Deangate wasn’t only a well loved and used community golf club. An athletic complex was added some time ago providing track and field facilities, an indoor gym and hard standing Tennis courts.
Over the years the fully synthetic 400m athletic track with 6 lanes has been used by Olympic medalist and international athletes and were often seen using the facilities:
Steve Buckley OBE, Olympic medalist and British Record holder for Javelin.
Bob Mathews MBE blind middle distance runner and winner of 8 gold medals.
Elizabeth Anne Yarnold, OBE former British skeleton racer with consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018 she is the most successful British Winter Olympian and the most successful Olympic skeleton athlete of all time from any nation.
During the pandemic the track has been a welcome oasis and extensively used by individual, families and clubs alike to improve their Health and well being .
If the spur road proposed by Medway Council goes ahead through Deangate and “Parkland Living” is brought forward we will lose this well loved and well used local facility in the same way the golf course was stolen from us.
Over the last few years Medway Council has deliberately allowed the track, tennis court and football pitches to fall into disrepair with buildings not been repaired, broken fences around the courts and a general malaise. Cycle clubs, fitness clubs have all be evicted from the buildings at the same the Council continues to subsidise the private Lordswood Leisure Centre to the tune of £80k per year.
If you or your family use or have ever used the facility at Deangate Sports Centre please do not allow this council’s HIF project to rob the peninsula of more facilities.
Please sign the petition below.
Save Deangate!
Unfortunately, the local authority’s record for listening to and acting on complaints is dismal.
They have shown – in areas throughout Medway – that they have no regard for open spaces and are intent only on sticking to government-led guidelines.
It is quite remarkable that during such a period of unrest among voters the council are determined to make themselves look more and more stupid by applying to be a city of culture in 2025.
Who on earth cares about that at a time the entire area looks set to become a concrete jungle.
I’ve said it elsewhere, words and protests don’t work. In the end direct action will be required, in order to provide damning TV coverage.
There used to be a cycle club for kids on a Saturday – we were only charged a £1.00 but it was great and my son thoroughly enjoyed himself as did all the other children. The track and the golf course should have been kept open. Shame on you Medway Council. All the new families moving to Hoo would probably appreciate these facilities on their doorstep as do the families that have lived here for years. The golf course is a fantastic place for walks and lots of wildlife.
My family use deangate at least 3 times a week. It is criminal to build on it.
My grand children ride there bikes here I ride my bike here with them . I walk the dog over here . Boys play football here . It has been a saving grace throughout this Pandemic . So many people in Hoo are aware of this place now and it is used daily . This place is for the community and needs to stay for the community .
Both my girls learnt to ride a bike at this running track. We often visit and will be gutted if we loose this facility.
There are no other facility’s like this on the Hoo Peninsula, sport should be encourage and closing sports fields down does nothing to help people enjoy running and socialise with other like minded people.
Surely with all the people you intend the flood the area with surely its more economical to keep present facilities than have to pay over the odds further down the line
Not sure how much common sense MC have.
A large operator who incidentally already run 17 other golf courses in the UK offered to run Deangate for the council at no cost and were turned down outright. Mytime leisure facilities already run golf courses for local councils and offered to take over Deangate. It’s plain and simple to see that Medway Council are hell bent on concreting over the peninsula whatever it takes. They promised a new sports centre 4 years ago, where’s that in their plan? Nowhere, instead they are running these facilities into the ground so they can turn the property into prime housing sites and sell it off to the highest bidder!
We used to use the golf course as a family, and the tennis’s courts.
The problem is since the BP Club has been stolen from us,to build more and more houses. The BP club offered football,tennis, cricket and swimming, and a whole lot more. Where are young people, families supposed to go.
The peninsula has had enough housing for such a small village. Hoo and the surrounding villages need the facilities the golf course and running, football and tennis course has to offer.
Not to mention the wild life will have to find more habitats somewhere else if you turn the peninsula into a concrete Jungle.
During lockdown this has been a placed that is used daily for families and outdoor classes that have started running again. I think people will tend to use this area more since the pandemic so it would be a real shame if those gets removed!
Medway Council should be very ashamed of themselves, having been lucky enough to have all this and letting it go to wreck and ruin, like they have. Underlying motives obviously.
You only need to look at the indoor and outdoor bowls centres to see how well things can be run without interference from Medway Council – ‘serving themselves’!
All the council see on the Hoo Peninsula is Council Tax receipts!
This is the only outdoor sport resource left locally for all the family. Please don’t take this one away too!
Our children need this facility, this side of the river Medway, The Black Lion in Gillingham supports children from Chatham and Gillingham and surrounding areas, but the children out here on the peninsula could be deprived from any sporting activity, if the HIF bid allows Deangate to be destroyed…
I remember the floodlights (!) being on one evening for a single athlete – it was Steve Backley on the run-up to the Olympics! An asset just left to decay while money was thrown at the other side of the River Medway…
The golf course should be reopened there are probably plenty of people who could make a proper job of running it , instead of the way this council made it into rack and ruin , the running track and tennis courts should not be allowed to fall into disrepair , and if the council are subsidising lordswood they should be made to explain themselves as to why everything in Jarretts area gets all the favouritism from the council , unfair to people that live this side of the river .
Correct on every count
We need this SPORT COMPLEX in the area. I can’t tell how upsetting and distressing is to know that this great facility is locked and taken away from the community.
Stay local. Exercise local. Live local.