Residents, visitors and businesses are invited to celebrate the regeneration of Strood town centre with a free family fun day, which will showcase the completed improvements to the Commercial Road car park, Tolgate Lane and a new look Strood market.
Love Strood
Love Strood will be held at the Commercial Road car park on Tuesday, 28 August, from 10am to 3pm.
There will be plenty of fun for all the family at the Love Strood event including facepainting, street entertainment, a construction machine simulator and a mobile children’s library. Visitors can also discover more about future phases of the works, which include changes to the road layout to help improve peoples’ journey through the town centre.
The project aims to boost economic growth, provide new jobs and create a place where people are proud to live and work.
£9 million transformation project
Medway Council successfully secured funding from the government’s Local Growth Fund through the South East Local Enterprise Partnership to improve Strood Town Centre.
Work began on Strood’s £9 million transformation project in February following a consultation with traders, residents and businesses.
Cllr Rodney Chambers, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Strategic Regeneration, said: “I am looking forward to celebrating the completion of the works in the Commercial Road car park, Strood market and Tolgate Lane. Strood is one of Medway’s key regeneration sites and the works are helping revitalise the town centre.”
Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Cllr Jane Chitty, said: “This is a very exciting time for Strood. The completed works look fantastic and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the works take shape. I would encourage residents to come along to Love Strood to find out more about the project and celebrate the achievements so far.”
Christian Brodie, Chair of SELEP, said: “It’s exciting to see the community come together to celebrate a new beginning for Strood town centre.
“Local Growth Funding is all about making a real, positive difference to the places where people live. The £9m funding towards these improvements is a very real example of that ethos being put into practice.
“It is rewarding to see local people enjoying the fruits of a project that came to us as a vision for the future but which is now very much a reality.”
This initial phase of improvements will transform the existing car park and market space at Commercial Road, creating a new and improved market site. The pedestrian route through the car park will be realigned with Tolgate Lane and new seating and lighting will also be installed.
Further phases of the works, which will be carried out later on in the year, include improvements to pedestrian routes and cycling facilities as well as improvements to the road layout in the town centre to reduce congestion and improve journey times.
The project which will transform the existing car park and market space at Commercial Road, creating a new and improved market site, realign the pedestrian route through the car park with Tolgate Lane, see installation of new seating and lighting and include include improvements to pedestrian routes and cycling facilities as well as improvements to the road layout in the town centre to reduce congestion and improve journey times.
The project aims to boost economic growth, provide new jobs in the town and create a location where people are proud to live, work and visit.For more information visit www.medway.gov.uk/yournewstrood