Rochester's city status was lost deliberately by Labour councillors, senior Conservative figures have claimed.

Rochester West Cllr Stuart Tranter and Rochester and Strood MP Kelly Tolhurst are demanding answers after highlighting council papers from 1998, which they say show members were directly involved in decisions that led to Rochester losing official recognition as a city.

It's long been held that the loss of city status - due to the failure to appoint ceremonial "Charter Trustees" - was an administrative error made when Rochester upon Medway City Council merged with Gillingham and Chatham to form the Medway Unitary Authority, and that the "mistake" was not officially noticed until 2002.

But council papers from January 1998 show members were given the full facts in a report that went before the Policy and Resources Committee - which stated the government had approached the

Rochester council regarding its views on appointing Charter Trustees.

"With effect from the 1st April 1998, the city status currently enjoyed by this authority, together with its ceremonial rights and privileges will cease," stated the report. "However, where authorities wish to preserve those ceremonial rights and privileges, provision exists under the Local Government Act 1972 for Charter Trustees to be established."

The recommendation to the committee was "no action to be taken to establish Charter Trustees".

Former Mayor of Medway, Cllr Tranter, said the documents showed the eventual failure to appoint such trustees - and the consequent loss of city status - could no longer be called a mistake; and that the blame lay with the then-Labour leadership.

"This is possibly one of the worst betrayals of public trust in living memory", he said. "Twenty years on and barely a week goes by when someone does not lament our loss of city status.

"These documents appear to show conclusively that Labour knew exactly what they were doing when they decided not to keep our city status by not appointing charter trustees. And even more important: why did they did not make this decision public in 1998 but instead kept it a secret? Why did they blame council officers for the mistake? We should now demand the full story."

Rochester MP Kelly Tolhurst said the information was "gutting".

She said: "As a lifelong Medway resident, I was devastated to learn recently that the loss of Rochester’s city status was not an administrative mistake after all, but a deliberate policy by the then Labour leadership and hidden from the public.

"This is possibly one of the worst betrayals of public trust in living memory..." - Former mayor Cllr Stuart Tranter

"Rochester had been a proud ancient city since Roman times and an official city for the best part of eight centuries thanks to its religious, military and economic importance along the North Kent coast. To know we lost this heritage because of an underhand political decision is gutting. Labour cannot be trusted to maintain Medway’s unique identity and clearly don’t understand how close this is to local people’s hearts.

"We face a long-term fight to overcome the complex challenges facing Rochester regaining its city status, now being part of the wider Medway unitary authority which harbours intentions of its own city status. Now the only apparent way for Rochester to regain its status is for the Queen to grant the honour. I know many residents feel strongly about this, and they all deserve to know the full truth about this loss of our heritage."

The loss of city status first became public knowledge back in 2002, but even then The City of Rochester Society said the loss was a direct result of the failure of the former Rochester upon Medway City County to appoint charter trustees before it was absorbed into the new Medway Council.

Medway Labour Leader Vince Maple accused the Conservatives of deflection tactics - using a "dead cat story" to distract people away from current issues, such as the sale of the Conservancy building.

"This is a dead cat story if ever there was one," he said. "It's a distraction. They're throwing the cat on the table and talking about the dead cat rather than the issue at hand.

"It's interesting to see Kelly writing a press release on this matter. Unfortunately we haven't seen a press release from her on the sale of the Conservancy Building - which impacts on 2018, today, rather than 20 years ago.

"The real issue is the council selling off half the Guildhall Museum."

Cllr Maple said he was not involved in politics when the Medway Unitary Authority was created but said it was likely both Conservatives and Labour councillors had been involved in decisions affecting Rochester's city status.

He suggested councillors of different parties would have voted to back the council officer's recommendation on the issue of appointing Charter Trustees; while many were arguably more focused on the "Medway project", to create the unitary authority and improve the status of Medway as a whole.

But he added: "There are very few councillors now who sat on the old Rochester and Medway councils - you're talking about meetings two decades ago."