I have been campaigning for a New Hospital and with our growing local population, a second hospital site is desperately needed to take pressure of the main Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham and in order to balance access to health facilities, this second site should be located on the Strood and Hoo Peninsula side of the River Medway.
Today, I raised it on the floor of the House of Commons with the Health Secretary Rt Hon Victoria Atkins MP calling on her to speak with her colleagues in the Department of Housing, Levelling up & Communities to help secure this site for a second site Medway Hospital.
Medway Council has restarted the process to come up with a new development blueprint for the Medway Towns and the Hoo Peninsula known as a Local Plan, with an upcoming formal consultation in June. We need to tell plan makers and officers NOW what services and facilities we need and where they should be located. This is why I have launched this campaign as the former Chattenden Barracks is a perfect solution for a second hospital site.
Land is fundamentally needed for a second hospital site and the former Chattenden Barracks on the Hoo Peninsula is already owned by the Government, who would be paying for and building the second hospital itself. Any new Government provided health facility would come with local infrastructure improvements, especially with regards to access.
Homes England (the Government) is currently wanting to build around 500 houses on the former Chattenden Barracks site and this would be a complete waste of a state owned site. The constituency doesn't need these 500 houses - these could be built anywhere - what local residents need is a second hospital site.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) rightly oppose residential development within close proximity to the Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) - due to the disturbance harm to our nationally protected Nightingale population. A second hospital site does not pose the same risks as residential development - especially the hundred of houses currently proposed
