Twenty-five years after it seemed the heart had been ripped out of the Medway Towns when the

dockyard

closed, Medway aspires to become a city.

It’s not an impossible dream.

With a population heading for 300,000, Medway’s case for city status deserves serious consideration.

A city-in-waiting as big as Newcastle, Nottingham or Leicester.

It follows an extraordinary change in the fortunes of Medway.

While many would have lynched some of the key ministers involved in the dockyard closure decision, successive governments have pumped hundreds of millions of pounds into Medway.

That cash has attracted an estimated £6 billion in spending and commitments from the private sector.

It has breathed new life into the five towns. Developers, businesses and entrepreneurs have queued up for a slice of Medway’s regeneration.

But it is a slow process.

Chatham Maritime is now nearing completion – after quarter of a century.

There are four universities and thousands of undergraduates. Many come from Medway’s schools. Before the dockyard closed there were few local varsity candidates and not a single university.

Three new academies are likely to transform secondary education. Each has university backing.

But there is so much more to come in the next 25 years.

One of the aspirations is to become a city.

There is lots of doubt in the community but it is achievable, as is the Medway Five becoming a combined University town.

At Strood, more than one and a half miles of waterfront, from the Medway Valley leisure

park to Commissioners Road and inland as far as the Medway Valley line, will be redeveloped.

Rochester Riverside promises to be a shining example to others and this year Chatham begins the change from dowdy commercial cygnet into a beautiful shopping swan.

Gillingham waterfront is being developed with millions of pounds of private funds.

And in the future, Medway City Estate could be changed into another part of the thriving jigsaw.

Read more about Medway's transformation in today's print edition of the Medway Messenger.