Planning Proposals - Current Threat

Medway Council’s current development plan, The Medway Plan 2003, protects existing employment uses for Chatham Docks and states in policy ED1: Existing Employment Areas that “proposals for development resulting in the loss of existing industrial, business or storage and distribution development to other uses will not be permitted.” In addition, policy ED9: Chatham Docks states, “port-related development and an expansion of the commercial port, as defined on the proposals map will be permitted.”

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.

viability reports

Tide turning in fight to save Chatham Docks – New reports show that the future could be so bright

A series of new report have been issued by the Save Chatham Docks Campaign highlighting the opportunities for the future at Chatham Docks. It heaps even more pressure onto landowners Peel L&P who want to turn Medway’s 400 year old commercial port into riverside flats.

The raft of documents that have been sent to Medway Council’s planning department for it to consider as part of its consideration of its new Local Plan include the following:

- A viability report prepared by Medway’s leading accountants, Crossley Group, into the economic conditions surrounding commercial tenancy at Chatham Docks that concludes that the return on Chatham Docks is “above industry expectations and is therefore economically viable from a capital perspective.”

- A report by marine consulting engineers and ship surveyors, ABP Marine Limited, into the costs of repairing the existing lock gates at Chatham Docks. This report concludes that it would only require a capital outlay of £3.5 million to repair the lock gates rather than the £30 million suggested by Peel.

- An economic and financial assessment of Chatham Docks by Independent Port Consultants that concludes that “in view of the cost estimate, financial viability and impact on jobs and revenue if the operation is made to close, ending the operation to render the land available for alternative uses does not make economic sense”

- An economic opportunities report prepared by the Save Chatham Docks Campaign outlining the opportunities for Chatham Docks going forward. Drawing on evidence from three recent technical documents, the new report provides a comprehensive look at whether the Docks have a long term future. It assesses the impact the Docks have on a range of issues that affect Medway residents namely jobs, air quality and the economy.

Economic Impact Report

Council’s Docks Closure Plan will cost Medway £258 million a year

A new report into the economic impact of Medway Council’s plans to close Chatham Docks shows that the decision will cost Medway’s economy £258 million worth of business every year. It will also have a devastating impact on jobs and the environment both in Medway and beyond.

The report - by Professor Tim Strangleman of the University of Kent - is the first in-depth, academic assessment of the value the 400-year-old Docks bring to Medway. Prof Strangleman’s findings show that Chatham Docks is the largest private sector single source of revenue in the town, generating almost 10 times more than Chatham Historic Dockyard.

He paints a damning picture of what closure will mean:

· £258 million worth of business lost per annum.

· 800 highly skilled, well paid jobs will go at the Docks. 1440 more local jobs will be lost from the supply chain / local stakeholders who rely on Docks trade. 200 planned new on site jobs will not happen.

· Environmental cost. There will be a massive increase in CO2 emissions (12,610t/CO2 per year) through loss of onsite recycling, engineering & transport of finished goods that can currently be done by water.

The Docks cannot be replicated elsewhere. Chatham Docks is a unique port & manufacturing hub. It’s the only non-tidal, enclosed dock in the Kent. It is a feeder port for European trade and a manufacturing hub. Its businesses include manufacturers that make the steel that builds London’s infrastructure; hi-tech specialist recycling firms and ship repair and maintenance operators.

CO2 REPORT

A new report into the environmental impacts of Medway Council’s plans to close Chatham Docks shows that the decision could have a devasting impact on the health and wellbeing of Medway residents. Increases to CO2 levels will worsen local air quality by a staggering 300%, turning Chatham into “one of the worst affected areas in the UK”.

The report - by Environmental and Sustainability Specialist Dave Sheedy - examined the impact of Medway Council’s plans to close Chatham Docks as a working port, allowing it to be sold off for housing.

The report’s findings will make alarming reading for anyone who cares about breathing clean air and meeting global climate agreement standards:

· Rezoning Chatham Docks from industrial to mixed use will worsen Air Quality by 300% from its current level.

· Air Quality levels will be so harmed that Chatham will become “one of the worst affected areas in the UK outside of Central London”.

· Tumbling Air Quality will be caused by massive rises in CO2 emissions (12,610t/CO2 per year) through loss of onsite recycling, engineering & transport of finished goods that can currently be done by water.

· The businesses currently at the Docks are all legally required to meet very high environmental standards on pollution and emissions. Future residential/mixed use developers will not require the same standards.

Planning Proposals - Current Threat

viability reports

Tide turning in fight to save Chatham Docks – New reports show that the future could be so bright

400 years of chatham docks

REPORT

REPORT

CHATHAM LOCK SYSTEM

Economic Impact Report

CHATHAM DOCKS - ECONOMIC IMPACT REPORT

CO2 REPORT

Analysis of CO2 emissions of shipping activities in Chatham