An angry landlord says he’s going to take in asylum seekers in a move he thinks will cause issues for a local authority.

For 10 years John Walsh has communicated with Medway Council over what he says are numerous problems with traffic in his neighbourhood.

He’s complained about the quality of the road surface in Lambourn Way, Lordswood, and “inconsiderate” parking by parents of children at nearby St Benedict’s RC Primary School.

The 69-year-old also says the street and adjacent Knole Road are being used as a rat-run.

He began writing to the authority in 2014 – including an 85-signature petition – and has offered a number of solutions but claims he has been dismissed, mocked and ignored

However, Medway has revealed to KentOnline that a recent traffic survey carried out on his behalf cost taxpayers £10,000.

But Mr Walsh believes the council has never intended to help him and deliberately focused on his most extreme solution to dismiss the others.

He said: “You shouldn’t have to complain for a decade to get the council to do something.

“It was only later – because I’m not that clever – I realised, they’ve conned us because they deliberately focused on closing the road, knowing damn well it would tick all the boxes for dealing with the petition, but it would never be implemented.”

Now Mr Walsh, who owns several properties across the Towns, intends to offer up his own home to asylum seekers in return for cash from the company Serco, which is responsible for finding accommodation for them.

He believes this move would cause issues within the wider community which would then, in turn, cause issues for the council.

He said: “From people I’ve spoken to, I can get £4,000 a month for housing refugees; if I split up my house into seven rooms.

“I’ve looked into making an application to Serco because the council has treated me so badly.

“I’ve decided to make an application to the Home Office via Serco to house the poor war-torn refugees that don’t seem to have any place to go.”

In 2022, Mr Walsh submitted the petition which asked the council to consider resurfacing the road, which he says has not been done for more than 30 years.

He also wanted speed bumps added or a gate on the end of Knole Road to prevent drivers using it as a shortcut.

Last August, Medway performed the traffic survey, using automatic number plate recognition cameras which tracked how many cars were only entering the residential area to bypass the Dargets Road roundabout.

They found only 34 vehicles at peak times in the morning and 18 at peak times in the afternoon were cutting through the estate.

All other traffic either began or finished their journeys within the area and so had reason to be there.

They also said they had requested navigation apps not route traffic through the estate anyway, to avoid any possibility of it being used as a shortcut.

However, Mr Walsh took issue with the study, saying it had been done only on one day during school holidays and was not representative of the reality.

He also said he had provided officers with large amounts of evidence which he felt had been ignored.

After the study, Mr Walsh’s petition was brought to the regeneration, culture, and environment overview and scrutiny committee on February 28.

Councillors heard his concerns about the way the petition had been handled by officers.

Speakers are given five minutes to make their case but Mr Walsh spoke for a further two minutes and interjected during councillor discussions to contradict or correct.

Councillors said most avenues appeared to have already been explored by the council, but cooperation with the school might be possible.

However, Mr Walsh said he had already tried to get it to tell parents to pick up children as quickly as possible to reduce nuisance parking but had been ignored.

He said he had written more than 200 letters in the 10 years and said if he wasn’t listened to he may have to campaign to get the 200-pupil school closed down.

St Benedict’s head teacher Sarah McApline said: “Like many other schools, we encourage parents and carers to park safely and respectfully. We thank all our families who park with consideration of our neighbours and local residents.”

Mr Walsh also told the committee the council had not listened to him, did not seem interested in evidence he provided, and when he spoke over councillors during their discussion his microphone was cut off.

Medway was asked what the cost of his crusade had been, financially and in man-hours, as well as for response to his accusations and plans.

Apart from the traffic survey, it couldn’t estimate the total man-hours spent over the 10 years.

But interpreting data, considering options, site visits and presentation of recommendations and findings generated around 220 hours of work.

It denied accusations it had not considered Mr Walsh’s petition properly – saying it takes all petitions seriously and on their own merit.

This included undertaking detailed surveys or assessments in order to draw evidence-based conclusions when necessary.

KentOnline also spoke to other residents in Lambourn Way but none of those we approached felt as strongly about the traffic situation as Mr Walsh.