Council pledges to help jobless

Banners have been put up across Medway to announce a scheme which aims to help jobless people.

Medway Council has secured more than £500,000 to offer courses to help people gain employment or better-paid jobs as part of the Reignite project.

On Monday, eight banners were placed in five key target areas to announce the scheme to residents.

The funding has come from the South East England Development Agency and the EU. The project will end in March 2008.

The five key areas are All Saints and Brook Lines, in Chatham; Twydall, in Gillingham; Melville and Brompton, in Gillingham, and Strood South.

Councillor Jane Chitty, the council's member for economic growth, said Reignite would deliver "social regeneration alongside physical regeneration".