Plans for Chatham Docks approved but can't go ahead yet
The application cannot yet proceed due to the general election
Controversial plans for turn Chatham Docks into a business hub have been approved - but its fate is still yet to be sealed.
Medway Council approved the application at a meeting last night (30 May) by eight votes for and seven against.
Owners Peel Waters want to redevelop the site but have faced backlash due to it being the last working docks in Medway.
However, the application still cannot proceed until the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities decides whether to accept a request for a call-in after parliament was dissolved for the general election.
Until that decision is made the application is subject to an Article 31 direction which means it cannot progress.
The approval from Medway Council’s planning committee will only come into effect if the Secretary of State decides to reject the request for a call-in.
The proposals by Peel Waters were submitted in January and would mean the demolition of the existing warehouses in favour of workspaces of various sizes and the creation of a waterside walkway and cycling path.
The application was supposed to come before the planning committee on May 8 but due to a legal challenge from businesses on the site, it was deferred while planning officers responded to the arguments made.
At the start, officers gave a reminder that the matter being voted on was exclusively about the application and not the wider Chatham Docks site.
Before the meeting started the Save Chatham Docks campaign group protested outside the St George’s Centre, chanting “save Chatham Docks”.
The Save Chatham Docks group said the docks generate £258m of business for the area.
The proposed scheme does not affect the Historic Dockyard at Chatham, which is run and operated by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust.