An application for a dock for river boat tours on the Medway has been approved.

The application by Medway Council was to create a dock at Limehouse Wharf, just east of Rochester.

Plans were submitted in June and, after being considered by planning officers, have now been approved.

The council wanted to create a temporary platform for river boats which will last for three years until a more permanent version is constructed.

The land, previously used for large ships carrying heavy industrial goods into the town, has been unused since late 2007, but the council said the wharf is a significant marine asset owned by the authority which holds potential.

The dock will sit within a pocket park of the fourth phase of the Rochester Riverside development of 1,400 homes.

Jetstream Tours which currently runs river tours to and from Sun Pier at Chatham, and ran a service from Southend to Rochester Pier before 2019, has agreed to run a weekly sailing, every Sunday from April to September, to Limehouse Wharf from Southend via Queenborough.

The authority expects visitor numbers arriving from Southend, using Jetstream Tours, to be around 100 people.

Additionally, the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society has confirmed it will run two sailings of the world’s last sea-going paddle steamer, the Waverley, in the last weekend of September from London to Rochester on an annual basis from 2024/25.

After part of Rochester Pier collapsed in May 2022, the council began to consider Limehouse Wharf as a possible alternative embarking point onto the river.

The council believes the proposed platform at Limehouse Wharf would re-establish weekly river tours to Rochester which would be a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to Rochester Pier.

The plan has already received funding to meet construction costs and associated works from a central government source called the Local Transport Plan fund.

The proposals received six letters of support from locals who said the dock would increase access and use of the river and attract investment and commerce to Rochester.

Find out about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal.

Although no specific opening date has been set, Medway Council now have permission to begin work within the next three years on the new dock.