Say No Estuary Airport

25/06/2021

A new Parliamentary Petition has opened to object to the plans outlined in Medway Council’s Housing Infrastructure Fund to construct a flyover at Higham Road and a relief road through the southern end of Deangate Ridge.

There is no minimum age limit and it is not a requirement to be a constituent to sign, however, the petition needs to be read and physically signed in order for it to be accepted.

I will be presenting the petition in the House of Commons at the end of July, so the deadline to sign is the end of the day on 16th July 2021.

If you would like to sign the petition or would like to help in collecting signatures, please contact either Cllr Ron Sands, [email protected] (07784 103 447), or Cllr George Crozer, [email protected] (07711 432 598), for further information.

The full petition text is below:

“To the House of Commons.

The petition of the residents of the United Kingdom

Declares that the proposals outlined in Medway Council’s Housing Infrastructure Fund project to build a relief road and community-destructive flyover should be rejected due to their unsuitability and potential for the plans to damage the environment by destroying a key ‘Asset of Community Value’, Deangate Ridge and Sports Complex and Lodge Hill SSSI.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to ensure that plans to build a relief road from A228 Peninsula Way to A289 Hasted Road via a flyover at Higham Road, through the former Deangate Ridge and Sports Complex and Lodge Hill SSSI be rejected and the former Deangate Ridge and Sports Complex be developed as an asset that would further the social wellbeing and social interests of the local community, such as a Country Park.

And the petitioners remain, etc.”

03/04/2021

Please Help the Lodge Hill nightingales under threat from Medway councils proposals to build a new spur road through part of and close to the site at Deangate please add your name to the SAVE DEANGATE PETITION. We will be presenting this petition to Medway Council before the next full council meeting on 22nd April 2021.

Deangate Development threat to Lodge Hill “We all know how important the protection of the Lodge Hill SSSI is. Beccy Speight RSPB CEO writes about the Hoo Peninsula in response to a concerned High Halstow resident. “The Hoo Peninsula is a really important place for the RSPB.  We have been manag...

20/02/2021

New Threat to lodge Hill.

Deangate Development threat to Lodge Hill “We all know how important the protection of the Lodge Hill SSSI is. Becky Speight RSPB CEO writes about the Hoo Peninsula in response to a concerned High Halstow resident. “The Hoo Peninsula is a really important place for the RSPB.  We have been manag...

31/05/2018

Why take part in the Local Plan consultation?
Medway Council's Local Plan consultation may seem dull as dishwater and too confusing to worry about. But here's why we'd love you to take just 3 minutes to make your voice heard.

The key thing to know about a Local Plan is that it puts lines on paper of where development should and shouldn't go for the next 20 years or so.

We're all used to kicking up a fuss when a planning application goes in. When there's a Local Plan in place, that's too late - the lines are set.

So now is the time to say where those lines should go - and shouldn't go.

And don't worry if you don't trust the Council or don't believe they will listen. The bottom line is, if we say nothing, there's nothing we can use to hold them to account.

So please sign our response and help us send a strong, united message from the Peninsula.

We, as members of the local community on the Hoo Peninsula, are very concerned by the latest draft Medway Local Plan. Here is an opportunity to add your weight to the many who have summitted a response already. Please Sign on Line Here..

19/02/2018

The Medway Council Cabinet decided to close Deangate Ridge Golf and Sports Complex on the 6th of February. Deangate as you may be aware sits adjacent to Lodge Hill. The SSSi at Lodge Hill that protects Our Nightingales encroaches right up to the edge of 3 of the fairways of the club. We have seen the proposal by medway Assets Department on its website that it be sold to make way for 1,600 houses. 3746 campaigners have petitioned Medway Council to call the decision into the Overview and Scrutiny committee, please ad you weight to this petition by signing the online petition at

Medway Council: Save Deangate Ridge Golf Club

16/09/2017

"Southend Airport are changing fight p

aths over the marsh concentrating movement More towards the western end "

They are putting in place a beacon system to be able to guide aircraft into land without the use of their existing radar ( vectoring) system. In initially it will be used as a back up safety feature as not all aircraft using the airport are equipped with the technology.
The becon route will guide aircraft in over Hoo and between Cliffe and Cliffe Woods.
The traffic we are seeing today is about 50% of the total allowable flights so it is possible that we will see an increase in existing traffic with appropriately 10% of that traffic using the new beacon route.
The allowable height for aircraft flying over the peninsula is not changing.
The consultation for the public has now closed.

05/09/2017

Medway's nightingales get reprieve from housing planning application

The RSPB and Kent Wildlife Trust welcome the withdrawal today of the planning application to build 5,000 houses at Lodge Hill, Medway (Kent).

Lodge Hill is nationally protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for the rare and declining nightingale, holding up to 85 singing males. The site is also important for a wide range of other declining wildlife and habitats, including bats, rare grassland flowers and ancient woodland.

The development would have destroyed most of the nightingales' habitat, and would have set a terrible precedent for protected sites everywhere.

Over 12,000 people objected to the planning application when it was approved by Medway Council in 2014, promoting the government to 'call in' the decision; it was due to have gone to Public Inquiry in March 2018

However, the site remains earmarked for development by Medway Council in their draft Local Plan, released earlier this year. Over 12,000 people also responded to that proposal, pointing out how this was at total odds with national planning guidance, and asking the Council to remove Lodge Hill from their final plan due in 2018.

Nic Scothern, the Regional Director for RSPB South East, said "The withdrawal of the planning application is great news, and an important step towards securing a brighter future for Lodge Hill. Our thanks to the government's agencies who made this decision.

"However, we cannot assume that Lodge Hill is now secure, so we call on those involved to now be creative and find solutions for the site that bring real benefit to the local community while protecting its very special wildlife."

John Bennett, Chief Executive of Kent Wildlife Trust, said “After a huge amount of work over many years to protect Lodge Hill, alongside RSPB and other conservation partners, we welcome the common sense shown by the withdrawal of this damaging development application. We look forward, optimistically, to a positive future for the area and its wildlife, which is important for Kent and the country as a whole.”

16/05/2017