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Our programme to transform Gillingham Town Centre is underway. This newsletter will provide regular updates on the transformation work taking place to make the heart of Gillingham a better place to live, work, learn and visit for years to come.
Learn more about the following:
- Gillingham Taskforce update
- Gillingham Community Panel
- Love Gillingham weekend
- Gillingham Library: An overview
- Business spotlight: Journey's Made
- An interview with: Unravel and Unwind
- Truro Manor
- An update on e-scooters
Stay up-to-date on the latest Love Gillingham news via our website
Got a question? Email futuregillingham@medway.gov.uk
Hi everyone,
It’s great to be updating you on the recent work being achieved locally on the Love Gillingham campaign. This is the first of my updates for 2025, and I’ll be regularly keeping you up to date throughout the year on the progress being made to transform our town centre.
As the MP for Gillingham and Rainham, having started this campaign as a councillor and launched the Gillingham Taskforce last year, I want residents to be proud of our high street. There is so much opportunity for our area to become a hub of activity, with thriving local business, celebrating the best that Gillingham has to offer.
Moving towards this goal requires collaboration from a broad range of local stakeholders. Our recent Gillingham Town Centre Taskforce meeting in late January brought together representatives from Medway Council, Kent Police, Medway Norse and other organisations to discuss current issues and receive updates on local work.
Maintaining clean streets has been a longstanding target. Our enforcement officers have been ensuring that littering is caught and punished, with 91 fines allocated between July 2024-January 2025. These actions highlight that littering will not be tolerated as we move towards maintaining a cleaner town centre. To build on this work we’re also exploring the opportunity to host a community-tidy up this spring to promote a tidy and litter-free high street, with exact dates to be confirmed.
Funding-wise, Medway’s Shared Prosperity Fund has seen over £14,000 awarded to Celebrating St Alban’s, Gillingham project, while £5,000 has been awarded to help develop a feasibility study into the creation of a Gillingham Design Code. This code will give us more control in the future aesthetic look and feel of the town centre, ensuring development respects the area’s unique heritage, landscapes and character.
At 6.2%, Gillingham is comparatively better than the national high street average of 16% when it comes to the number of empty shops, yet there is more work required to make sure we’re fully utilising our town centre. I am having regular discussions with government ministers and local authorities to see how we can reclaim and renovate vacant property to the benefit of residents.
Finally, I’m delighted to announce that the Love Gillingham Summer Event will be taking place on Sunday, July 20 2025. There’s much more to come on this event, but we’re looking forward to bringing everyone together to celebrate our town centre and its wonderful community.
Best wishes,
Naushabah Khan
MP for Gillingham and Rainham
Read more about the Taskforce and other news via Portfolio Holder for Economic and Social Regeneration and Inward Investment, Cllr Harrinder Mahil
We'll cover the latest spring meeting in our next edition.
 Gillingham Community Panel meet for their final workshop
The 3rd and final workshop for the Gillingham Community Panel took place on Saturday, 1 February. The three-hour session saw panel members participate in several group tasks as their experiences and ideas play a vital part in helping us to understand what changes the community want to see to make the town centre a better, safer place for everyone.
The discussions included:
- the future of Gillingham Town Centre
- what community facilities Gillingham needs
- what they love about the area
- what makes them proud to be a part of the local community.
The panel members have provided a huge amount of insight in beginning to shape a new Gillingham Town Centre Action Plan. The plan will outline the vision and priorities for transforming the area. The draft version will be coming forward this year and we will asking for your feedback and involvement.
Further updates to come later this spring.
Read more about the project
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COMING SOON: We have also been planning our 2nd every Big Day Out event for Gillingham High Street. Last year's event attracted over 2500 residents and was packed full of entertainment for all ages, including live performances from local bands, stalls to browse, street performers and creative workshops.
It will take place this summer on Sunday, 20 July with plenty of fun for all the family. It's part of a celebratory Love Gillingham weekend of fun, which kicks off with this year's Medway Mile, taking place at Medway Park on Friday, 18 July.
More details will be announced in our next edition.
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Did you know: Gillingham is the busiest of our 15 libraries across Medway.
The library has been in use since 1902 and has been delivering a vital service for generations for over 120 years.
Community hubs provide face-to-face contact for a variety of enquiries about council and partner services, including making payments, collecting parking vouchers and access to information and support.
As one of six Community Hubs across Medway, it provides a range of services in addition to book hire, including
- payment for council services
- photocopying and printing - colour, and black and white
- flat-bed scanner
- public access computers (free for library members)
- Wi-Fi with free access
- recycling bags, caddy bags, dog poo bags and radar keys.
Stay tuned for more details on a brand-new Love Gillingham section in the library.
Check out the Gillingham Library website
What a year it's been for Journey's Made. The award-winning small business, based in Gillingham, specialises in high-quality personalised travel keepsakes. Jade Scammells (The Founder of Journey's Made) has taken advantage of the funding schemes run by Medway Council.
In May, Journey's Made became the first-ever Medway business to be awarded both the Partners for Growth and the Partners for Green Growth Grants, to help make businesses more environmentally sustainable. Jade has used these grants to purchase a state-of-the-art fibre laser machine.
Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Strategic Regeneration, Cllr Simon Curry, recently visited the business to see the machine in action. It has helped Jade to produce even more personalised products while reducing environmental impact.
“I wanted to thank the Business for Medway team for offering all this free support to small businesses like mine, the grants and having the support service from Roger is really going to help small businesses in Medway grow. I actually think for the first time ever that I am proud to be a Medway business, and hopefully more small businesses will take up what’s on offer. Medway Council has definitely turned a new leaf in the past year or so.”
For more information about Journeys Made and to explore their range of personalised travel keepsakes, visit their website
Faye Lamb is the owner of Unravel and Unwind on Green Street. Faye is one of 40 panel members that have taken part in the Love Gillingham Community Panel.
"We took over the old sewing and knitting centre in 2021 and completely rebranded into Unravel and Unwind CIC because we didn't want to lose another wool and yarn shop. We've been here for three and a half years and I've discovered a whole new yarn community in Gillingham that I didn't know was here. I've seen changes in trends in relation to knitting and crochet and people coming together to create art.
As a local business owner I wanted to be involved in the co-creation of the high street project and see how we can help evolve and make the area a better place than it is. Gillingham is close to my heart, being here six days a week for long hours so i'm passionate to see positive changes.
Gillingham needs to be cleaner and safer. It's been great fun to listen to the ideas that people have, such as changing the use of buildings, pop-up markets and crafting, and how we can make it a much more pleasureable area in the day and evening.
I want to help change the mindset of local businesses. Our panel will continue to work together to help change the mindset of local people that there is a brighter future ahead for the high street"
Learn more about the business
Our Truro Manor development (constructed with Medway Development Company) for the build of 44 flats for affordable rent is coming along well, the electrical and plumbing first fix is underway, windows and sprinklers are being installed along with the lift and the
brickwork is almost complete.
These homes are will be completed in spring 2025 and will be available for bidding
by eligible households via Homechoice.
Safe, good, affordable housing continues to be the forefront of our housing development across Medway.
We are continuing to work with Kent Police to put the brakes on e-scooters being used in Gillingham High Street. It is against the law to use a privately owned e-scooter on public land.
We have so far seen several incidents in the high street over the last three months. Under the government guidance, it is against the law to use an e-scooter on the pavement. In Medway, we don't have designated lanes for e-scooters in public places.
The rules on e-scooters in Medway
- You are NOT allowed to use/ride e-scooters on any public highways or public place* - This includes parks, pavements and shopping centres
- If found riding/using one in public, police will seize the e-scooter
- You are required to stop if directed by a uniformed officer, failure to do so may result in a fine
You are allowed to ride/use e-scooters on private land with the following guidance in place:
- Ensure you have the land owner’s permission to ride/use the e-scooter
- Wear appropriate safety equipment e.g. Helmet
- Only have one rider per e-scooter
The rules are in place to help keep residents safe in public locations across Medway including Gillingham High Street.
Nationally, there are e-scooter trials taking place with several local authorities across the UK. Currently, both Kent and Medway are not participating in a trial scheme.
Read more about our guidance on e-scooter use in Medway
Read more on the guidance of using e-scooter from Kent Police
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