iFAQ: Housing infrastructure fun

Medway was recently awarded a £170m grant from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock future housing developments on the Hoo peninsula. While homes are desperately needed in Medway, these developments are very unpopular around the peninsula due to a perception of over-development. As such we decided to ask if this was the best use of the funding, or could it have been better spent in other parts of Medway.

It was recently announced that Medway has been awarded £170m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock future developments on the Hoo peninsula. Do you feel that this is the best use of this money, or do you feel that other parts of Medway could have benefited from access to these funds? If so, how?

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

Any investment for Medway is good news and is long overdue.New developments need to take account of how best to provide affordable homes for rent because that’s the greatest need we have in Medway and those homes need to be available in all parts of our towns. The Peninsula community feel that their views are being ignored so more effort needs to be made to consult them.
New developments only work if they have good transport and decent services so health infrastructure and education facilities should be prioritised and environmental protection must feature prominently in any planning decisions too.
Cllr Teresa Murray, Labour, Rochester East

This HIF bid is heralded by Cllr Jarrett and in his words”will give us the opportunity of providing new homes on the Hoo Peninsula”once again proves Medway councils idea of Unlocking the potential of the Peninsula is building 12000 houses.
Peninsula residents will still have only one way on & off the Peninsula and have to share that one road with thousands of new residents.We must protect the Hoo Peninsula from unsustainable over development & save our unique national and international wildlife site.
Cllr Ron Sands, Independent, Peninsula

There is no doubt this investment is vitally important to the community. This sum, however, doesn’t come close to the levels of investment needed in Medway – that is the reality of a near decade of Tory austerity.
Cllr Vince Maple, Medway Labour Leader, Chatham Central

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