The £11.6m Innovation Park folly
Plus Castle concerts look awfully familar, Local Plan to go to consultation again, new SEND school gets closer, and more
Innovation Park Medway, since its inception nearly a decade ago, has always felt like a project built on relatively shaky ground. Now, as the site sits with infrastructure but no tenants, the project has been officially ‘paused’. What led to £11.6m being spent on a business park no one wants to move into and what happens next?
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The £11.6m folly
Innovation Park Medway, since its inception nearly a decade ago, has always felt like a project built on relatively shaky ground.
Of course, it’s easy to be right in retrospect, but the ‘build it and they will come’ mentality underpinning the project seemed optimistic in a pre-pandemic world, and almost delusional in a post one.
So it is in 2024 that we are left with an ‘Innovation Park’ for businesses that has already cost £11.6m yet has no tenants, or even interested parties, and remains a giant plot of dirt on what used to be part of Rochester Airport.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the project has now been ‘paused’ as the lack of viability becomes too much to ignore.
So what happens next?
It is undeniable that Medway lacks specialised, highly skilled jobs (at least outside of one awful company), and any proposal to improve that here should be considered.
As such, at first glance, the idea of carving slices from Rochester Airport to create significant business parks that would house 3,000 jobs, funded partly from the public purse but mostly from the private sector tenants that would be based there sounds like a good idea. At least if you believe the way to bring tech and similarly high-value industries to Medway is by making them pay for and build their own office space, but that’s by the by.
Even before the pandemic, warning signs for the project existed, with murmurings that it was proving challenging to find potential tenants, but the ‘build it and they will come’ mentality remained. Of course, in a post-pandemic world where the best companies shifted to hybrid working, the need for office space dwindled, particularly when it’s only conceptual. By the time ineffective portfolio holder for Climate Change and Strategic Regeneration Cllr Simon Curry was effectively begging Netflix to give him a call, the writing seemed to be on the wall.
Throughout, councillors from across the political spectrum continued to talk up the benefits of the project, with even those raising concerns still supporting the broader ambition and voting in favour of the project and borrowing required to make it happen. Aspirational for our area, sure, but at what cost?
So here we are in 2024, with two large-scale sites that have no tenants, no viable interest, and no obvious way forward. Worst of all, it has cost £11.6m in grants and loans to get this far. This far being two large dirt-covered areas with roads, bus stops, utilities, and not much else in between.
What happens next remains unclear. Medway Council are at great pains to point out that the project is merely ‘paused’ instead of cancelled. The explanation for this can likely be found in their own risk management reports: “There is a risk of clawback from SELEP and grant funders if the outputs and outcomes related to the conditions of the grants are not met.” Given this external funding accounts for the full £11.6m spent so far, it is unlikely the council will want to give that back, particularly as they stare into the financial abyss.
Given these facts, and that the council will now launch a review of the project, it seems likely that the project will change somewhat in scale, removing the focus on high-value businesses and lowering the bar a little for those willing to use the site. If done correctly, this will likely allow Medway Council to find a way to satisfy the funders while still delivering something.
Alternatively, a more radical (though less likely) plan could involve keeping the business park on the northern section of the site, while repurposing the southern site to help meet Medway’s housing needs. The southern site sits next to and opposite existing housing, so it’s hardly an unsuitable site. Whether or not this option would be viable is another matter entirely, but it’s clear that Netflix isn’t coming, so maybe it’s at least worth considering.
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The new Castle Concerts, same as the old Castle Concerts
With a new promoter taking over the operation of the Castle Concerts in Rochester this year, there was hope that we might see something a little different after years of staggeringly stale lineups.
So far, other than a new all-dayer structure to the event and a rebranding to Rochester Castle Live, it’s all a bit same old, same old.
The concerts are taking place over three themed days, with ‘indie rock’ being the Friday theme, 90s nostalgia on Saturday, and despite reading the description page several times, we still can’t figure out what the theme is meant to be for Sunday beyond ‘descriptives that mean nothing’. Anyway.
Still, the Sunday event is the first to have any lineup announced, featuring reggae acts including a, er, Bob Marley tribute act. Great. The headliners remain a mystery, but the marketing suggests ‘U will B amazed’, which is more interesting than directly admitting it’s UB40 again. No doubt anyone who didn’t see them play the previous events in 2014, 2018, or 2021 will indeed be amazed.
Saturday’s ‘Superboxx’ lineup was also announced, with the 90s nostalgia event being headlined by Eternal and B*Witched, who apparently both still exist. The marketing fails to highlight that Eternal now only features two of the four original members following a falling out in which half the group wanted to play LGBT+ friendly events, and the other half didn’t. Of course, it’s the half that thinks “the gay community was being hijacked by the trans community” that are playing here.
There’s still no lineup for the ‘indie rock anthems’ event on Friday, but those words suggest little more than droves of sweaty boys with guitars who probably weren’t even cool when they had that one kind of popular single back in 2007.
It’s the first year of these new events, and maybe they will get better in time, but for what are the largest live music events in our towns, surely we could do better than tribute acts and nostalgia artists.
The Local Plan, again
It’s become a slightly sad running joke of this outlet that Medway will never have a Local Plan. We’re sure most of you are aware of this by now, but a Local Plan is a document that allows a council to guide development in their area for the years ahead. It sets out where can be developed, and where can’t be, while also stopping developers from taking their chances with opportunistic applications.
Most importantly, there is a legal requirement for a council to have one.
Medway last approved a Local Plan in 2003, which expired in 2006. For nearly two decades now, Medway has been operating without one, while successive groups of councillors failed to approve a new one.
Since Labour took control of the council in May last year, they have pledged to deliver one promptly, putting a round of consultation out last summer which should set us on the path toward getting one done.
News came this week that all of the responses to that consultation had been collated and another draft Local Plan is being put together. This new version will go out for yet another consultation “this summer”. No rush guys, it’s only 18 years late already.
Consultation is all well and good, but at some point, we’re going to need to get one approved. Until we do, developers will keep submitting wildly ambitious planning applications that the council can do little to stop. Which it seems they’ll be able to do for at least another year. At least we’ll get some more consulting done though.
New SEND school gets closer
Medway has been suffering from a lack of Special Educational Needs places, and after a long period of plans not progressing, a new school is finally on the horizon for the area.
Years after it was originally proposed, plans have been formally submitted to build the 160-place Inspire Academy on the Medway Council owned sports field off Cornwallis Avenue in Twydall. Readers of a certain age might recall this site previously hosting regular boot fairs until it didn’t.
The school will take up roughly half of the existing field, with an access road being constructed alongside the school to reach the remaining part of the field. As a result, it likely won’t take long for a housing application to follow for the site, which is logical given the location and existing alternative facilities nearby.
Overall, the site seems like a good location for such a school, which should have little impact to the surrounding area. Outside of the site, some minor highway realignments will be made and a bus stop will be slightly moved to allow construction of the entrance. Hopefully that will take less than the 15 weeks it seemingly takes to do that sort of thing on the other side of the river.
A final decision should be made on the plans in May, and you can see the full plans and leave any feedback on them via Medway Council’s planning portal.
Tracey Crouch stands down
We published an extra edition on this earlier in the week for our paying supporters, but this week saw the unexpected news that Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford since 2010, wouldn’t fight the next General Election.
Announcing her decision on social media, Crouch stated that her “reasons for not wishing to stand are entirely personal and positive”, citing her cancer diagnosis and recovery as a time to pause and reflect on her priorities.
Conservative MPs across the country, perhaps seeing which way the political winds are blowing, have been making decisions to stand down to avoid defeat or a spell in opposition. With Crouch having been the most likely of the three Medway MPs to hang on in a General Election, one has to wonder if Rehman Chishti in Gillingham and Rainham or Kelly Tolhurst in Rochester and Strood may also be considering their options.
Attention will now turn to who should replace Crouch, something that will need to be decided quickly with a General Election looming. With no natural successor and the majority of top-tier parliamentary candidates already lined up for seats elsewhere, perhaps a face familiar to Medway politics will want to throw their hat into the ring.
In brief
💻 Councillors have approved the creation of a coworking space upstairs in the Pentagon. Good luck with that one.
🏭 Grain’s gas power plant is being retrofitted with carbon capture technology to reduce emissions at the site.
🛶 The new coach of the Medway Towns Rowing Club has vowed to take the club to compete at the highest level within three years despite having no members.
🚨 Conditions at Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institution have been labelled as ‘inhumane’ by inspectors.
🏹 A man in Gillingham has been shot by someone armed with a crossbow. Police are appealing for information.
🍔 KentLive has been to review the burgers at the Greedy Banker in Rainham and described them as “unlike any other”.
Events
🐉 The Chatham Chinese Festival is back on Saturday (17 Feb) after a prolonged absence. A parade, performances, authentic street food, and community stalls await anyone wanting to visit Chatham High Street to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Free
🥕 Rochester Farmers’ Market is this Sunday (18 Feb) with a variety of stalls selling fresh local produce in the Blue Boar Lane car park. Free.
📽️ Cineworld’s sci-fi season continues with a screening of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner on Tuesday (20 Feb). The film that hasn’t lost a step in the, oh god, 42 years since it was released. Tickets £5.
🎹 Next Friday (23 Feb), Rams Micropub 12 Degrees hosts an intimate gig with Marlody, who makes darkly beautiful pop music. Support from Medway singer-songwriter Rachel Lowrie. Tickets £7.50.
More Authority
Our paid supporters receive extra editions of Local Authority every week. This week, as a Valentine’s Day treat, Stephen Morris looked for Medway love songs and found it a bit more challenging than you might expect. Elsewhere, we interviewed Cllr Michael Pearce on how much impact independent councillors can have, as he and his group fight against development on the Hoo Peninsula. Finally, we published the breaking news on Monday about Tracey Crouch, the MP for Chatham and Aylesford since 2010, who announced she would not fight the coming General Election.
Footnotes
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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: It’s Sorted by Cheekface, The Joy of Sects by Chemtrails, What Still Gets Me by Shit Present, and Even on the Worst Nights by Mixtapes.
With office space already empty across Medway, it seems silly not to convert the innovation park into housing that we desperately need.