Well, Medway didn't make it through to the longlist for City of Culture (no surprises, the whole region is awful (I live there)) Does this mean that the posters and flash on the train are going to be rescinded?
Maybe, I'm live in Medway too and I never believed that they would win the City of Culture bid either for pretty much the same reasons.
The relative perception of the awfulness of the area in its residents minds is not one of the criteria for picking who gets the investment. The idea is to introduce cultural stimulus to the area not to celebrate how cultured it already is. Medway would not have made the long list because its plans for how to use the money weren’t as strong as the others and maybe didn’t meet as much of whatever the political objectives of the scheme are this time as others areas. If the pink things disappear from the trains and posters it wouldn’t be much of a loss to the game. It’s much more of a loss to the people of Medway, who will not be getting the investment and opportunity that comes with a win. Now’s the time for the people of Medway to rally round and create their own cultural stimulus. There are other sources of funding out there for local groups to get for their own cultural activities. I was once heavily involved in a project that brought around a million quid of funding for music and other cultural activities to my local area which is still having a positive effect now, over a decade later. I had to stop actively supporting it for health reasons but the project is still going strong. It is run by stronger people than me lol. Instead of complaining about your local area, do something to improve it.
A bigger loss was losing the status of City, which Rochester had, but Medway Council wanted it for the whole region, but didn't put the paperwork in in time, thus that status went to Newport (South Wales) in 1999 Then Medway decided to be a "unitary authority" to get a bit more money, until they could get Medway city status, which isn't happening. So if they think getting some street performers and putting up colourful posters will help their residents, how about fixing the roads, providing schools above "poor" ratings from ofsted or getting their sports facilities up to date (rather than just renaming them) You're not actually allowed without planning permission, just about everything in Medway requires it, which means paying for the mayor's next car upgrade rather than actually improving the lot of the people who live here
Fair enough, but I was just giving my honest opinion as to why I didn't think that Medway would win, but still well done to those that tried, i could clearly see how passionate they were about this and well done to them for what they have achieved.
It's not, it's a unitary authority, but then the "City of Culture" was expanded this time to include regions, counties etc
Isn't that the whole point - to try and bring in investment and interest to revitalise a city that kinda needs it? Hull, Coventry...
I think the point there is "revitalise"... when the most interesting thing to happen in a location (can't call it a city because it's five towns mashed together) is that the last land invasion of England happened here that says something There's little to here to add "vital" to
It's a local authority/council located in southeast England, and one of the towns there (Chatham) just so happens to be where dtg headquarters are located. Also the Southeastern High-speed route runs through here.