Council unveils plans for £44m care home

The first images of a proposed council-run care home have been unveiled.

Medway Council has submitted plans for the 80-bed facility with 11 adult social care units on part of the Innovation Park Medway (IPM) site in Chatham.

The home, which will be on the southern section of IPM just off the A229 Maidstone Road, was first proposed by the authority – which will operate it once built – in July last year.

The £44m project will consist of a main three-storey building 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.

The site covers just over one hectare and will also feature seven one-bed and four two-bed self-contained units for older people who need additional support.

The entire complex will include shared gardens and courtyards for outdoor activities, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The proposal to turn the south section of the IPM site into a care home came following a lack of interest from businesses to invest in the enterprise campus.

When Labour won control of the council in May 2023, it reviewed the scheme and decided to pause and reassess the project after £11.6m had been spent.

In March 2025, the authority decided to change direction and use the southern section of the site to build a care home, which it would then run.

Approval for this plan came in November last year, despite opposition from the Conservative and Reform UK groups who said it was unaffordable.

But the Labour group argued there was an ever-increasing need for care home places and social care support, and this facility would help to address this.

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