Policy T27: Reducing Health Inequalities and Supporting Health and Wellbeing

Where is the mention of a new hospital, new GPs and other health-related services that are intended to look after thousands of new members of a massively expanding community due to these homes being built? This is Trumpian - saying what will happen with no indication of how it will materialise. How can you write so many words without actually saying anything at all?! The community want specifics. Not empty statements.

If Medway is to support Health & Well-being, the Infrastructure for this needs to be in place before Residential development commences. Our (one) Hospital is massively oversubscribed, as are GP Services and pretty much every Community Health Centre\GP practice. If this does not happen it will cause even more Health hardship to all Residents. It’s a nonsense to build more Homes without Services in place to support them. You cannot possibly have a Healthy Community without these services in place from the off.

Having visited Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre on Thursday 29th August to look at the exhibits and to speak to various council officials, including Vince Cable, I do not agree with any of the options. Absolutely every member of the public in attendance whilst there at the same time as me voiced the same concerns regarding the Local Plan, the major issue being infrastructure. Without a new hospital (I was informed whilst there that it is not in the Councils remit to ask the NHS to build another hospital in the Medway Towns but feel there is more that could be done by the Council on this subject), improved drainage/sewerage, additional schools, GP surgeries & GP's, Dentists and improved roads I strongly object to any of the plans.
Medway Hospital has one of the largest catchment areas in the country (I worked there for 12 years so know first hand about the problems) and is really struggling to cope with the number of residents as it is without new residents. People are sometimes having to wait many hours to be seen. Children living locally struggle to find a place at our local schools (because of coach and train loads of youngsters from London attending our schools, particularly grammar schools, leaving no places for local children), we are all struggling to get a face to face consultation with our local GP's and even a telephone consultation can take 2-3 weeks to be available. Many people are unable to register with a local NHS dentist which will, again, be worse by the influx of new residents from these developments. The sewage system in the Medway Towns is not up to scratch for the amount of residents.
If there is an accident on the M2 the whole of the Medway Towns are gridlocked for hours which will be made worse by the influx of additional residents living in these new housing estates.

As mentioned previously the medical services available to the villagers is minimal. We have lost two doctors surgeries and I believe there is no longer one at Grain either. Medway Hospital is the only place for many to get any help from and the waiting times are horrendous.

More GP and health walk in centres; well boing be enhanced for all residents if properties were well maintained and streets kept free of rubbish and old furniture.
Penalties applied if not.

To support our communities, doctors and hospitals to serve the community with mental and physical health.
Get rid of 20 mph, zones. road works must be at night and completed within timescales or charge a fee. Have free parking, and free community/business social spaces. Safe places to keep fit or take a run in Rainham - the pavements, lighting.. I counted 10 sets of traffic lights outside the police station and pier road!
Rainham Healthy living centre should be made a free social community space for charities such as Sahara for mental and physical signposting or events. restaurants and nightlife

By destroying open spaces in Allhallows it will adversely affect mental and physical health. People will be prevented from enjoying walking in a natural environment taking in the views seeing badgers hares foxes birds frogs greater crested newts bats etc and savouring fresh air which all creates a sense of wellbeing. You will make it very dangerous for horse riding that is a pastime enjoyed by children to grandmothers. All good for physical/mental health. People need to work long hours to afford these homes hardly time to grow food! Farmland is for growing food, allotments hardly compare!

When considering reducing health inequalities, please don't forget the importance of loneliness, community and wellbeing, as one of the most effective ways at tackling this is through community and cultural activities. Unfortunately these are actively penalised at the moment by Medway Council.

Medway's attitude to business rates with regards to the arts, is a significant limiting element to the development of developing our community and cultural offer. Considering arts and culture as a "lifestyle" with regard to business rates, rather than a fully charitable or educational service, even when the arts is used to support socially prescribed health activity, significantly impacts the viability of creative organisations in Medway. Instead of benefiting from full rates relief, paying 20% can strain the financial sustainability of charitable arts organisations, limiting their ability to deliver community programs, support local artists, and contribute to cultural development. This reduced relief forces these organisations to divert resources away from creative and community initiatives, ultimately weakening the cultural vibrancy and accessibility of the arts in the area.

As an example, The Halpern Charitable Foundation is one of the largest providers of wellbeing support in Medway, providing over 20,000 free or low-cost wellbeing places each year, and the winner of numerous awards for their mental health work, including Kent's Comuninty Charity of the year, but under Medway Council's classification, is equated alongside golf and sailing clubs with regards to rates relief.

In fact art galleries, even those run specifically to be FREE to medway's public, and so improve our general cultural offer, are specifically singled out as only receiving a 80% maximum relief. This means that our two galleries are not really viable so are delivered as a charitable activity, taking money away from our other work. There will be no new galleries in Medway, and we are having to look ourside of Medway for opportunities to expand our work, due to this arbitrary decision

https://www.medway.gov.uk/downloads/file/3368/charity_and_community_amateur_sports_club_relief

Section 3.3.1

"Irrespective of the type of organisation liable for the payment of non-domestic rates, all charity shops (including galleries) and charity cafes will receive 80% mandatory relief only. "

There seems to be 11 pages about health care and yet the only part referring to doctors surgeries is a paragraph of only 5 lines! The other 11 pages read very well yet according to the local council we need to building another 1,658 new homes every year in Medway.
Quote: Major development must ensure that primary health care facilities provided are of an appropriate scale. This is pure waffle as it is not of a scale now.
This is utterly insulting when people are not happy about waiting six months to see a doctor.

Before large scale developments take place will Medway Council ensure there are adequate
gp surgeries,
schools,
shops
and roads to support developments?

Particularly interested in the High Halstow area.

Thanks,

Bob Bishop

I cant see anything written here about persons in wheelchairs of mobility scooters( not the E ones) Walking and Cycling are advertised ad nauseum, but nothing about disabled people who like to get out in their wheelchair or mobility scooter. ( admitted they can be a bit difficult sometimes). Getting out the house might be the only time they ,manage to see someone . This is good for their mental health .:Pavements can be difficult to navigate .It just says different abilities. Provision needs to be accessible. Young people in their lunch hour head straight for the junk food outlet.

LDP mentions green spaces are vital for mental health but doesn't mention that Allhallows will be surrounded by building sites rather than green fields in future, possibly for years with delays to the self-builds.

Policy T27-Section 7: Aims are commendable but this doesn’t tie in with the urban sprawl that the council is planning to build. The plan will reduce people’s well-being and health on the peninsula which may reduce health inequalities across Medway but mean more areas will face greater deprivation in Medway with an increase in health issues in the population as a whole.

This is all well and good but the construction of all this development will be the death of most i'm sure, this issue is causing myself and others major and unnecessary stress as it is

While we welcome references to the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) tool, we believe that the following steps could be taken to improve HIA implementation for planners, public health officials and developers:

- An unambiguous trigger for an HIA within policy wording. At present, Policy T27 states that ‘All major development proposals or those that the Council would consider having the potential to have a significant impact on health and wellbeing’ must be accompanied by an HIA. The triggers for the latter are not clearly defined - precise thresholds could include the number of homes, size of floorspace, location and/or type of business. In Medway, we suggest that HIAs could be required for proposals in deprived areas with poor levels of health and/or on certain business types, such as hot food takeaways, betting shops, and off-licence shops.

- Consider setting out the HIA process to clearly state expectations for what an HIA should include.

- Consider the outcomes of HIAs and explain how the results of HIAs will be implemented, for example through planning conditions. This could also include details of implementation, ongoing management of issues and/or monitoring.​

- Include explicit metrics for monitoring HIAs to inform evaluation of the effectiveness in a given location.

Need to start getting more doctors etc in the local area now as demand cant cope without increasing the population

agree

Demand for essential services will increase not only from Medway's own population, but also from residential developments in neighbouring Authorities and close to their boundary with Medway. There should be dialogue between authorities where this will happen.

Introduction to the River Medway and its amenity as part of a structured access route for everyone.

I support this policy.

I support this policy.

Welcome the emphasis on health and well being.
Welcome the management of hot food takeaways; off-licences; and payday lenders, betting shops and amusement arcades.

Support restricting the number of take aways providing poor quality food. The location of these outlets is also important, as are the opening times.

The push to build new housing must take into account the health services available in the catchment area. The existing services especially like Medway Maritime hospital cant cope with the current population, so simple ratio of beds/residents in a given region or ward must be increased. I suggest to enable local clinics of which I have been to 3 (Rainham, Gillingham, & Rochester) need to provide extra or expanded services to reduce demand on hospitals. For example, I should be able to get an x-ray at my local clinic & not need to visit a hospital.

Building in Allhallows, where I live, will have a detrimental impact on residents' health and wellbeing. By taking away green spaces, you'll reduce areas for recreation and relaxation, crucial for mental and physical health. The increase in cars will raise pollution levels, worsening air quality and adding strain to our already weakened sewage system. These combined effects will significantly degrade the quality of life, making our village less healthy and less enjoyable to live in. The focus should be on improving existing infrastructure and preserving green spaces, rather than expanding housing in a way that harms the community.

The new Local Plan should contain the ambition for finding a site for a new general hospital, which is more accessible for most Medway residents and is an attractive place to work.

Fully agree. Absolutely necessary. Strategies to improve people’s health are vital.

Have you tried to get a doctors appointment recently or visited a dentist (NHS or private) or even tried to access services at Medway? It’s impossible!!! More houses and no more services. It’s all well and good saying you’re going to include hospitals and GPs etc but we simply don’t have the workforce! Same with teachers - there aren’t any to fill the vacancies already! Have you tried to get a his from Lordswood to Medway hospital?? You can’t! No direct or easy routes, or cheap!

A drive to recruit GP's needs to occur in Medway to support the growing population and there needs to be consideration for further minor injury centers or the plan for a new hospital to ensure the health and wellbeing is appropriately met.