Chatham's Brook multi-storey and Solomons Road close at midnight on 6 September. The 12 council car parks left hold 729 bays: here is the full list.

Chatham loses its biggest car park in four weeks. The Brook multi-storey and the adjoining Solomons Road blue badge car park both close at midnight on Sunday 6 September, ahead of a plan to build 100 homes on the site, Medway Council has announced. The council’s own car park record now carries the same line: the Brook is “closed permanently from Monday 7 September 2026” (Medway Council, The Brook).

The Brook holds 467 spaces, including eight parent and child bays on levels 2 and 3, and it is the only council car park in Medway that charges 24 hours a day, on a tariff running from £2.90 for the first hour to £7.20 for six hours or more. Solomons Road next door is 19 bays and Blue Badge holders only.

Where you can park instead

The council points to two things: the Pentagon Shopping Centre car park, which it does not own and which stays open with 433 spaces, and 12 town centre car parks it does run. It describes those 12 as “over 700 parking bays and over 35 disabled parking bays”. Its published table adds up to 729 bays and exactly 35 disabled bays.

Car park Bays Disabled bays
Rhode Street 128 2
Riverside 111 10
Old Road 81 0
St Johns Lower 79 13
St Johns Upper 64 0
The Paddock 53 0
Slicketts Hill 50 (estimated) 0
Town Hall 48 4
James Street 47 1
Queen Street 44 5
Church Street 16 0
Upper Mount 8 0
Total 729 35

Source: Medway Council, 31 July 2026.

Treat the individual counts as approximate. They do not all match the council’s own car park records: the announcement puts Riverside at 111 bays where the record for Chatham Riverside says 104, and Rhode Street at 128 where the record for Rhode Street says 133.

Either way, the ranking is clear. Once the Brook goes, Rhode Street off the High Street becomes the largest council car park in Chatham town centre, at about 28 per cent of the Brook’s capacity, with Riverside on Dock Road second. Both are long stay up to 18 hours, chargeable 7am to 1am, and free for Blue Badge holders.

Chart of Chatham town centre council car parks after the Brook closes: Rhode Street 128 bays, Riverside 111, Old Road 81, St Johns Lower 79, St Johns Upper 64, The Paddock 53, Slicketts Hill 50 estimated, Town Hall 48, James Street 47, Queen Street 44, Church Street 16, Upper Mount 8, totalling 729 bays, against the 467 spaces lost at the Brook
Graphic by Medway Live.

Blue Badge holders

Solomons Road’s 19 bays were reserved for Blue Badge holders, and the council’s replacement is at the Pentagon. From 1 September 2026 the shopping centre is providing free disabled parking, but it is not automatic: drivers have to go to the Management Suite on the third floor and register their vehicle details to get the concession.

That is a change worth knowing before you arrive rather than after. The Brook is one of the few Medway car parks where Blue Badge holders currently pay; most of the council estate, including Riverside, is free for badge holders. The council’s Blue Badge parking page sets out the wider rules.

Pentagon Centre Manager Charlene Malone said the centre’s own car park “will remain open and the Centre is very much open for business”.

What happens to the site

Medway Development Company, the council’s development arm, has been appointed to deliver the homes and will manage the demolition, which is due to finish in spring 2027. A planning application is due to be submitted in spring 2027, with construction starting later that year. Designs for the housing scheme are still being drawn up and the council says they will be shared next year alongside the application.

The money behind it is £1.58 million from the UK government’s Brownfield Land Release Fund plus £400,000 of council capital funding, a total project budget the council puts at “just over £2million”. The council links the scheme to its other recent Chatham projects: Garrison Point, where all 115 apartments are now occupied, Chatham Waterfront, the James Williams Healthy Living Centre that opened on the first floor of the Pentagon in June, and the reworked Paddock with its new seating, planting and amphitheatre.

What it means for you

If you drive into Chatham to shop, the practical answer for a short visit is the Pentagon, which keeps 433 spaces and sits where the Brook did. For a longer stay, Rhode Street, Riverside and Old Road are the three biggest council options, all long stay at £7.20 for six hours or more.

Two things to do before September. Check whether the car park you would switch to has the bays you need, because six of the 12 in the council’s list have no disabled bays at all and five of them hold fewer than 50 cars. And if you hold a Blue Badge and used Solomons Road, register at the Pentagon Management Suite from 1 September rather than turning up and hoping.

Full tariffs, season tickets and the free car parks across the five towns are in our guide to parking in Medway. When the planning application for the 100 homes is submitted next spring it will appear on the council’s register, which we explain how to search in Medway planning applications.