Medway tried to evict Wigmore travellers. Now it wants to make their site permanent
From eviction attempt to £2.7m investment, plus council meetings, planning applications, property and events
Just over a year after Medway Council went to court arguing that travellers should leave the former park and ride site in Wigmore, it is now proposing to borrow up to £2.7m to turn it into a permanent council-run facility. We examine why the council's position has changed, alongside our weekly round-up of Medway news, council business, planning, property and events.
Medway tried to evict Wigmore travellers. Now it wants to make their site permanent
Medway Council is proposing to borrow up to £2.7 million to turn a traveller site in Wigmore into a permanent council-run facility, little more than a year after it went to court to remove the families living there.
The former park and ride site on Maidstone Road would be rebuilt with eight pitches accommodating up to ten touring caravans, alongside permanent water, sewerage and electricity connections, utility blocks, landscaping and a communal or play area.
A future second phase could add another six pitches on neighbouring land.
It represents quite the change in direction for Medway Council, which previously insisted the former car park was unsuitable for permanent occupation and pursued possession proceedings against the families.
The site has not moved, but the council’s view of what should happen there very much has.
Cabinet will be asked on Tuesday to back the scheme and recommend that Full Council adds £2.684 million to Medway’s capital programme, initially funded through prudential borrowing.
The figure is described as a worst-case estimate for the first phase and assumes no external funding. Officers hope to secure money from Homes England, although no grant has been agreed and the papers do not estimate how much might be available.
The possible six-pitch expansion is also not included in the figure. Councillors are effectively being asked to approve the principle of extending the site later, with the bill for that particular ambition left for another day.
The proposed first phase would include site clearance, groundworks, roads and hardstanding, utility buildings, lighting, fire-safety measures and noise barriers. Renewable technology including solar panels and heat pumps would also be explored.
The site is currently occupied by the same Romani Gypsy family group which moved there in July 2023 under a three-month agreement granted because of urgent welfare concerns.
When that agreement expired in October 2023, the families remained, and Medway Council began proceedings to recover the land.
15 adults and 14 children were living there by the time the case reached Canterbury County Court. Several residents had serious physical or mental health conditions, while children from the site had enrolled at nearby schools.
The council argued that it needed possession of the land and maintained that the former car park was not suitable for permanent occupation. It pointed in particular to the absence of mains water and sanitation.
The court rejected the possession claim in May last year, finding that removing the families would amount to a disproportionate interference with their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The judge found that the council had not demonstrated any urgent need for the land, which had sat unused for years, or provided a viable alternative for the residents.
The court was also critical of Medway’s failure to properly explore relatively straightforward improvements. These included installing a standpipe or providing temporary facilities to address the lack of water and sanitation.
Responding to the judgment at the time, Cllr Louwella Prenter, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for housing and homelessness, said granting use of the site had only ever been intended as a temporary measure.
“The car park is not deemed to be suitable as a long-term site for permanent occupation,” she said.
Cllr Prenter is now one of the two portfolio holders presenting the permanent site proposal to Cabinet.
The council can reasonably argue that there is a difference between accepting the site in its current state and spending millions of pounds to make it compliant.
It has no permanent water, drainage or electricity infrastructure, no defined pitches and no formal licensing arrangements. The council says this prevents it from controlling capacity, enforcing standards or ensuring safe distances between caravans.
Residents currently pay £24 per caravan each week towards rubbish collection and toilet facilities, but the council receives no rent. A permanent site would allow it to issue licences, introduce a fee structure and formally manage who occupies the land.
Even so, the contrast with the council’s previous position is difficult to miss.
Having spent time and public money arguing that the former car park was unsuitable and should be returned to its control, Medway now describes it as “suitable in principle” for permanent development.
A feasibility study points to the site’s access to Maidstone Road, proximity to local facilities, relatively flat ground and existing hardstanding as reasons it can be developed.
These features were presumably present during the possession case.
The families also secured planning permission on appeal in June last year for the land to be used as a traveller site accommodating up to ten touring caravans. Any substantial rebuilding or expansion would require a new planning application.
The change is not solely the result of the failed court action. Medway is also under considerable pressure to show government inspectors that its emerging Local Plan makes adequate provision for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation.
The council’s own assessment identified a need for 56 Gypsy and Traveller pitches and eight Travelling Showpeople plots between 2022 and 2041.
Recent planning permissions have provided 26 pitches, leaving a remaining requirement for 30, alongside all eight Travelling Showpeople plots.
Local Plan inspectors have questioned Medway’s failure to identify enough specific, deliverable sites. They have also raised concerns about its reliance on expanding existing provision rather than formally allocating new land.
Council officers now warn that failing to develop Wigmore could put progress and adoption of the entire Local Plan at risk.
Formalising a site that already has residents and planning permission therefore offers Medway one of its clearest routes towards satisfying the inspectors. What began as a temporary welfare arrangement has become an increasingly important part of the council’s long-term planning strategy.
The project would not happen quickly. Preparing a planning application, appointing designers and running the procurement process is expected to take between 12 and 18 months before construction could begin.
The current residents would then need to leave the site while work takes place. The Cabinet papers do not say where they would be accommodated, how long construction might last or how much the temporary move would cost.
Those details are particularly significant given that the earlier court case turned partly on the lack of suitable alternative accommodation.
The council’s financial modelling, including anticipated income and running costs, is contained in a confidential appendix. The public papers therefore do not reveal what residents might eventually pay, whether fees would cover the site’s operating costs or what the borrowing would cost Medway over its lifetime.
Leaving the site in its present condition is estimated to cost approximately £50,000 each year.
Officers have also decided that no public consultation is required for the Wigmore development because, according to the report, “the site is not near a residential area.” This is likely to be one of the more contested sentences in the papers, particularly after local residents became involved in the court proceedings.
Cabinet is not being asked merely to install the water supply that was discussed during the possession case. It is being asked to begin transforming an informal encampment into a designed, licensed and potentially much larger council facility.
Whether that is a pragmatic response to a court defeat, overdue provision for families who have now established themselves in Wigmore, a solution to Medway’s Local Plan problems or some combination of all three will be for councillors to explain.
Local Authority is now on WhatsApp.
We’ve launched a WhatsApp channel for Local Authority, where we’ll share new stories and the occasional major Medway development directly to your phone.
Council chaos, planning rows, disappearing pubs, strange licensing hearings, and the rest of life around the towns can now be available in yet another app you already check too much.
Catch Up
Elsewhere at Local Authority, the July Culture Review took us from The Libertines in Rochester Cathedral to a safari on the Hoo Peninsula, via railway arch beer, Turkish grills and the search for Medway’s second best lamb chops.
From Medway’s culture to its uncertain political future, we also looked at how Medway is preparing for life after Medway Council. Gun Wharf is already being readied for a new North Kent authority, despite nobody knowing who will run it or quite what North Kent is supposed to be.
That looming reorganisation formed part of our latest interview with council leader Vince Maple. He discusses whether North Kent risks becoming Greater Medway, his intention to stand for the new authority and why, after nearly two decades as a councillor, he believes he still has more to offer.
In brief
🏥 An independent review of Medway Maritime Hospital found a 'nothing to see' attitude toward patient safety concerns.
🧑💻 IT issues once again meant GPs couldn't access records properly this week.
🚌 Children can ride buses for free throughout August on all main Medway bus operators.
🚧 The Brook car park in Chatham will close on 6 September ahead of its potential redevelopment into housing.
☕ Starbucks inside Chatham rail station is set to close.
🎬 Spider-Man: Brand New Day filmed multiple scenes in locations across Chatham Historic Dockyard.
📚 A lovely review of Store 104 in Rochester.
Council matters
Meetings next week:
- Tuesday: Licensing Hearing Panel will debate an extended licence for the Cricketers in Gillingham, which local residents are rather unhappy about.
- Tuesday: Cabinet will meet to discuss finances, the Wigmore traveller site, climate change, ICT upgrades, and lots more.
- Wednesday: Councillor Conduct Committee will discuss two complaints against councillors, but we can't tell you anything about them because these things happen behind closed doors.
- Thursday: Licensing and Safety Committee will talk about, well, licensing.
New planning applications:
- Replacement of existing outdoor tennis courts at former Avenue Tennis with outdoor pool, extended hospitality, padel courts, and additional hospitality.
- Conversion of GP surgery on Bryant Street, Chatham into 9 studio flats.
- Installations of electric vehicle chargers at Morrisons in Strood.
- HMO in Pretoria Road, Gillingham.
Property of the week
Rochester's former St Bartholomew's Hospital is now one of the town's most distinctive places to live. This one-bedroom duplex makes the most of the conversion, spreading more than 800sqft across two floors beneath vaulted beams, with sweeping views across the Medway to the castle and cathedral from both the apartment and its communal terraces. At offers over £220,000, it also comes with a 294-year lease and peppercorn ground rent. The only obvious compromise is the lack of parking, but opportunities to live in one of Rochester's best-known historic buildings don't come along every week.
Events this week
⛳ Until 8 Aug - Adventure Golf // Bridge-themed indoor course pitches up in Chatham. St John's, Chatham. Free.
✈️ Sat 1 Aug - Rochester Airport Family Fun Day and Air Display // Air displays, fun fair, food and drink, and live entertainment. Rochester Airport. Tickets £17.50.
⛪ 1 - 29 Aug - Art on the Delta // Medway's creative scene takes over the cathedral with contemporary art, activities, and more. Rochester Cathedral. Free.
Footnotes
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