Medway Council has submitted a full planning application for the care home planned at Innovation Park Medway (IPM) in Chatham, scaling up the scheme from the 70-bed proposal reported in 2025 to an 80-bed facility. The £44m project, for which the council approved funding in November 2025, is part of a wider shift for a site first proposed in 2017 to attract major tech and media companies, before falling office and industrial-space demand forced a rethink.
The planning application, submitted on 1 July 2026, covers a three-storey building on the southern part of the site with a 40-bed dementia nursing facility on the ground floor and a 40-bed respite and discharge-to-assess facility on the first floor. A further 11 self-contained units, seven one-bed and four two-bed, are planned for older people who need additional support. Medway Council intends to build and run the home itself rather than lease it to a private operator. As of late August 2026 the application is still going through statutory consultation, with no committee date yet set for a formal decision.
Deputy council leader Teresa Murray argued the authority “can’t afford not to” build the facility, pointing to residents’ difficulty finding specialist care placements, while opposition councillors raised concerns over the long-term cost of borrowing for the scheme. The plans still need to clear a public consultation and a formal planning decision, which could go to a council committee, Kent Online reported.
On the northern part of the site, Medway Council has separately agreed to lease land to defence firm BAE Systems for a temporary staff car park while the company develops a new factory near Rochester Airport as part of a wider £220m investment expected to add around 300 jobs to its existing 1,600-strong Rochester workforce. The rest of the northern site remains earmarked for industrial and mid-tech commercial space, with a development partner yet to be appointed.
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