Trailer: Exclusive Interview with Vince Maple

KentOnline / KMTV

Medway Council Leader talks £12 million overspend, Devolution with KCC and the General Election.   24-minute 'The Kent Politics Show' Special airing 23rd January 2024, 7PM.

Transcript

00:00 Another huge problem facing Medway Council is this projected overspend of £12m.

00:05 We know the budget is looming in February.

00:08 What are some of those areas we will see cuts in?

00:10 There is no no-go area. We've been looking at every part of the council.

00:14 We either have to spend less, we have to do things more efficiently

00:18 or we have to bring in more income generation.

00:21 You're currently dealing with this overspend,

00:23 so does that mean we might see council tax going up a little bit more?

00:27 We've never said we wouldn't raise council tax.

00:29 The Medway Council tax is the lowest council tax in Kent as we're speaking today

00:34 and we're doing everything we can to try and continue to have that position.

00:37 Because the previous administration here in Medway failed to get to grips with that

00:41 and frankly failed to lobby their own party...

00:43 You often do blame the previous Conservative administration,

00:46 but when are you going to come to the point to take some responsibility

00:49 as you're currently the leader now?

00:50 I'm taking responsibility every single day.

00:53 Free bulky waste and weekly bin collections.

00:55 It's been an issue at the start of January with many residents not having their bins collected,

01:01 so that's a pledge that's already starting to fail a little bit.

01:04 Huge amounts of residents in Medway have gone, "We understand this.

01:07 We understand that sometimes at Christmas in particular there can be a real challenge."

01:12 I want to move on slightly and talk about devolution.

01:15 At the start when this was announced in the middle of last year,

01:18 there was a little bit of friction.

01:19 Roger Gough, the leader at KCC, wanted a directly elected mayor

01:22 and you weren't really seeing eye to eye on that.

01:24 Some would say this is all politics and you could potentially be concerned

01:28 not having the numbers for an elected mayor.

01:30 If you're having devolution, let's get it down to,

01:32 you know, not just myself and Roger as the upper tier authority leaders,

01:37 but actually there are districts and boroughs who play a vital role in our community.

01:40 Is Labour just going to continue to scale back on other pledges then?

01:44 We could have pledged anything and not delivered it.

01:47 That's not our approach.

01:48 We will pledge things we can deliver.

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