I SPENT a fair amount of time earlier this year reporting on the activities of Allhallows Parish Council.

It is one of those authorities to which the Prime Minister wants to hand over greater responsibility. The trouble is, most parish councils in Kent are self-perpetuating oligarchies.

They have insufficient candidates and select from friends and "interested" individuals. It rapidly opens the way to abuse of the system as I immediately discovered the minute I turned up for my first meeting.

"Who are you?" and "What do you want?" were rapidly followed by a refusal to make available papers to which any member of the public is legally entitled - agendas, minutes and any reports.

The problem in the village of Allhallows was the youth club had become a very popular attraction for the local kids who had nowhere else to go.

A couple of recently-appointed councillors had got to grips with the problem, taken over The Brimp (a tatty old builders' hut complex), roused local support from kids, parents and assorted adults, and transformed it.

That upset the Old School of Benevolents who handed out grants, ran a handful of activities and claimed the praise for so doing. They tried to shut it.

They were up against some angry residents.

The most disgraceful thing (for any observer or believer - however jaded - in democracy) was the way the local police support officer was ticked off in public by a councillor for having the temerity to praise the club for the work it was doing with the young people..

Several residents decided to force an election last May.

Hate and abuse messages started to fly through the ethernet, by phone, through whispering campaigns and even at this blog.

The election went ahead, and most of the old school was turfed out.

I raise this issue five months later because in the past few days the newlook parish council has won two of the top five awards in this year's Kent Village of the Year competition.

One was for best newcomer.

The other was for The Brimp - taking the best Social Action award.

It pays over £3,000 a year as a mayoral allowance, it still has a mayor's chain, and the recipient of the mayoral thousands wears the civic bling.

It simply lacks a mayor.

The man appointed to the position, Cllr Tony Searles, decided off his own bat to drop the title - and become the council's chairman.

No one seems to have approved the decision, consulted on it, or bothered to tell the person who runs their website which introduces Swanley Town Council with these words: "It is essentially a parish council but has adopted town status which means the chairman of the town cCouncil is designated mayor."

If you thought regeneration was a problem in Chatham, spare a thought for peaceful, pleasant Gravesend a few miles down the road.

Both towns are earmarked for riverside developments, have (or in Chatham's case, had) waterside gardens, and certainly have grand plans for the future that have upset a lot of people.

Medway residents would do well to watch what Gravesend's civic society has achieved.

Urban Gravesham is ostensibly local residents with local concerns. They got together four years ago when plans were announced to redevelop the heritage quarter in Gravesend that many people had reservations about.

The heritage quarter is one of six "quartiers" in Gravesend. It straddles the boundary between Gravesend and the former borough of Milton. The boundary is best recognised by the High Street where once I tried (and failed) to keep up with a surprisingly athletic Gordon Brown.

They found they had common concerns. They certainly heard the sort of stories that are fairly familiar in Medway that "if we don't get on with it now, it will be the end of us as a thriving community".

As individuals they were largely ignored. As a body corporate they suddenly found they had power.

There were experts in law and planning among them, but there were also people with commonsense ideas who had lots of friends and were able to explain the weaknesses in the "develop now" argument.

Their first success was to stop a 36-storey tower block on the waterfront.

They had been arguing loud, vociferously and intelligently against it. The basis of their comments was that such a creation was completely out of the question in a town like Gravesend where a car park and shopping centre are the tallest buildings.

The developer, Edinburgh House, scrapped the idea and went back to the drawing board.

The locals kept a close eye on the situation and were critical about some of the ideas that were coming forward.

The plans came forward - and the council's planning committee shocked everyone by voting 5 - 4 against the plans.

Edinburgh House decided they had invested too much to let it go. They appealed.

It has cost them millions.

This week they threw in the towel, recognising they were not going to win: either their case or the support of the community.

They have changed their tactics. They want to talk to the opponents and get their ideas - a complete reversal from the past.

Now consider Chatham. Replace "developer" with "council".

Medway Council is still seeking the public's support for its ideas.

Its problem is that it has never understood how to consult - or even what the word means.

In Gravesham, thousands respond to consultations, and plans get changed to take those ideas on board.

In Medway a hundred responses is looked on as a major triumph. It certainly is if you don't want common people spoiling your dreams.

The waterfront at Gravesend will be redeveloped, but should be closer to what the community wants.

In Chatham, the waterfront is littered with lost flyovers, unloved bus stations and motorists who feign traffic sign illiteracy.

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Consultation is a risk.

You might get the mundane, the uninspiring or crass.

Take the new open space in front of the Civic Centre.

Gone are the goldfish that children loved to tickle.

In place if their sizeable pool is an open area with trees.

There was a hint of genuine regret at the mayor-making ceremony on Wednesday night.

It was not that the mayor, Ted Baker, was not a fit person for the office for Medway's First Citizen.

It was because the gentlemen's agreement to keep the office above politics no longer exists.

The system developed at Gillingham more than 30 years ago was a way to get rid of the rows that are once again developing over who should have the honour. Each group started without a single point. Come the election they would have a point for each member that was elected. The group with the biggest total then selected the mayor to represent the Towns… and promptly dropped back to a position of nil points.

Twelve months on, the number of councillors then in each group would be added to the total left after the mayor had been picked. Whichever group then had the majority would chose the next mayor - and drop back to zero points.

It meant that each group got their chance based on what the electorate had chosen.

If it restarted this year (which of course it hasn't) it would mean that the Tories would have the mayoralty this year and next - the prized Diamond Jubilee year - and Labour would follow the year after.

Instead whether or not they intended it to be that way, the mayoralty is squarely a political issue, decided by the majority party.

That in turn means it is inevitable there will be an alternative candidate promoted by the opposition. In this case their choice was Ted Baker's successor in 2003, Nick Bowler.

His chairmanship of the council, his laid-back way of treating the arguments and pouring soothing oil on the vitriol, is still remembered with great pleasure by all who sat before him.

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Not that being mayor is an easy task.

Apart from keeping the warring factions apart in council meetings, the councillor chosen to be the mayor has to attend on average 16 events a week including at least one school trip.

For the councillor's partner that means being pitched into a limelight they might have sought for years to avoid.

It also opens up the world of temptations - of too much to eat, too many nibbles, a few slurps… One mayor I knew always started out with the highest of aspirations to stay fit, avoid too many meals and so on. Each time he failed spectacularly. He was the perfect demonstration of why we larger people are said to have corporations…

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There is usually a guessing game in the local newsrooms as to who will be mayor.

For three years the Conservatives used up their stock of Davids - Royle, Carr and most recently Brake.

One argument was they would return to the beginning and select David Royle once again.

Instead Ted Baker emerged from the selection process as their choice for high office.

None of us saw there was still a direct link back to the previous mayor.

Baker is an anagram of Brake…

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The Cabinet has seen one or two changes, the most notable of which was the appointment of David Brake to take over Tom Mason's adult services portfolio. Tom moved to tackle corporate matters.

Elsewhere some of the work carried out by the former councillor, Janice Bamber, has been shared among the cabinet members.

It is still 10 members strong, but that is neither surprising nor illogical.

After all, we are talking of a board of 10 specialist directors running a business with a turnover approaching a billion pounds a year.

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Throughout all Wednesday night's fun and games there was no mention from the Conservatives of City status - nor of the fact that the council had handed in the bid papers.

There is an section of the community that doesn't agree with Medway becoming a city.

The majority of them continue to demand Rochester should be reappointed a city.

The trouble is that the government made it very clear that favourite towns like Rochester or Lichfield could not be nominated. Only councils could nominate - and it had to be the entire administrative area.

Consequently Medway's bid was the correct one, and no matter how many people bleat and complain about the rights and wrongs of Rochester's demise, the bid has been made according to the rules.

The reception in the House of Commons was officially sponsored by Rehman Chishti, councillor and MP for Gillingham and Rainham.

He treated me to a pot of coffee in the Pugin Room before the event, but he didn't fork out for the reception (equally sober and just as pleasant) in Dining Room No 1.

Nor did the council, well aware of the allegations of "high costs", "waste" and so on..

Instead, the cost was met by one of the many companies backing the bid - in this case the French-owned Veolia, Medway's rubbish collectors.

The next mayor of Medway will break a three year run of Tory Davids - he's called Ted.

Ted Baker is the latest Conservative to be appointed mayor.

He spares the party plenty of blushes. They seized the right to name the mayors a few years ago, and have kept the other parties out of the equation (and the Tudor robes) ever since.

This year no one was eager to grasp the right to be the Queen's Representative or to chair the warring factions at a much reduced number of political meetings to verify what the Cabinet decides. That's why Steve Kearney, the former Lib Dem Deputy Mayor, was being groomed. Then he was voted off the council.

As the days have got closer to the annual meeting, there have been some big sighs around Gun Wharf (and elsewhere) that the issue has been resolved.

So - who will succeed him?

Will the Tories once again sacrifice everything to go to Buck House, have their names inscribed on the mayoral plaques and be a Medway figurehead?

Or will they run out of willing subjects?

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Rumours - subsequently confirmed by photographic evidence - show that two Medway councillors have got their hands on Olympic medals.

I don't know the full story, but it will be in the Medway Messenger next week.

Also in the news and in Monday's paper will be news of a leading politician from the past who has died.