Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the news that the Rt Hon Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for the Department of Communities, Homes & Local Government, has called in a decision by Gravesham Borough Council to allow the proposed Northfleet Harbourside development to go ahead.
The proposals for 3,500 new homes, a 300-bed hotel, 22,500m2 of retail and 9,500m2 of food and beverage commercial property, plus 18,000m2 of office space – and the promise of 3,000 new jobs – will now be the subject of a Planning Inquiry scheduled for May 2025, with a decision expected later in the year.
The project would also include the development of an 8,000-seater capacity stadium for Ebbsfleet United, currently bottom of the National League – the fifth tier of the English Football League.
Despite the proposals being a departure from Gravesham Borough Council’s Local Plan and its planning policies, outline planning consent for the site was granted in May last year.
Tudor Price, chief executive of Kent Invicta Chamber, said: “While we recognise and support the government’s ambitions for growth and delivering new homes, this shouldn’t come at the expense of the 40+ companies already on the site, many of whom depend on the River Thames for their economic livelihood, and the hundreds of people they employ.
“Northfleet Harbourside presents an existential threat for most of the local businesses and must be reconsidered in order to remove the threat of land being compulsorily purchased and companies evicted from their premises with nowhere else to go.
“It also has major implications for the economic future of the Thames as we believe the council has failed to safeguard one of the last remaining protected wharfs on the river, which is the lifeblood of many local businesses, especially those involved in supplying building and road materials.”
Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce sent an open letter to the Secretary of State in July 2024, signed by 20 of the 40+ affected businesses, urging the government to make a final decision and halt the Northfleet Harbourside development.
The plans could also have a negative impact on a number of major businesses close to the site, which are involved in aggregates, cement and heavy industry because they rely on significant numbers of lorries visiting their premises, and access would be impeded by the proposed residential, retail and leisure development.
