Strood Town Centre

Strood lies within the Thames Gateway, a designated area for the growth of new communities, with Medway highlighted in the Delivery Plan as a strategic location for investment. A number of interventions are proposed within the LGF bid to address the issue of poor journey times, improvements to pedestrian accessibility, new cycle facilities and urban realm enhancement. These will form an integrated package of traffic management measures and network improvements.

The case for Strood

Strood suffers from deprivation, with low weekly wages and an unemployment rate significantly higher than the regional/national average. Average house prices are below the national average, which is indicative of the economic pressures and congested network environment, which gives a poor perception of the town as a place to live and work. The inefficient operation of the transport network around Strood town centre, along with the traffic generation and operational issues created by the nearby Medway City Estate, are a barrier to growth. There are pockets of severe congestion and very limited facilities for cyclists. In addition, pedestrians need to cross numerous side roads and links to reach main destinations within the town.

Scheme for improvement

By improving the accessibility and circulation and helping bring about modal shift through the creation of better and sustainable networks, the project will help secure improved environmental conditions and act as a catalyst to help increase the potential capacity of existing development sites, as well as bringing forward new development opportunities. A holistic scheme plan has been developed for Strood that will address the challenges of poor journey times and accessibility and a “tired” and degraded urban environment. Measures will include schemes to unlock and facilitate access to major new housing and employment sites and significant improve Strood Station. The proposals will support these goals by forming an integrated package of targeted improvements.

Scheme Description

The scheme will deliver a holistic package of improvement measures within Strood that will also include measures to unlock and facilitate access to major new housing development areas within the town centre area. The types of measure proposed have been categorised as follows:

• Town Centre traffic management improvement measures
• Pedestrian accessibility throughout town centre
• Cyclist accessibility throughout town centre
• Public realm improvements
• Improving retail offer
• Unlocking development sites / sustainable access to businesses
• Developer funding to unlock development sites and facilitate access.

Project Update September 2021

The Accountability Board agreed to the spend of Local Growth Fund (LGF) beyond the 30 September, subject to Strategic Board approval at its October meeting, and a revised completion date of Winter 2021. Strategic Board endorsement was given at the meeting in October.

£579m of investment to East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock

In total the SELEP Growth Deal with Government has brought £579m of investment to East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock. Over the lifetime of the Growth Deal (2015-2021) we aim to deliver 78,000 jobs and 29,000 homes across the SELEP area, with the Deal set to attract a further £960m of investment into the South East over the six year period.

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