Medway Conservatives have made a representation as part of the Regulation 19 process of the Medway Local Plan. The representation, focused across a number of key themes including on health, strategic transport, education, employment and business, town centres, as well as site specific representations on Chatham Docks, Rainham Parkside Village and Capstone Valley.
The response adds detail to the concerns outlined by the Leader of the Opposition Cllr Perfect at the Special Meeting of the Council last month. Medway Conservatives principal concerns are as follows:
- Health: Medway is not starting on a level playing field. There are significant challenges that our local healthcare services face. A GP crisis, a hospital with aging infrastructure in desperate need of a long-term plan, and a lack of community services for our people. Adding potentially in excess of a further 50,000 residents to this, without a clear plan or any investment from the government, will put our critical medical infrastructure in an even more precarious state.
- Pressure on our already overwhelmed utilities services: the plan is not built on infrastructure that will deliver for the long term.
- Transport services: this local plan fails to deliver a long transport plan, without plans for key critical junctions, roads that are already over capacity, and a railway network creaking and in urgent need of investment. There are currently no plans for any significant infrastructure investment from the new Government.
- Impact on Medway the place: this plan will significantly change the face of our five towns and the Peninsula. It will see massive change to all areas of Medway, and Medway Conservatives worry it is not considering the change of communities in the whole.
Medway Conservatives also highlighted concerns around the allocation of the Chatham Docks, along with the significant amounts of development across Capstone, Rainham Parkside Village, and the Hoo Peninsula.
Cllr Phil Filmer, Shadow Cabinet Member for Planning and Development, speaking after the submission said:
“Our response to Regulation 19 of the Medway Local Plan builds upon the important points raised in the Leader of the Opposition’s speech to the Council last month. We have outlined our concerns in detail, focusing particularly on several key areas where we believe the current Local Plan falls short.
While we remain firmly committed to the delivery of a Local Plan for Medway, we are equally clear that it must be the right Local Plan—one that reflects the needs of our communities, protects our environment, and ensures the provision of sustainable infrastructure that will serve Medway for generations to come.”
