The campaign to save Chatham Docks won a new, high profile supporter yesterday when the now Maritime Minister and Member of Parliament for Rochester & Strood, Kelly Tolhurst, MP paid a visit to the busy port on 7th November 2019. 

She has some strong views about the wisdom of Medway Council’s proposed new Local Plan allowing redevelopment of Chatham Docks:

“Chatham Docks are a vital part of Kent’s infrastructure.  It’s also one of the last ports in the whole of the Southeast where such a wide variety of trades can flourish.  Steel comes in from Hamburg.    High-end yachts get refitted.  Waste arrives for recycling.  Barges load up with cargo for building sites in London.  This is a proper working port.”

“I find it hard to believe that the councillors want to go down in history as the people responsible for destroying all these businesses and all these jobs.  I would hope that once they come down here, see for themselves, they’ll have a rethink and instruct their officers accordingly.”

Carvil is assisting the business operating at Chatham Docks in fighting Peel Land & Property’s plans to close Chatham Docks and save the 800 jobs currently based there. 

Medway Council is currently working to produce a new development plan that will set a framework for the area’s growth up to 2037.  In preparing the Medway Local Plan 2018-2037 (MLP 2037), Medway Council prepared a Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SLAA) in 2018 to demonstrate the availability of potential development sites within their administrative boundary.  Included with the SLAA 2018 was Chatham Docks that had been put forward by Peel to provide a range of uses including housing, retail and leisure.  In particular, site 824, an area of 29-45 hectares that contains ArcelorMittal Kent Wire’s current site as well as site 1143, the current Chatham Waters development, was identified.