Medway Council ponders selling Brook car park, Upnor Castle, its own council chamber, and more
Plus new Intra proposals are inefficient but nice, Lodge Hill awakens from slumber, news in brief, and more
The main recurring storyline for Medway Council in recent years has been its struggle to balance the books. As part of that effort, the council is now proposing selling a number of sites, with The Brook car park, Upnor Castle, and even the council chamber potentially being offered. Further down, we have news on a nice looking but inefficient housing development in Intra, Homes England attempting to develop Chattenden Barracks once again, news in brief, and more.
Medway Council ponders selling Brook car park, Upnor Castle, its own council chamber, and more
Medway Council is continuing its push to balance the books by proposing a second round of asset sales. Sites on the table include The Brook multi-storey car park in Chatham, Upnor Castle, several car parks and toilets, and Medway’s council chamber.
The move follows a previous round that identified 30 sites to potentially sell, including Gillingham Business Park, Rainham Shopping Centre, and Temple Manor. Those sites were identified as part of a review of non-operational sites (those not used for council activity), and now a review of operational sites has been completed.
This new round has identified fewer potential sites but has still found the following as being surplus to requirement for the council:
The Brook multi-storey car park, Chatham
St George’s Centre, Chatham
Hopewell Drive Business Centre, Chatham
Offices at 17 Rochester High Street
Strood Cemetary Lodge
Britton Farm car park, Gillingham
Upper Mount car park, Chatham
High Street No 2 car park, Rochester
Lower Stoke car park
Albatross Avenue car park, Strood
Further, the council proposes a formal consultation on the future of Upnor Castle and public toilets in Rainham, Cooling, and High Halstow.
The implication for Upnor Castle is that as the site is not council-owned but council-managed, they suggest that English Heritage should take on the full running of the site to save the council money.
It is unclear exactly how much revenue can be raised by selling public toilets, and any move that would result in the loss of toilets in the centre of Rainham is likely to be very unpopular.
The main asset list doesn’t yield any great surprises. For years, rumours have abounded that The Brook car park will be demolished as part of a large-scale regeneration scheme for Chatham. The car park is well past its prime, underused, and deeply unpleasant after dark.
The St. George’s Centre currently houses Medway Council meetings. Medway has no formal council chamber, and any sale would depend on providing a new chamber. This has been on the table for some time, but it is unclear how much progress has been made.
The car park sales are based on a formula that suggests they don’t return enough revenue to the council. This makes sense as the Rochester car park is often the only one in the town with any spaces, and most visitors to Chatham probably couldn’t find the Upper Mount car park if you paid them. The Lower Stoke and Strood ones are more complicated, as both provide free parking. The former is the main car park in the village, while the latter provides the only place to park in Medway that makes Cobham Woods vaguely accessible.
Like with the previous list, it is unlikely that Medway Council will find buyers for all of these sites. In total, Medway has now identified nearly £40m in assets across these two rounds, but the intent is to try and raise around £20m in revenue.
The proposals will be debated at the Regeneration, Culture and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee next week before moving on to Cabinet for approval.
Intra housing proposals look nice but offer grossly inefficient development
Plans have been submitted to Medway Council to redevelop a stretch of the Intra area between Rochester and Chatham. While the proposals are visually attractive, they feel like something of a waste of a prime bit of brownfield land in a town centre location.
Developer Parklake Estates consulted last year and proposed building 75 homes on the site. In these final plans, this has been reduced to just 28 houses, with the majority being two and three-bedroom townhouses.
The plans call for demolishing and replacing several industrial buildings on the site, including the Rock Church that fronts High Street. Pizza Hut and the Thai Market would remain in place, with this new development built around them.
Still, while the land use is inefficient and unlikely to provide affordable homes, the developer should be commended for proposing new properties that blend with the street's environment. In a world where most new developments in Medway are in the same mundane styles, these appear to offer some new character to the area.
Lodge Hill awakes from slumber
One of the longest running sagas in Medway planning looks set to return, with Homes England once again looking to bring forward a residential development on the former Chattenden Barracks site.
The area was once proposed to become the Lodge Hill development, effectively a new community on the site. However, these plans were scuppered when a large part of the site was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest because a rare nightingale species made its home there.
The new area Homes England is consulting on is rather smaller and represents the south section of the site. This area was not granted any special scientific designation. Currently, the site is primarily brownfield, consisting of foundations from the buildings that previously existed there.
There are no clear proposals for the site at the moment, with Homes England holding engagement events at Chattenden Community Centre next week. You can find more details on the consultation website.
In brief
🐁 Mice have been spotted on a Medway Hospital ward. Medway NHS Trust said it is working with pest control experts to resolve the problem.
🏚️ The vacant Hen & Chickens pub in Luton could become housing. Proposals have been submitted to convert the building into ten flats.
🏡 Medway Council has agreed to build its own care home to tackle the shortage of spaces in the area. The project will provide 80 beds at a cost of around £12m.
🏫 Plans have been submitted to redevelop the University of the Creative Arts building in Rochester. The £20m plans feature 102 ‘luxury’ homes, an art gallery, a cafe, and a bakery.
More Authority
We sat down with independent Medway councillor Chris Spalding for our weekend interview. We discussed why he represents All Saints on the Hoo Peninsula, what happened to his startup Medway People’s Voice party, and why he did or didn’t join UKIP, the Brexit Party, and Reform.
"The idea was to put independents on the council"
Chris Spalding has been the elected independent councillor for All Saints on the Hoo Peninsula since 2023. Steven met Cllr Spalding at the Mast and Rigging pub in Gillingham and they spoke about why he is the councillor of All Saints, why he doesn’t vote on the council budget, what happened to his startup Medway People’s Voice party, and why he did or didn’t join UKIP, the Brexit Party, and Reform.
Footnotes
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Guess what! Another 'Intra' place that isn't. It's just in St Margaret's, Rochester parish. 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢 is the suffix applied to areas of non-Rochester parishes (Chatham, Strood, Frindsbury) which found themselves *inside* (𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢 in Latin) the boundaries of the city.
I see that Strood Cemetery Lodge is on the list. My children's childminder lived there, as her husband was in charge of the Cemetery, and of unlocking and locking Rochester Castle Gardens every morning and evening. My girls called it 'Uncle John's castle.' I was aware it was a tied house. I am no longer in touch, so I don't know if they had to move out once he retired.