Medway's deadline on the Cliffe detailed plans passed on 8 September with no decision. 88 objections, none in support, and six pre-start conditions now filed.

The statutory deadline for Medway Council to decide the detailed plans for 250 homes at Cliffe passed on Tuesday 8 September 2026. No decision has been made. The register records “Decision Made Date: Not Available” on all three applications, and no extension has been agreed (MC/26/1465, dates tab, read 12 September).

In the same week, the developer filed six new applications on the site. They are not for more housing. They ask the council to sign off the conditions that have to be discharged before any building work can begin.

The six applications, all validated on 7 or 8 September

Esquire Developments lodged them on Monday 7 September. Medway validated them over the following two days.

Reference Condition What it covers
MC/26/1719 15 Travel Plan
MC/26/1720 54 Air quality emissions
MC/26/1721 10 Highway works
MC/26/1722 11 Highway works
MC/26/1723 12 Highway works, town roads
MC/26/1724 26 Noise assessment

Four of the six are about roads.

The developer’s own covering letter spells out why the timing matters. Condition 11 reads: “No development shall take place until the details of the following highway works have been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority” (Esquire Developments to Medway Council, 7 September 2026). The four drawings it names cover the sports pitch access on Buttway Lane, two site access arrangements on Church Street and one on Cooling Road.

These are pre-commencement conditions. Clearing them is the paperwork a developer does when it intends to start.

88 objections across the four live applications, and nothing in support

The council’s own comment totals, read on 12 September:

  • MC/26/1465, the 250 homes: 217 people consulted, 44 comments received, 44 objections, 0 supporting
  • MC/26/1466, the mixed-use community hub: 12 consulted, 15 received, 15 objections, 0 supporting
  • MC/26/1467, the sports ground and pavilion: 59 consulted, 21 received, 20 objections, 0 supporting
  • MC/26/1542, the ground contamination conditions: 9 received, 9 objections, 0 supporting

That is 88 objections and not one letter of support across the four. When we last checked on 31 August the figure was 77. Nobody has written in favour at any point.

The outline permission is not in doubt. It was granted on 28 November 2023, on appeal, under reference MC/22/0254 and appeal reference APP/A2280/W/22/3313673. The principle of 250 houses at Cliffe was settled then. What is still open is the detail.

The travel plan: a 2011 baseline, and a bus service of two an hour

The most revealing of the six documents is the Travel Plan submitted for condition 15. It was written by DHA Planning, dated September 2026, and it is marked “Draft” (Travel Plan, ref RS/GL/38392).

Its headline target is to cut single-occupancy car trips in the weekday peaks by 10% from the baseline by Year 5. The trip numbers it works from, taken from the original transport assessment, are:

  • AM peak, 08:00 to 09:00: 34 arrivals, 86 departures, 120 vehicle trips
  • PM peak, 17:00 to 18:00: 84 arrivals, 37 departures, 121 vehicle trips

The mode share targets are set against a baseline the document states plainly: car driver mode share of 79.8%, taken from the 2011 Census. The interim target is to get that to 71.8% or less by Year 5.

Bar chart comparing the Cliffe travel plan's 2011 Census baseline mode shares with its Year 5 targets: car driver 79.8 per cent falling to 71.8, bus 2.4 to 5.4, on foot 4.1 to 6.1, train 6.3 to 7.3, bicycle 0.7 to 1.7
The travel plan's Year 5 targets against its 2011 Census baseline. Graphic by Medway Live.

The plan asks the bus share to rise from 2.4% to 5.4%, more than doubling it. Its own survey of what Cliffe actually has sets out what that means:

  • Service 133 (Arriva), Cliffe to Cliffe Woods, Frindsbury, Strood, Rochester and Chatham: two an hour Monday to Saturday, one an hour on Sunday
  • Service 417 (Kent Country), Cliffe to Higham, Gravesend and Bluewater: two a day, Monday to Saturday, none on Sunday
  • Services 602 and 633, school routes to the Hundred of Hoo Academy and the Rochester grammar schools: one a day each way, term time only

There is one other point in the document worth noting. The travel plan sets targets for Years 1, 3 and 5. The section 106 agreement dated 2 June 2023 requires the plan to be implemented, and monitored and reviewed annually, for three years from first occupation. The travel plan’s own footnote says so. Its Year 5 target sits two years beyond the period the legal agreement covers.

What it means for you

  • The six new applications are open on the register now. The consultation period runs to Thursday 1 October on MC/26/1722 and MC/26/1723, and to Friday 2 October on the other four. Each has a “Make a Comment” tab on Medway’s planning portal, which needs a free account.
  • The contamination application closes first. Comments on MC/26/1542 close on Wednesday 16 September, four days from now.
  • A decision on the detailed plans is not imminent. Medway’s internal target dates are 2 November for the community hub and the sports ground, and 4 November for the 250 homes. Those are the council’s own working dates, not statutory ones.
  • If the conditions are discharged and the reserved matters approved, the next thing Cliffe sees is the highway works at the three accesses, not the houses.

Our guide to Medway planning applications explains how to search the register and how comments are handled. We covered the detailed plans when they landed in August and the objections and the disputed sports ground deeds.

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