Why did the councillor visit the estuary?

Sadly not the start to a hilarious joke, but a serious question about whether or not Medway Council Leader Alan Jarrett is abiding by the rules of the coronavirus lockdown. Some recent content from his Instagram account raises some questions.

One post shows his dogs ‘on the estuary’. Given Cllr Jarrett lives in Lordswood, some distance away from the estuary, it seems unlikely that he has just walked his dogs down to the river from his home.

A second post raises questions as to whether or not Cllr Jarrett has been continuing his hobby of wildfowling during the lockdown. It seems unlikely that he would have been partaking in this hobby in his back garden, or wandering around Lordswood with a rifle, although that does provide quite the image.

All the while Cllr Jarrett is putting out statements encouraging residents to abide by the restrictions.

To be clear, we are not suggesting any illegality on the part of Cllr Jarrett’s actions if he has indeed been travelling to walk his dogs or other activities. The rules as written are vague enough that there are a number of grey areas. We would however question whether or not it is reasonable for a council leader to be setting this kind of example while encouraging residents to stay home.

The Medway Conservatives have responded to this issue, but managed to do so in a way that only raises further questions.

If this is indeed the case, we are curious about exactly what land this is, as Cllr Jarrett doesn’t declare any other than his own home as part of his register of interests. Further, it seems slightly strange that pigeons ‘fresh’ out of the freezer are neither frozen and still appear to contain feathers.

Local residents quickly started raising questions about the response:

https://twitter.com/stueybourne/status/1250005711041572865

More on this important story as we get it.

Leave a Reply