Gymnastics club members were jumping for joy after council planners granted permission for their new home.

Gillingham Gymnastics Club has been running for more than 20 years and has 650 members, but was on the verge of closing down in September as the building it was using in Second Avenue, Chatham, kept leaking and the insurers pulled the plug.

A lifeline came in the form of a new home – at an industrial unit in Hopewell Drive – but that too was jeopardised when planning officers recommended they should be refused permission, on the grounds of potential road safety issues and lack of parking.

Fears the club would be left homeless were eventually dismissed as councillor voted unanimously in favour of the club’s new home on Wednesday night.

Head coach Liz Paterson was in the middle of a busy and bouncing gym on the same night when news came through.

“When I heard, I stopped and shouted across the gym,” she said. “I shouted ‘yes, we’ve got it’ and everybody cheered.

“Everyone has been waiting for this. After all the problems, to get that in a phone call – it was a huge relief.”

“I think the council has looked at it and realised the community needs this in the area.
“There’s nowhere else with a full-sprung floor and trampoline, and all the equipment we’ve got.

“The nearest places are Maidstone and Gravesend and kids can’t get on the bus and go to Gravesend at 8pm at night.”

She believed aerobic gymnastic classes for disabled children and Free G classes for teenagers – which provide an indoor environment for parkour-style training – had broadened the club’s appeal and value, and made it indispensable.

But approval on Wednesday night only came after the committee was convinced by impassioned speeches from ward councillors including Cllr Gloria Opara (Con).

She said there was no congestion on Hopewell Drive and rejecting a good community project on the basis of unsubstantiated concerns about parking would be tantamount to “throwing the baby out with the bath water”, adding: “It doesn’t matter who moves in (to the unit) –traffic will increase because more business is coming in and that’s what we want.
“This is the only purpose-built gymnastics club in Medway.

“They’ve been running successfully in a club for the last 12 years without complaints – why are we raising objections now?

“For the sake of the kids – 600 that have nowhere else – let’s make it possible that this is there for them to use.”

Other ward councillors echoed her sentiments and members of the committee agreed, including Cllr David Carr (Con), who said he was impressed with Cllr Opara’s impassioned speech.

“I’m persuaded by arguments put forward that we should approve the application,” he said, adding that it would be “a tragedy” to reject it.

Cllr Nick Bowler (Lab) added: “Quite frankly, to refuse a club of this capacity that is supplying facilities for 600 young people would be bonkers.”