Medway Matters 

All the latest news, events and information that’s happening within Medway!

My Council Tax Online is here!

My Council Tax Online is a new easy way to access everything you need to know about your council tax account If you live in Medway sign-up now to My Council Tax Online and you will be able to:

✔️ Check your payments and bills

✔️ Go paperless with e-billing

✔️ Download and print bills

✔️ Update your personal details

My Council Tax Online is easy to use, saves time and has all of your council tax information in one place - it only takes a few minutes to sign-up

Medway Light Nights comes to Chatham!

📅 10-11 February, 6-9pm  

Now, this is quite the attraction. The streets of the historic naval town of Chatham will be transformed into an illuminated work of art and performance. 💡

Starting with a huge parade on the Friday night, this two-night light extravaganza will 18 breath-taking installations to enjoy. Marvel at a 12 storey-high interactive light display, experience Arcade Classics in the Gaming Projection Challenge and wander through the vista of flames and chemical reactions in the Fire Laboratory. 🤩

The town will come alive with performances and there will be fantastic food, drink and entertainment on offer.

Move Too: Food and Fitness with Medway Can

Get involved with FREE food, fitness and fun this January! Medway Can is all about the people of Medway making simple changes to their daily routine to create a healthier version of themselves.

On Friday 27 January between 10am – 4pm at the Pentagon Centre in Chatham we will have a full day of food, fun and fitness advice free for all Medway residents.

Throughout the day discover :

• Healthy cooking demonstrations - receive free ingredients to try at home
• Find ways to get fitter with our experts
• Fun activities to try for both adults and children

Come along to see how quickly you can move a mile with our exercise equipment - there will be a variety of machines and equipment available for use, including treadmills, upright bikes and a recumbent bike for those with limited mobility. In addition to the exercise demos, we’ll also have a number of live demonstrations of healthy recipes.  Chefs will be preparing affordable, healthy recipes that can easily be made at home, with dedicated health experts on hand to answer any questions.

Learn how you can get healthier this Spring. Remember to log your activity at Medwaycan.com and receive a free goody bag!

Spotlight on Central Theatre Medway Light Nights showcase

Step inside and see the light. This February, Chatham's Central Theatre will host a series of free shows to celebrate #MedwayLightNights.

The 15-minute performances will highlight the 965-seat venue and foyer on the high street and will feature multi-genre music and songs reimagined in impressive moving light displays and projections.

Show times:

Fri, 10 Feb – 6.45pm, 7.30pm, 8.15pm

Sat, 11 Feb at 6.15pm, 7pm, 7.45pm, 8.30pm.

Find out more about Medway Light Nights.

Get a free health check in your local pharmacy

Take control of your health in 2023. Getting a health check can help to prevent or spot the early signs of many diseases which tend to crop up as we age. Many age-related health problems can be dealt with by early diagnosis and making simple lifestyle changes.

If you are aged between 40 and 74, you can book a free NHS health check at the following local pharmacies:

• Hoo Pharmacy, 5 Main Road, Hoo, ME3 9DT, 01634 253 780
• Ryders Chemist, 130 High Street, Rochester, ME1 1JT, 01634 842 838
• Medway Pharmacy, 465 Canterbury Street, Gillingham, ME7 5LJ, 01634 575 805
• Fenns Chemist, 33 to 35 Parkwood Green, Gillingham, ME8 9PW, 01634 235 880
• Merlin Pharmacy, 54 Silverweed Road, Chatham, ME5 0QX, 01634 861 683
• Bryant Road Pharmacy, 59 to 61 Bryant Road, Rochester, ME2 3EP, 01634 718 039.

Please contact the pharmacy directly to book your check.

Medway Business 

If you're a High St business we can help you get to grips with changing spending habits and how the consumer interacts with providers. You can get access to over £400 worth of social media tools and training.

Planning for Medway's growth: Submit your development site

The government expects the council to carry out a comprehensive review of land that may be available for development, to help meet Medway’s growth needs over the coming years (up to 2040).

We’re reviewing potential sites for development in our emerging Local Plan. Our new call for sites is for all land uses including housing and employment, minerals and waste.

Landowners, developers and planning consultants can put forward a site for consideration. This should include sites capable of:

☑️ Delivering 5 or more dwellings

☑️ OR economic development on sites of 0.25 hectares (or 500 sqm of floorspace) and above

If so, we’d like to hear from you.

• To submit a site for review, visit medway.gov.uk/callforsites
• Any questions? Email planning.policy@medway.gov.uk

You can submit a site before midnight on Tuesday, 28 February

Your contribution will help to provide an up-to-date assessment of land availability as part of the preparation of the new Medway Local Plan.

Stop smoking in 2023

Smoking is still the largest single cause of cancer in the UK and being smokefree can prevent 15 different types of cancer. 

In Medway, we have free and effective support ready for you to access, including one-to-one support and a text-to-quit messaging service. In fact, you are three times more likely to quit for good with our support.

In 2022 we have helped many people to stop smoking in Medway. And it's never too late to quit! We've recently helped Hannah, who has smoked since she was 16, to quit for good at the age of 82. She says: "I feel so much better now that I've stopped smoking (...) and I feel as though I've been given a new lease of life". 

Contact us today to start your smokefree journey.

Chatham Design Code - Create Communities survey now closed

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 should look like.

Thanks to everyone who took part in our recent survey which closed on Sunday (15 January). The results are currently being reviewed and we will provide an update soon on the next steps that we will be taking.

In addition to the survey, we also had a great response from Pentagon Shopping Centre customers. Our event on Saturday (14 January) saw over 130 members of the public sharing their views on the principles that should be included within the new design code. A big thanks to everyone who participated.

Libraries 

Medway's libraries are for everyone. We're incredibly lucky in Medway to have fifteen libraries across the area, meaning almost everyone is only a stone's throw away from free access to a treasure trove of resources, activities, and discoveries. Not only that you don't have to spend a penny to access all the reading material you could want in a lifetime. Plus there’s audio books, and digital newspapers, magazines, books and more, so you can access material wherever you are.

Medway Adult Education

Do it for you and discover new opportunities with Medway Adult Education. There’s never been a better time to update your numeracy skills with a short course from Medway Adult Education either online or in-centre. These practical and informative courses are designed to build confidence with numbers and be of use in everyday life. They can help with everything from planning your weekly shopping spend, managing bills, cooking to helping the kids with their homework and having an understanding of basic numeracy could unlock job opportunities and lead to higher wages.