The river medway can be a transport asset, dramatically cutting road usage, and can be a cutting-edge clean energy source. By 2041 it would be shocking not to be extracting its full potential in these respects.

The UK economy is 80% service sector, 20% manufacturing. Medway's economy does not reflect these proportions, being heavier on manufacturing, light on higher-value services. Moreover, if prime real estate such as the Medway city estate is still acting as a legacy manufacturing and storage area in 2041, Medway will still be trying to compete with cheaper economies further away from London, but with SE England labour and land costs. It makes no strategic sense to preserve this losing position.

The Medway city estate is a massive opportunity for regeneration away from low value (low GDP-per capita industries) to attractive housing, innovative new businesses (research and implementation into energy capture and storage from the river, for example). Setting this out in the plan will facilitate a much stronger Medway economy, while freeing up road and housing capacity. Think about how the Isle of Dogs has been transformed over the past 30 years. If we can achieve a fraction of that progress (without the high-rise building), bringing housing and high-value Research and Development business into Medway, the economic benefit will be enormous and existing road and river transport capacity will be released.