Donor gives Rehman Chishti money, Chishti supports development plans of donor

For legal reasons those two facts are entirely coincidental

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Welcome to the latest Local Authority Medway newsletter, where it turns out everything is terrible this week.

Donor gives Rehman Chishti money, Chishti supports development plans of donor

For legal reasons those two facts are entirely coincidental.

I feel like a broken record at this point, but once again the lack of a Medway Local Plan is causing development in places that people don’t want development.

This time, after four refusals, permission was finally granted on appeal to build homes on the former Avenue Tennis site in Gillingham. As ever, the appeal was likely granted because the lack of Local Plan and a failure to meet housing demand leads to inspectors siding with developers who are offering to build.

Local residents have campaigned against this housing for years. Ward councillors, both Conservative and Labour, have spoken out against it. Even I, the guy who would build on pretty much anything, feel like it’s pushing it a bit to cram six many houses on a tiny site surrounded by other houses.

Two people are likely to be delighted though: Developer Colin Jarvis and Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti.