Cabinet is asked on 20 October to make Vinall Park a town green, protecting it from development for good. It follows a 2023 bid by the Friends of Vinall Park.

Vinall Park in Gillingham is set to be protected from development for good. Medway Council’s Cabinet is being asked on Tuesday 20 October to register it as a town green.

The Cabinet report recommends the change with no cost to the council. It follows a request from the Friends of Vinall Park, the volunteer group that helps look after the park.

Town green status stays with the land “in perpetuity”, the report says. It would be very hard for any future council to build on it.

The park

Vinall Park is the green space between Broadway, Geneva Avenue, Locarno Avenue and Cecil Avenue, in Twydall ward. The council’s park listing gives the address as Geneva Avenue, ME8 6EJ.

The play area in its south-west corner has:

  • junior and toddler multi-play units
  • swings, including toddler swings
  • springers and a roundabout
  • a basketball post

The play area has disabled access and a wet-pour surface. There is no car park.

How the Friends got here

In 2023 the Friends of Vinall Park asked the council to back an application to make the park a town green. They gathered evidence from local people about how long they had used it.

That application failed. To win a town green claim, you have to show people used the land “as of right”: without permission, force or secrecy. Because the council, as owner, had always allowed people to use the park, that test could not be met.

The council can, however, register its own land voluntarily under section 15(8) of the Commons Act 2006. No evidence process is needed. That is what officers now recommend.

The report credits the Friends’ consultation, saying it showed “overwhelming support from the local community”. Many residents filled in forms saying they had used the park for years. That was not enough for a claim, the report says, but it was “enough to clearly demonstrate how important Vinall Park is to the local community”.

What the protection means

Once registered, the park is added to the council’s commons register and map. After that, any plan to build on it, or to use it permanently for something other than a green, would need the council to:

  • go through a legal process to remove the town green status
  • get the final say from the Secretary of State
  • create a replacement town green of equal or greater size nearby, on land that is not already open space

The report says there is no such land in this built-up part of Gillingham. In practice, that rules out development.

Registration costs nothing. The council would carry on looking after the park as it does now.

The volunteers behind it

The Friends’ own website says the group’s aim is “to preserve, promote and enhance Vinall Park as an urban green space”. The Cabinet report lists what they do:

  • regular litter picks
  • practical work such as hedge planting
  • community picnics and other events
  • acting as “the Council’s eyes and ears” on the park

The group also ran a Halloween fancy dress competition on the park in 2024. In July 2025 its committee met council officers and a local police officer about physical measures to protect the park’s edges, with boulders the preferred option, according to the group’s meeting notes.

What it means for you

If you use Vinall Park, nothing changes day to day. You can still walk, play, picnic and hold community events there. Town green status protects exactly that kind of use.

Cabinet meets at 7pm on Tuesday 20 October. The decision will appear in the meeting record afterwards. The same Cabinet is also deciding whether to compulsorily buy a derelict Rochester shop.

To join in, the Friends of Vinall Park can be reached at info@vinallpark.org. For more places to go, see our guide to things to do in Medway.