Medway Council has set out plans to acquire Chatham's empty Debenhams store, according to a report due to be presented at next week's Cabinet meeting. The council will consider using a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to obtain the former department store in Chatham High Street, which has stood empty since closing in January 2020. It revealed that attempts to negotiate with the current owners of the building have so far proved "unsuccessful". Initial plans for the Debenhams building could see it become 76 flats and over 1,000 square metres of commercial space. The building was sold to Gatsby Chatham Ltd, a subsidiary of international property firm Kennedy Wilson, for just over £16.6 million in 2015. Just weeks before the closure of Debenhams in 2020, Future Chatham revealed that neither Medway Council or its housebuilding firm, Medway Development Company, had any plans to redevelop the building. In July 2021, Medway Council undertook a valuation of the property, which calculated an amount that remains undisclosed to the public. An offer was made to the owners based on the valuation, however, no response has been received yet by the council. Council officers then sought to use the possibility of a CPO as an "incentive in negotiations" and set a deadline for a response by the end of November, although this was unsuccessful. Cabinet members will now determine whether to acquire the Debenhams building by way of a CPO at a meeting next Tuesday (8 February), should agreement not be reached to acquire it on "reasonable terms".
The report says: "Officers are of the view that there is a compelling case in the public interest for making a compulsory purchase order. "The purpose for which the building is to be compulsorily acquired is likely to improve the economic well-being of the area by unlocking the site for development and regeneration as well as a major improvement to the public realm at Chatham Town Centre." The cost of the potential CPO will be covered by some of the £9.5 million grant from the government's Future High Street Fund - although a precise figure has not been revealed. The £9.5m grant will also be spent on delivering a healthy living centre and innovation hub in the council-owned Pentagon Centre, a co-working space, conference and events hub in St John's Church in Railway Street, and improving the area around Mountbatten House which the council is converting into 164 flats having recently purchased it. All of these projects are set to be completed by March 2024. The former Debenhams building was originally built in 1979 as an Allders department store. Allders went into administration in 2005, with Debenhams taking over the prominent building in the High Street in April of that year. The closure of Chatham's Debenhams branch was announced in April 2019, when the retailer marked it out as one of 21 other locations across the country to be axed as part of cost-cutting measures to make the business "fit for the future" - although Debenhams, too, vanished from Britain's high streets after 243 years of trading.
Pam fullagar
3/2/2022 10:40:04
Are all these flats really necessary, considering the amount of building around chatham High Street at the moment, surely a second supermarket to support the community and some retail shops, not charity shops, not more barbers or cafes, but actual useful shops, encouraging people to get back to the high street 3/2/2022 11:48:57
We have lost all our markets in strood rochester.Now Debenhams was the only decent shop in chatham Please dont build any more flats
Keith Moon
3/2/2022 13:42:29
For the love of God!!!! Stop building/converting new housing!! Concentrate on medical facilities, Dr surgeries, dentists, schools. Then look at leisure to entice people into Chatham again, Clean the area up! Make people feel safe to walk the street at night. Try LISTENING to the people of Chatham!!
Annon
4/2/2022 03:40:06
Put a nightclub like Pryzm and Astoria. Could use some nightlife in Chatham tbh. Or use other floors as venues. Maybe make a 3rd floor for bowling (take wembley box in London for example). Medway need modern renovation for this generation not new flats! High Street is getting so old now there's nothing really interesting to do, instead of having to travel far.
Tracy
5/2/2022 13:12:23
We need modern shops to attract people, to get anything decent you have to drive miles . This town used to be brilliant, it’s now a dump . Bring popular shops here to encourage customers back for god sake. Comments are closed.
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