money is spent
01:23and we work with the wider community as well through surveys to understand the local priorities
01:28so that that money is spent in a meaningful way and it's spent in a way that actually benefits
01:33the local area and it's for areas that have been overlooked for such a long time.
01:37With £2 million earmarked a year for the area, locals appear divided on the money and where
01:45it should go. Fixing potholes which is a big concern for all motorists. More sort of CCCV
01:53to make people feel safer. You don't need £20 million spent on Twiddle
01:57I don't think. There's nothing really to spend it on around you.
02:01Along with this cash, new powers will be introduced to help tackle boarded up shops and block vape
02:08stores. How that will actually materialise will be the talk of the town.
02:15Olly Leader in Twiddle
02:17And with me now are two Medway councillors, Harinder Mahil for Labour and Co-op and Habib
02:22Tijan for the Conservatives. So I think we'll just start off with obviously this is big news for Medway.
02:30What could it mean?
02:32Well really that is down to the community at large. It's up to them to decide where the investment, where
02:38the money is
02:39going to go and where it's going to get spent on. I just think it's great news. I think it
02:44is long overdue.
02:46And so this could mean regeneration in lots of different ways. It could mean a type of social regeneration if
02:51that's what the community
02:52want or if they are more interested in hard standing and trying to get some real infrastructure into their
02:58communities that could be enabled as well. Really it's really down to the imagination of the communities.
03:03Do we know exactly who will be deciding where this money could be spent?
03:08So we're, as you can imagine, this is not a case of here's a pot of money and the government's
03:15going to go, it's here and decide.
03:17Because we're actually getting the community involved, so the panel, and we're going to be using surveys as well as
03:25the MP
03:25and the politicians as part of the board. It is going to take some time for the criteria to be
03:32set out to find out sort of how it will work.
03:35But ultimately, ultimately, the decision will come down to the community who take part in that panel.
03:41And I'll come to you here, Habib. Would you say historically Medway's kind of been left out of government or
03:48mass funding?
03:49Would you say this is definitely well needed relief?
03:52Yes, I would say it's well needed relief. I mean, who wouldn't welcome this sort of funding in the community?
03:58There have been some funding in the past, and what I'm very cautious about is a couple of things, really.
04:07I think that the 10-year period is quite long. That doesn't make provision for inflation.
04:13I don't know how far that could go. I mean, as much as we welcome it, I've also got some
04:18reservations,
04:20with this being probably mainly focused on cosmetics, stuff that we've done in the past,
04:26that having dealt with the structural problems that lead to deprivation in our various communities.
04:31So I would like to see a little bit more done with regards to skills, transportation, keeping our communities safe,
04:40and really investment in our high street in terms of businesses, rather than just cosmetics.
04:47So I hope those making decisions on the boards can look at these entry cases and come up with projects
04:55that would be long-lived,
04:57rather than just painting pavement or shopfronts.
05:01Are there concerns you share? Harinder?
05:03So the concerns in terms of whether it's just going to be aesthetic, sort of like a paintbrush over our
05:12local area,
05:13that's not a concern I have, mainly because I trust the community to actually spend it on what matters to
05:20them.
05:20And now in terms of that 10-year window, so 2 million per year, actually that's a safeguard
05:27against sort of the usual pots of funding that are sort of there to spend in sort of small four
05:34-year increments
05:35where we want to spend before the next election.
05:38And now what this does, this 10-year horizon, means that actually the politics is somewhat kept out of it,
05:44and really the community can take their time and think about it
05:47and actually have that long-term structural look that you're talking about there, Councillor Tijan,
05:52where the community can actually focus on what's important and what actually will have the most effective use of money.
06:00So it's not a, it's not just a, you know, just window dressing.
06:06This is real, deep-rooted, community-driven change.
06:10And so I trust the community to be able to do that.
06:13And we've spoke, oh sorry, did you want to jump in?
06:16Yeah, I mean, how will this go towards improving skills in our community?
06:20How will it improve transport link, things that we hear about?
06:25How will that drive community safety?
06:27Because when we talk to residents, these are the key concerns.
06:30I mean, how do you see that?
06:32So one of the people mentioned in the piece earlier, in the larger form piece,
06:39they mentioned actually they want CCTV.
06:43So that's one of the things that they would like to make Twiddle feel safer or Gillingham feel safer.
06:48So that's a perfectly legitimate use of money.
06:53It's essentially, it would be so down to the community to decide how it would get spent.
07:01What you wouldn't expect is for them to start repairing the highway infrastructure of Medway.
07:08That's not sort of what this money is for. It's for Pride in Place. It's much more focused.
07:12And if they want to focus on skills, they can. They can do that.
07:16But it's about what the community wants.
07:18And of course, it's kind of neighbourhood boards would be a part of that.
07:22So Neshaba mentioned that on these boards, it's a requirement, obviously,
07:26that the local MP and also a ward counsellor also sits on these boards.
07:30Is there at all perhaps a risk that this obviously this is put in place for the community,
07:35but by introducing kind of councillors and MPs into this kind of regulatory board,
07:41we might see more bureaucracy.
07:42Would that take away from kind of the essence of Pride in Place?
07:46No, I think often, so we can't sort of, often what we have is people saying
07:54there's a lack of a connection between politicians and the community and the public.
07:58And so that's said time and time again. And when there are efforts to try to bridge that gap
08:02and try to make forums like these boards, they're often dismissed.
08:07What this will allow is for the public, the voters, the people that elect their MP and elect their councillors
08:15to actually sit and work around the table with them directly.
08:18So if anything, this should be strengthening the links that people expect to have in a modern democracy.
08:25And what the funding can go towards is incredibly broad.
08:29You brought up some concerns there of how will all these needs and conflicting, I suppose,
08:35wants for the money be able to be, I suppose, mitigated.
08:38Are you concerned about competing priorities?
08:41Absolutely, I am. And in particular, who will be making this decision?
08:46Is it just going to be the most vocal people in the community?
08:50How will we encourage others who are not vocal for their priorities to be met?
08:58So, you know, I mean, I can see some gaps and some risks.
09:02And I've got some deep concerns with inclusivity in terms of how do we make sure our hard-to-reach
09:10community,
09:11which are mainly the most deprived, really.
09:14How will they be driving what's needed?
09:17Because they are the ones that are feeling the pinch points.
09:20So that's one of our key concerns in terms of conflicting priorities
09:26and the scrutiny of the board as well.
09:30You know, how are we going to know what's happening with regards to decision?
09:34Is it going to be published?
09:36You know, so there's lots of questions that, you know, that's yet to be answered.
09:42Perhaps Irina knows a little bit more about, you know, the transparency in terms of the decision-making process.
09:48I mean, you just mentioned with the MP and ward councillors.
09:52Most of these boards would be in labour ward currently.
09:57And how do they ensure that we, I mean, the general public knows exactly what's happening?
10:04That is just not, you know, what we say, vanity projects.
10:08You know, that is a project that really solves deep root concerns.
10:13I mentioned earlier skills, jobs.
10:18We've got lots of youth who are not in employment or training in some of these areas.
10:25I think that's why they qualify for the funding out of most deprived areas.
10:30And it would be wonderful to know that, yes, we have got a clear structure and plan how to deliver
10:37that
10:37so we don't repeat mistakes of the past where we pin over pavement.
10:44We've got brilliant regeneration project.
10:47I mean, Charter Waterfront looks great.
10:49It's fantastic.
10:51Lots of investment went into our Howard Street, Charter Waterfront in particular, Gilliam Howard Street.
10:57But that hasn't dealt with the core issues.
11:00Antisocial behaviour, for example.
11:04So these are some of the concerns we have with regards to conflicting priorities.
11:08I would like to see this going through some of the priorities in terms of making our Howard Street a
11:13lot more welcoming,
11:15a lot more safer, where people will really want to go and enjoy themselves with the family and feel safe.
11:23And I will say again.
11:24We've not got long at all.
11:26Do you want to quickly jump in, Herinder, before we...?
11:28Well, only to reiterate that the governance around it and how the people will be connected to it is...
11:33I think perhaps this is so new and novel, perhaps it's sort of being missed.
11:37The people, the community, will be at the heart of it.
11:40They are the ones that are going to be making the decisions.
11:42So you mentioned some projects there, like the Chatham Waterfront.
11:46Great regeneration projects have done a lot of good.
11:49But, you know, the people weren't invited to make those decisions.
11:52And that's all we've got time for, I'm afraid, for this part. Catch us soon.
12:00OK, that was good. I think we can still come back to Pride in place. What do you think?
12:04I think we can still look for the children, but we can still look for the children and get them
12:07to go first.
12:07We don't know how to do this.
18:12Absolutely.
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