Hello readers,
As Medway’s population continues to expand, the council has just issued fresh calls for more sites to meet the Government’s target of 28,339 homes by 2040 and are set to begin a consultation process on where to put them.
I first wrote about Medway’s house building targets back in March 2018, which equated to 1,410 properties per year to meet demand and now we are looking at an additional 1,667.
Government housing targets have been long criticised by councils as being unrealistic and this announcement interestingly sits against the backdrop of Rishi Sunak promising to scrap housebuilding targets back in December 2022!
So, what are we looking at? Medway council has 7,583 homes in the pipeline and there’s a predicted 3,000 wites not within a structured Local Plan leaving 19,173 houses needed.
When we look at population growth however, the growth Kent County Council Forecasts by 2040, represents population growth of 24% from 279,800 in 2021 to 346,300. This is the largest growth number in the Kent & Medway area!
Of the housing target, Cllr Simon Curry, portfolio holder for climate change and strategic regeneration said the following:
“We’re not sure we can deliver that, it’s a huge figure imposed upon us from above.
If there was a Labour government we may get a different figure, but we have no idea. At the moment, we work with what we’ve got.
We’ve got various parties lobbying for different things, we feel that going into the plan is the fairest way of dealing with the conflicts.
It is going to be difficult, we’re not going to deny that.”
Not wanting to drag politics into the conversation, but there’s an interesting comment on a Labour government there. I’ll leave you to draw a conclusion on that.
Of areas for potential redevelopment, controversial plans to transform Chatham Docks into homes have been added to the list of possibilities alongside Capstone Valley which I wrote about back in June.
Bearing in mind the level of population growth anticipated it’s a helpful reminder of how attractive the Medway Towns remain for investors. With excellent proximity to London (but without London prices), the time to buy and hold in the area is now!
I will be keeping my eyes out for the full consultation as it is released and endeavour to keep you updated with everything you need to know, however as these things usually are I’m sure we will have some twists and turns along the way!
Hasan
