Chatham Facial Recognition: 34,279 Faces, 18 Arrests

Medway is five towns that grew into one another along a single river, and it takes some knowing. Chatham, Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham each keep their own high street and their own set of arguments, and out past Wainscott the Hoo peninsula villages have another set again. One council answers for all of it.

That is the reason for this site. A decision taken by Medway Council in Chatham lands very differently in Twydall than it does in Borstal or on St Mary’s Island, and somebody ought to be reading the paperwork and writing down what it says. We go through the planning register, the crime figures, the licensing notices and the council’s own reports, and we publish what is in them with a link back to the original every time. The rest of our week goes on the pages you need on an ordinary Tuesday morning.

Where to start

• Local Info: the pages people come back for, bin collection days, parking, council tax bands, trains to London, house prices and roadworks.
• News: what the record shows, including planning applications across the five towns and where the Local Plan stands.
• What’s On: what is happening this week, in the towns and out towards Cuxton, Halling and the peninsula, starting with things to do in Medway.

None of it is guesswork. Every figure carries a link to the document it came from, so you can go and read that document yourself.