Association of chatham docks commercial operators

The campaign to save Chatham Docks won a new, high profile supporter yesterday when Kelly Tolhurst paid a visit to the busy port on 7th November 2019.

Until Tuesday’s dissolution of Parliament, Kelly was both the local MP and the Government Minster responsible for Small Business across the U.K. Now the general election has been called she is the Conservative candidate for the Rochester & Strood seat. She has some strong views about the wisdom of Medway Council’s proposed new Plan allowing redevelopment of the 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.”

She believes that Medway Council’s proposed rezoning of the Docks, in its new Local Plan, is a very bad idea:

“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.”

David Jenner, Director of P&D Material Recovery Ltd (PDMR) - one of the U.K.’s leading waste management companies – agrees:

“The Council seem to think we can all just move somewhere else. To put it politely, they don’t know what they’re talking about! We’ve already invested £6 million in our operations here. Our equipment is fixed; we physically cannot just relocate. If the Docks go, we go. It’s as simple as that.”

Phil Taylor, CEO of ArcelorMittal Kent Wire and founder member of the Association of Chatham Docks Commercial Operators (ACDCO), also welcomed Kelly’s involvement:

“We’re delighted to have her support. She really understands what the loss of the Docks would mean for the whole of Medway. We only wish the Council had half as much interest in this as she does.

We asked for an urgent meeting with officers and they told us the soonest they can come is February next year.”

If Medway can be persuaded to continue to designate Chatham Docks for commercial use, Kelly Tolhurst and ACDCO know that the battle won’t end there. Landlord Peel L&P is keen to offload the port, attracted by the quick financial hit that a sale for waterside housing offers.

In terms of the future Kelly Tolhurst stated:

“We need a plan to safeguard the long-term future of Chatham Docks. Around the country there are some very successful examples of what can be done when the public sector and business get together with vision and fresh thinking. Those models are worth looking at.”

For her - whose family history is steeped in Kent’s maritime traditions - the survival of Chatham Docks is something that is close to her heart:

“It would be a very, very sad day if we end up with no commercial Docks on the river. I’m going to do all I can to help protect them”.