In the Cabinet meeting on the 2nd of June 2026, the Portfolio Holder for Highways gave a masterclass in political evasion. When asked a simple, quantitative question about Medway’s Roads and how many potholes are currently outstanding in Medway and what the repair target is for this financial year, Councillor Paterson delivered a four-minute speech containing exactly zero numbers.
Instead of providing transparency, the administration has simply changed how they count failures. We are told that fixing ten potholes in a cluster is now recorded as just ‘one fix,’ and that this accounting shift explains why recorded repairs have plummeted below the number of new reports for the first time in a decade.
But residents don’t drive on spreadsheets; they drive on tarmac. Changing the metric on a computer screen does absolutely nothing to fill the actual craters damaging residents’ cars and endangering cyclists.
If the overall surface area of repaired roads has truly increased as claimed, the Portfolio Holder should have been proud to share those figures. Refusing to disclose the size of the backlog or any clear targets for the year isn’t ‘strategic prioritisation’—it is a total breakdown in public accountability and brings into question Cllr Maple’s judgement in appointing him to the Cabinet in the first place.
