Once upon a time, “Local Plan” meant something. It was meant to be about homes for families, green spaces for kids, local jobs, and a future shaped by the people who actually live here. But crack open the latest Medway Local Plan and you’ll find something written less for the average resident and more for anyone with a Range Rover and a taste for property speculation.
Let’s call it what it is: a developer’s wish list with a side order of “public consultation” window dressing.
Look around Medway. See a patch of green? In the new Local Plan, that’s a “mixed-use opportunity” just waiting for a high-vis jacket and a bulldozer. Is your local playground looking tired? Don’t worry, soon it’ll be reimagined as “luxury apartments with access to communal mud.” Historic site? “Potential for sustainable residential development!” (That’s PR for “pile ‘em high, sell ‘em quick.”)
And the consultation? Let’s just say your voice carries about as much weight as a marshmallow on a building site. The developers get a seat at the table, you get an online survey and a promise your comments are “valued.” If you want your opinion heard, you’d have more luck shouting into a cement mixer! The public consultation phase might be open, but if you read the fine print, you’ll see it’s about as meaningful as one of those “your call is important to us” messages while you’re on hold for the council tax office.
Who wins? Not the families priced out of their own communities. Not the commuters still waiting for that promised infrastructure. Not the kids whose football pitch just got zoned for “future business park use.” No, it’s the developers, consultants, and investors rubbing their hands as the ink dries on another deal.
You want local jobs? The Plan suggests a commute to London or a career in scaffolding.
You want open space? Try the three feet between new blocks of flats.
You want a say? Fill in this survey and we’ll file it carefully – in the shredder.
You have to wonder: who exactly is this plan for? Because the only people looking excited are the ones holding blueprints, not the ones holding council tax bills.
Reform UK isn’t here for the boardroom back-slappers. We’re standing up for the people who actually live, work, and raise families in Medway. We want a Local Plan that protects what makes our community unique, not one that auctions it off to the highest bidder.
If the Local Plan was really for locals, it wouldn’t need so many glossy brochures and PR consultants. It would have real protections for green space, real investment in infrastructure, and real ambition for jobs – without selling out to every developer with a spade and a spreadsheet.
So next time you see a bunch of grinning suits waving “Local Plan” documents while the diggers line up behind them, remember:
If you like it, you’re probably a developer. If you don’t, you’re probably everyone else.