A council is set to spend £150,000 to assess how best to redevelop a former golf club which closed last year.

Cabinet members at Medway Council will discuss plans for a series of investigations at Deangate Ridge near Hoo – including ecology, contamination, utilities, and unexploded ordinance – next Tuesday, before requesting sign-off by full council later this month.

The golf course was closed last year after council officers concluded the facility had made a loss of more than £1.5 million over a seven-year period and was suffering from dwindling membership.

It is hoped Deangate Ridge will help contribute to the authority’s vision for the Hoo Peninsula, including 12,100 new homes by 2043 to satisfy targets from central government.

Council papers read: “Surveys and a high-level capacity study would be completed in order to ascertain the level of development that is achievable on the site.

“The information will allow Medway Council to enter into discussions with various parties, and also form the basis of the information required for negotiations in regards to the potential development options for the site.”

Officers are considering three different options in terms of how to develop the site: a joint venture partnership, sell land to a developer, or bring the site forward via the council-owned Medway Development Company.

Homes England, a government-run organisation currently working on a proposal for the nearby Lodge Hill site in Chattenden, is said not to be currently interested in purchasing the site and developing it themselves.

The papers add: “In promoting potential development options for the Deangate Ridge site, the council needs to collate a robust evidence base to determine the capacity of the site, in the context of wider growth.”

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