Gillingham Town Centre Taskforce
Chaired by MP for Gillingham and Rainham, Naushabah Khan, the Gillingham Town Centre Taskforce has been created to address issues and challenges facing residents living and working in the town.
It brings together a variety of council services including:
- planning
- highways
- climate change
- waste.
It also works alongside key partners such as Kent Police to help tackle the issues that matter most.
Members will continue to meet regularly to help ensure the town centre is a better place for everyone, from residents and visitors to businesses and young people.
A message from the Chair of the Gillingham Town Centre Taskforce
Gillingham has enormous potential. It has history, community spirit, and people who genuinely care about where they live. But potential alone doesn't build a town centre, create jobs, or bring empty shopfronts back to life. That takes sustained and coordinated effort, and that's exactly why I created the Gillingham Taskforce, to address the very real challenges facing our high street.
As Chair of the Taskforce board, I've seen first-hand what we can achieve when local government, businesses, and community groups pull in the same direction. We've made real progress. New CCTV and ANPR cameras are making the high street safer. Officers have spent nearly 1,000 hours tackling anti-social behaviour, and crime is falling.
A £100,000 investment is improving street cleaning, with daily sweeps now running 7 days a week. We've introduced tighter restrictions on HMO developments to protect our community. New art murals are bringing colour and pride to our streets. And a £500,000 regeneration of Civic Square is set to begin this autumn.
But I won't pretend the job is done. Anyone who walks through Gillingham town centre can see there is more to do. More investment to secure, more empty units to fill, more opportunities to unlock for local people and businesses.
The Taskforce exists because Gillingham deserves better, and I'm committed to making sure it gets it. The work continues, and I'll keep pushing until we see the change this community has earned." Naushabah Khan, MP for Gillingham and Rainham.
Naushabah Khan, MP for Gillingham and Rainham, planting a flower.