£42m Pride in Place funding for three Medway areas
Long-term funding awarded by the government for community projects, plus council meetings, planning updates, news in brief, and lots more
Strood, Luton and Twydall are set to receive nearly £60m of Pride in Place funding over the next decade. We look at what the programme is, how the money will be controlled and spent, and what this selection says about these places, alongside council business, planning updates, news in brief, and lots more.
Medway lands £42m Pride in Place funding for three areas
Two parts of Medway are set for £20m each in long-term government funding after Strood was selected for the latest phase of the Pride in Place programme, alongside Gillingham and Twydall.
A further £2m will go to Luton through the separate Pride in Place Impact Fund, taking the new money announced for Medway to £42m. That comes on top of the £1.5m Medway-wide Impact Fund allocation announced last year.
It is a significant cash injection for parts of Medway that do not often see this kind of long-term commitment. It also opens the door to a much more local argument about what this money is actually for, who gets to shape it, and whether residents will feel the benefit in any meaningful way.
Under the main programme, Strood and Gillingham/Twydall will each get £20m over the next 10 years. The funding can be used on a wide range of local priorities, from pavements, public spaces and high streets to culture, green spaces and community facilities.
Neighbourhood Boards will now be set up for both areas, bringing together residents, businesses, campaigners, faith leaders, local MPs and the council to decide how the money should be spent over the life of the programme. More detail on how people can get involved is due later.
Luton, meanwhile, is getting £2m through the Impact Fund rather than the full ten year programme. Medway Council said that this is in addition to the £1.5m already awarded through the fund last year, which is being used for the Shopfront Grant Scheme across Medway and other initiatives.
Council leader Vince Maple said, “This is fantastic news and a brilliant opportunity for the residents, businesses and communities of Luton, Strood, Gillingham and Twydall to shape how this much-needed funding will be spent.”
“The Pride in Place fund puts the power into the hands of local communities to shape their area as part of a partnership, which perfectly aligns with our One Medway approach.”
Harinder Mahil, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for strategic regeneration and inward investment, said: “This long-term funding has the potential to make a real difference in Medway,” noting that “our high streets and shared community spaces play a vital role in people’s lives.”
“We are looking forward to working closely with our partners to shape how this funding will be used, and partnership is the key word for Pride in Place, with the funding to be used to deliver improvements and projects that reflect the local community’s ambitions for the area.”
Rochester and Strood MP Lauren Edwards also welcomed the Strood allocation, saying she was “thrilled that Strood has been awarded £20 million through the Government’s Pride in Place Fund.”
“This investment will make a big difference over the next decade and rightfully puts the power to regenerate our town into the hands of local people.”
She added that she would be “inviting people from across Strood to help shape how the money is spent, whether that’s for new community facilities, greener and safer public spaces, or improvements to our high streets. Working together, we can build a stronger community for everyone in Strood.”
Gillingham and Rainham MP Naushabah Khan struck a similar note on the Twydall funding, saying in a Facebook post that she was “proud to announce I’ve secured £20 million for our community through the Pride in Place Programme.”
She added, “Years of being overlooked? That changes now. We’re talking safer streets, green spaces, youth services, and support for the brilliant local groups that make this place special.”
Khan also said local residents would be “at the heart of deciding how this money is spent.”
Taken together, the announcements mean Medway will see two full-scale Pride in Place programmes in Strood and Twydall, alongside a smaller allocation for Luton. That is a substantial amount of money coming into three areas over the next decade, with ministers and local politicians alike presenting it as a chance for residents to shape what happens next in places that have too often been overlooked.
That still leaves plenty unresolved.
For all the talk of community control, the difficult part comes next. The boards have to be formed, chairs agreed, local priorities worked through, and plans drawn up. Government guidance says these boards are meant to be community-led, but the relevant MP must sit on each one, at least one ward councillor has to be included, and the council remains the accountable body at the start of the programme.
That does not make the promise of local control meaningless, but it does mean the eventual shape of the boards will matter a lot. If they feel open, representative and rooted in the neighbourhoods they are supposed to serve, this could become a genuinely important piece of long-term local investment. If they end up looking like the usual collection of political figures who often sit on these sorts of panels, people will notice that too.
The other question is what this money ultimately pays for. The government’s intervention list is broad enough to cover almost anything from public realm works and parks to bus improvements, youth provision, CCTV, sports facilities, health hubs, adult learning and business support. That flexibility is part of the attraction. It also means the first real row may not be over whether the money is welcome, but over whether it is being used for visible transformation or for things residents feel should already have been happening anyway.
For now, though, the shape of the announcement is straightforward enough. Medway has landed two major long-term Pride in Place allocations for Strood and Twydall, with a smaller additional pot for Luton.
What that turns into on the ground will depend less on Friday’s announcement than on what happens after it.
Council matters
Meetings next week:
- Tuesday: Regeneration, Culture and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will hear from portfolio holders, and debate school streets.
- Thursday: Business Support and Digital Overview and Scrutiny Committee will hear from council leader Vince Maple and discuss opening up the council's petition system.
New planning applications:
- Construction of a six-storey medical centre on Gun Lane in Strood.
- GP surgery on Woodlands Road in Gillingham proposes remodelling its ground floor and adding a first floor extension.
- Reconstruction of lost WW1 pathways and fence lines around Lodge Hill.
- After a quiet couple of weeks, there's a bonanza of new HMO applications. This week, we have proposals for Ingram Road, King Street, Paget Street, Park Avenue, Rainham Road, and Roseberry Road in Gillingham, and Wheatcroft Road in Rainham.
In brief
🧑⚕️ The first GP surgery has moved into the new healthy living centre upstairs in the Pentagon in Chatham, with others set to follow in the coming weeks.
🏥 Jonathan Wade, who currently heads up both Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, has suddenly resigned.
🗑️ Flats across Medway are set to have food waste collected for the first time, with residents receiving kitchen caddies and bin liners ahead of the 6 April launch.
🎯 Pier Five, Shepherd Neame's pub at Chatham Dockside that isn't the Ship and Trades, has rebranded as The Sin Bin, a garish looking sports and games bar.
☕ Slough Fort in Allhallows now has a cafe.
Property of the week
This four-bedroom townhouse inside Chatham’s Historic Dockyard is on the market for £425,000 and is selling a very specific pitch. It is a modern family house in a monitored, 24/7 security bubble that feels a long way from Chatham town centre, even when it is not. It is spread over three floors with three bathrooms, including two en suites, balconies front and rear, a small low-maintenance garden, and off-road parking plus a garage. The genuinely useful feature is the self-contained ground-floor bedroom suite with its own en suite, walk-in wardrobe and utility space, which makes the layout more flexible than most townhouses in this bracket. It is not period charm. It is convenience, an unusual setting, and the appeal of living in the Dockyard without having to live in a listed building.
Events this week
🎤 Sat 21 Mar - Emily Barker // Intimate performance by award-winning Australian singer-songwriter. LV21, Chatham. Tickets £24.
🤼 Sun 22 Mar - UKPW //Action-packed wrestling entertainment. Parkwood Community Centre, Rainham. Tickets £10.
Sport this weekend
⚽ Gillingham FC vs Bristol Rovers // Sat 21 Mar, League Two, Priestfield Stadium. Floundering Gills take on floundering Rovers.
🏉 Medway RFC 1XV vs Shelford // Sat 21 Mar, Regional 1 South East, Priestfields Recreation Ground. Bottom of the table Shelford come to Medway, who will be looking to push themselves a little bit further up the table.
⚽ Chatham Town Women vs Cambridge // Sun 22 Mar, Women’s National League Division One South East, Bauvill Stadium. Struggling Cambridge visit Chatham.
Playing away: Chatham Town visit Burgess Hill Town (Isthmian Premier), while Invicta Mustangs go to Lee Valley (NIHL Division 2 South).
Footnotes
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