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Medway Matters
All the latest news, events and information that’s happening within Medway!
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 Winter in Medway
Everything you need to know about keeping well, getting about, service updates and events this winter.
Did you know, the festive season is the only time Medway Council’s kerbside collection days change – please check for this year’s revised collection dates.
🎄 If you have a real Christmas tree, it can be placed next to your brown bin to be recycled. It will get collected from Monday, 9 January 2023.
📅If your normal collection day is on a Monday or Tuesday, your last collection before Christmas is Monday, 19 December and Tuesday, 20 December 2022.
♻ If you're not able to store household waste at your property during the festive period, please book a slot to use your nearest household waste and recycling centres (HWRC): Book Now
📢 Keep up-to-date with what household waste to put out and when: medway.gov.uk/wintercollections
🎁 View Christmas Recycling Advent Calendar
🗑️ Sign up to the Waste newsletter here
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Sustainable Warmth
Make it cheaper to heat your home
You could get up to £10,000 worth of energy efficiency home improvements ready for next winter - at no cost to you.
If you have a combined household income of less than £30,000 and are living in a home with low energy efficiency, you could be eligible.
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Help us build Chatham’s future
We're working with the local community to produce the design code for the regeneration of the emerging city centre, Chatham. Design codes are a collection of design principles which help residents define what good development and high quality streets and spaces look like in their area.
Got a spare few minutes over the festive period? If you live, study or work in Chatham, we want to hear your thoughts about the area, including your favourite buildings and places, telling us why via our short survey and interactive map.
Learn more Here
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 Get help with household bills
Find details of the help available to Medway residents to help with the cost of living
We understand that managing finances and household bills can be challenging, especially at the moment with the increase in the cost of living. That’s why it’s important to know what help and support is available that could benefit you, a relative, friend or neighbour.
To make things simpler, we’ve created a dedicated page on our website which is full of advice and information about the support available which includes:
☑ Council tax reductions
☑ Help with childcare costs
☑ Help with food and energy bills
☑ Debt advice and much more
Medway Sports Awards winners revealed
The winners of the prestigious Medway Sports Awards have been announced.
Sporting stars Chris Waddle, Georgia-Mae Fenton and Danusia Francis-Reid were all in attendance at the glittering awards ceremony at Rochester Corn Exchange on Friday, 16 December.
The prestigious awards highlight the fantastic achievements of local clubs, teams, individuals and coaches as well as volunteers and schools. The Medway Sports Awards, organised by ourselves also celebrate, and shine a light on, Medway’s finest sportspeople and the dedication of everyone involved in sport in Medway.
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Expecting a baby in Medway? Join BumpClub!
BumpClub is a friendly group for expectant mums in Medway, where we focus on staying healthy in pregnancy and beyond.
We will discuss baby care, cooking, keeping to a healthy weight during pregnancy, and so much more. It's also a great way to meet other mums!
Booking now for 9 January.
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 Coping at Christmas
The festive period can be a wonderful time but whether or not Christmas is part of your life, your mental health might be affected by it happening around you. It's a time of year that often puts extra pressure on us, and can affect our mental health in lots of different ways. Whether it’s the financial strain that accompanies gift buying, the cold and dark winter nights, or the reality of spending Christmas alone, there can be a number of triggers for mental health problems during the holiday season.
If Christmas is a hard time for you, it's important to remember that you are not alone. Mental health support can be provided in many forms such as: face-to-face, on the telephone, and via online support and there are many services across the area that can help.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a serious mental health crisis, call Mental Health Single Point of Access for support on 0800 783 9111. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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 Will you be taking on Dry January, the world's biggest no alcohol challenge?
If you’re planning on taking a break from alcohol in the New Year the official app for Dry January, Try Dry, will help you stay on track. The Try Dry app is free and already used by hundreds of thousands of people world-wide to stay on top of their drinking. It’s packed full of brilliant resources and tools that will help you calculate how many calories and pounds you’ve saving by not drinking, record your dry days and track your mood, energy and sleep patterns.
Download the Try Dry app from the Apple App Store
Download the Try Dry app on Google Play
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 Take the stress out of mealtimes with free Tri for You courses
Need help with a picky eater or vegetable dodger? If you’d like to make positive changes to what you eat as a family why not sign up to our free Tri for You courses? Tri Mini is run for 5 -7 year olds and Tri Club is aimed at 8 – 12 year olds, starting from 9 January.
Children get to try new food and enjoy fun games and activities while parents benefit from the support of a dedicated family lifestyle adviser.
To book visit medway.gov.uk/triforyou or telephone 01634 333 741
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 Hoo Wetlands Reserve: Planning application now submitted
We have now submitted the planning application for Hoo Wetlands Reserve. This has followed three public consultations on the Community Parklands programme for the Hoo Peninsula (which has included the proposals at each development stage for Hoo Wetlands). These proposals, which are part of Medway Council’s Future Hoo programme, aim to improve and enhance the habitats and the connections between them to help support rare and common wildlife found in and around Hoo Wetlands.
Fact: The 2021 Environment Act will require that every planning application in England will have a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) of 10% (this is expected to be from November 2023). BNG is an approach which aims to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than beforehand.
We’re delighted to confirm that our Hoo Wetlands Reserve planning application achieved a huge BNG score of 44%. This means the project will significantly benefit the habitat and local environment around the Hoo Wetlands site, providing new wetlands and connecting important habitats for existing species to allow them to thrive, including various species of birds, water voles, bats and reptiles.
 Merry Christmas from Medway Council
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