Medway Renaissance

Background

Strood Riverside is one of Medway’s key development sites. Priorities for the site are: to provide between 500 and 600 new homes; to develop a recreational waterfront, with new public spaces and leisure facilities; to improve access to Strood station, the town centre and the Medway City Estate; to provide community support facilities. The first phase of development for Strood Riverside, including homes and a landscaped play area called Watermill Gardens, was completed in the 1990s. The project is being taken forward by the council’s Medway Renaissance team in partnership with the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) with funding from the Communities and Local Government (CLG). Following the adoption of a development brief for the site, the project team has been investigating flood defences for the site and in July 2007, a planning application was submitted for a new river wall stretching from Watermill Gardens to the Riverside Tavern. Once a developer is appointed, an application for a further stretch of river wall extending from the Riverside Tavern to the top of Strood Dock Terminal will be submitted. It is hoped to appoint a developer during 2008.

The wider strategy

The River Medway is one of Medway’s greatest assets. It provides the backdrop for many of the most exciting development opportunities in the Thames Gateway, which will transform Medway into a new city of learning, culture, tourism and enterprise.

Strood Riverside is part of an ambitious 20-year programme for the regeneration of the waterfront. Medway Council has prepared the Medway Waterfront Renaissance Strategy in association with the Medway Renaissance Partnership.

The aim is to develop key regeneration areas along the River Medway:

• to create a modern, exciting waterfront city;
• to re-use land and reconnect communities with the river;
• to produce more and better job opportunities;
• to benefit existing communities as well as new ones;
• to create a series of urban quarters, which will contribute to creating a particular sense of place for the overall character of the waterfront.

The economic, physical and social regeneration of the waterfront is now a key priority. There is commitment to carry out the physical regeneration of previously developed sites in a way that produces sustainable communities.

Each site will contribute its own special elements to create Medway Waterfront as an exciting riverside destination. These sites represent an opportunity to concentrate new development in existing urban areas and reduce the pressure to build on greenfield sites.

Development brief

A development brief for the site was adopted as a supplementary planning document by the council in September 2006. It contains an illustrative masterplan and a set of planning guidelines that any future developer must use. The illustrative masterplan shows how it might look, once developed and achieves all the aims the council has for the site.

During preparation of the brief, the council asked a large number of organisations, businesses, commuters and residents for their views on how the site should be developed.

This development brief (and the accompanying sustainability appraisal) were subject to a six-week period of consultation. During this period, the council welcomed comments from residents, statutory bodies and interested parties. The development brief was amended to reflect the comments received during the consultation.The development brief (pdf 4,079KB), sustainability report (pdf 517KB) and cabinet report (pdf 279KB) are available to download.

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