Motion

Vote Result

Votes in Favour

Votes Against

Abstentions

Absentees

Motion

Chatham Docks is under threat of closure from landlords Peel L&P, who have claimed that the site is no longer financially viable, despite having used their ownership of the land to demonstrate their commitment to employment when applying for residential planning permission on an adjacent site.

The docks have been designated for 'mixed use - housing & employment' in the current version of the local plan.

This council notes that:

• Chatham Docks is a thriving commercial port which provides over 800 skilled local jobs and 16 apprenticeships, and the vast majority of Chatham Docks employees live in Medway
• The closure of Chatham Docks would have a negative impact on the employees and their families because they would either lose their jobs or have to relocate; some of the businesses at Chatham Docks are physically unable to relocate due to the nature of their operation
• Chatham Docks makes a positive contribution to Medway's economy and uses environmentally sustainable methods to ship goods which would otherwise be transported by road
• Medway's local plan has not yet been approved, and previous iterations have been criticised for failing to designate sufficient numbers of sites for employment use.

This council resolves to ask the relevant officers to consider to:

• Remove 'mixed use - housing & employment' designation for Chatham Docks
• Safeguard employment, skills, and the local economy by re-designating Chatham Docks as solely for employment use before the local plan is submitted for approval.

On being put to the vote, the motion was lost.

Vote Result

Votes in Favour

The following councillors voted in favour of the motion:

Votes Against

The following councillors voted against the motion:

Abstentions

The following councillors abstained from voting on the motion:

Absentees

The following councillors were absent from the vote: