Borders.

[castle261]

Correct MartinR - My Sister in law was in Victoria Road Walderslade - she paid council tax - to Chatham - next door - paid council tax to - Malling.
Handy for rubbish - two different days..

[MartinR]

Oddly enough, I've always heard that it was a Chatham/Gillingham takeover and Rochester was intentionally taken down a peg or two.

[stuartwaters]

My mum used to work in the planning department at the late and lamented Gillingham Borough Council. I remember her complaining bitterly at the time that the "merger" of Gillingham and Rochester Councils was less a of merger and more of a takeover by Rochester of Gillingham. Whether that was the case or not I can't say but that was certainly her view from the coal face as it were.

[MartinR]

It was the Gillingham councillors who didn't think it worthwhile appointing charter trustees just for Rochester.  As a result Rochester became the first (and only) place to lose its city status.  Rochester became a city as a fortified settlement under Roman rule (a civitas).  In the early Middle Ages various cities were listed by clerics and, most importantly, royal charters recognised rather than created cities, including Rochester.  The earliest recognition for Rochester was in 1211.  So, after 787 (or more) years a bunch of mean spirited megalomaniac councillors destroyed the city, a feat which neither King John nor Simon de Montefort could manage.

[stuartwaters]

I notice you used the past tense.  The only two cities in Kent are Canterbury and (in the past - thanks Gillingham- grrr) Rochester.  I'm not aware of a town bordering Canterbury, so we will have to run with the ancient City of Rochester.  Were you on the border of Rochester/Chatham?

Thanks Gillingham? If I remember correctly the people of Gillingham bye and large voted against the creation of Medway Council. This however was not what Mr John Selwyn Gummer, Secretary of State for the Environment wanted, so we were made to vote again. By this time the politically aware like me knew what was going on and we'd be asked to vote again until we gave the Government what they wanted - Medway Council, so nobody bothered to vote in the second referendum.

[/quote]

[stuartwaters]

An example of this in my area is parts of Lordswood and Walderslade. Houses on one side of a road pay their Council Tax to Medway Council, the other side of the road it was Maidstone Council.

[MartinR]

I notice you used the past tense.  The only two cities in Kent are Canterbury and (in the past - thanks Gillingham- grrr) Rochester.  I'm not aware of a town bordering Canterbury, so we will have to run with the ancient City of Rochester.  Were you on the border of Rochester/Chatham?

[castle261]

After looking at a programme on BBC2 tonight - about WHERE people live - I have decided to add my pennyworth.
I lived in a main street - WHERE - my kitchen was in a TOWN - & my living room & bedroom was in a CITY.
My sister - in - law lived in a TOWN - with a border - that had an administration Building in another Town - twenty miles away in Kent.