Medway Council is due to consider the next stage of the Local Plan.
The Council’s Cabinet will tomorrow discuss a recommendation to launch public consultation on proposals for how Medway could change in coming years, including potential sites for future development.
Due to meet on Tuesday, 9 July, Cabinet will consider a proposal to begin eight weeks of consultation on the Local Plan, as part of Regulation 18, providing the opportunity to create a sustainable future for Medway communities.
This is the public’s opportunity to have an input on a document that will help shape Medway for years and decades to come – everyone of all ages, who live or work in Medway, is encouraged to be involved.
The plan will affect everyone – it will cover communities, the natural and historic environment, town centre revitalisation, housing, employment, improved facilities such as schools and local transport choices (walking, cycling and buses), health centres and shops as well as better access to green spaces including parks and play areas – so we want to hear from all residents in Medway about what's important to ensure sustainable growth in Medway up to 2041.
There are currently three broad options for development; option 1 focusing on urban regeneration; option 2 focusing on dispersed growth; and option 3, a blended strategy looking firstly at urban regeneration and brownfield sites but also at some greenfield sites.
The Local Plan is not just about new homes and businesses; the Local Plan is about helping Medway to grow sustainably, together we can find a balance between the need for development of homes and jobs and protecting the best of Medway’s wonderful natural and historic environment.
The needs of our environment and climate change, our local economy and of our local community are central to Medway’s Local Plan, they are the driving principles to encourage and drive sustainable growth.
The availability of affordable quality housing is key part of the Local Plan. Good quality housing leads to improving quality of life, and around the country poor housing is estimated to cost the NHS £1.4Bn every year.
Further figures show 33 per cent of people in social rent report ill health compared to 10 per cent of homeowners, but buying your own home is becoming an increasingly difficult thing for young people to do.
In Medway the average house price is 8.7 times higher than the average wage, having increased 23.3 per cent in the last five years – and that situation is not going to improve without more homes.
It is envisaged that the majority of homes built under the Local Plan would go to Medway residents, with 65 percent of homes built so far for MDC developments having been sold to buyers with ME postcodes.
There will need to be 1,658 new homes a year built in Medway to keep up with the area’s predicted housing needs – a figure set by central government. This equates to a total of nearly 28,000 homes between now and 2041 – and Medway’s Local Plan will provide a strategy for how this can be achieved sustainably. It is vital that the new homes come with the necessary infrastructure to deliver that sustainability and it is recognised that this will be a challenge.
Medway Council Leader, Vince Maple, said: “If agreed by Cabinet, we will be launching a consultation on the Local Plan from 15 July. This stage of the Local Plan represents an exciting moment for Medway, as an opportunity for us all to build a picture of a place where we and future generations can thrive over the decades to come. Our existing plan was signed off more than 20 years ago so is in desperate need of updating. I would urge everyone to get involved and have their say, so that the plan becomes a vision shaped by all of us, which we can all get behind. This is about improving Medway for the better, so please take some time to look through the plan and give us your feedback. What you like as well as what you would like to see changed/don’t like.”
Cllr Simon Curry, Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Strategic Regeneration, said: “The Local Plan and the decisions within it have a direct impact on people’s quality of life, and, if the recommendation is approved by Cabinet on Tuesday evening, this will be our chance to help improve everyone’s wellbeing in the future. Research shows that 80 per cent of health issues are things that can only be tackled outside of the NHS, by improving homes and area, tackling loneliness and improving community engagement – all things that can be influenced by the Local Plan.
“The importance of the environment you live in is a clearly shown by differences in life expectancy around the country – and in Medway a difference of 10 years between two wards only two miles apart is a stark reminder of the need for social regeneration. But we need everyone’s involvement to help guide where regeneration will happen, so I look forward to talking to and hearing from as many people as possible, young and old, as we look to the next stage of shaping the plan.”
Following consultation in autumn 2023, which focused on the vision and priorities for Medway’s future growth, the recommended next stage this summer involves detailed proposals on our preferred site locations for future development, and proposed policies to manage growth.
The new phase of consultation will help us gather further feedback to help develop the draft Local Plan, providing residents, communities and businesses with further details, prior to a draft plan being finalised for review in 2025.
It will also help provide a clear timetable for delivering the plan, demonstrating our commitment on delivering a new plan in the next two years.
Ultimately this will outline where growth should take place up to the year 2041, helping make Medway an even greater place to live, work, learn and visit for years to come.
If approved by Cabinet, the public consultation will launch on Monday, 15 July for eight weeks. There will be in person information events, and plenty of opportunity for Medway residents to have their say.