A failure to spend millions of pounds in NHS funding on a “long-promised” health facility for one town has now meant it’s being spent on a centre for its neighbours instead.

In 2017, a cash pot of around £6million was set aside to support the development of a Healthy Living Centre (HLC) in Strood, as well as £8.5million for a similar facility in Chatham.

Such facilities are at the heart of Labour’s plans to bolster public health in the poorest areas.

At a Medway Council meeting held earlier this week councillors quizzed local health leaders as to why the Strood facility had not been delivered more than half a decade on.

It comes after a report presented to the chamber gave no explanation on why it had stalled other than saying “reasons unknown”.

But representatives from the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) revealed to the meeting delays progressing these plans meant the money had been reallocated in 2023 to the HLC in Chatham to prevent them having to give the cash back to the government due to a time limit on its allocated use.

Labour councillors Zoe Van Dyke and David Field, who represent the affected areas of Strood North and Frindsbury, led the inquiry at the health scrutiny committee held on Thursday (March 13).

Cllr Field said: “There’s an urgent need and requirement for a HLC in Strood and it was great £6million was promised for this to develop an HLC - it really would’ve given a boost to our wonderful town.

“The response in the report says ‘Reasons unknown, reasons unknown’ and Strood deserves better.

“Strood, as the only town in Medway which doesn’t have a HLC deserves a bit more respect and a roadmap that clearly states when we’re going to get that investment.”

The responsibility for progressing the Strood HLC in 2017 was under the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which was later replaced by the NHS Kent and Medway ICB in July 2022.

Mike Gilbert, director of corporate governance NHS Kent and Medway, said he could not answer why the CCG had received the funding but had not made the Strood HlC happen.

He said the ICB had chosen to combine the £6million with the £8.5million which was allocated for the Chatham HLC — now under construction at the Pentagon Shopping Centre and named after James Williams, one of the county’s most prominent public health experts who passed away in May last year.

Mr Gilbert said: “I recognise Strood was given £6million in 2017, but as someone not part of the CCG I can’t answer why that development wasn’t then taken forward until the ICB came into existence.

“What I can say is when I came in we then worked as hard as we could to make sure the totality of the funding was available and stayed within Medway.

“We were under significant pressure from NHS England for them to take that money back because they could not see any progress.

“We persuaded NHS England to extend the deadline and that’s now being used for the James Williams HLC — but that doesn’t help the people of Strood and I understand that completely.”

He added the ICB was working with Medway Council to determine what healthcare needs Strood has through the local plan process, and after the next iteration of the draft local plan the ICB would be identifying what facilities were needed where in Strood.

However, he said there would still be the challenge of finding new funding for a possible HLC.

We persuaded NHS England to extend the deadline and that’s now being used for the James Williams HLC — but that doesn’t help the people of Strood and I understand that completely

He continued: “We will look for developer contributions and we will work with the department for health and social care to try and secure additional funding, but we will be with every other ICB in the country fighting for that funding.

“I do recognise it’s a priority, I do recognise residents of Strood don’t have the facilities that are available elsewhere in the Medway Towns and that is something we can hopefully put right.”

But councillors said there had not been clarity about the reallocation of the funds, and residents regularly contacted them about when the HLC would be delivered.

Cllr Sharon Jackson (Lab), member for Strood West, said several residents frequently asked for updates about the Strood HLC and why it had not yet been created.

She said: “Every month I have a group of ladies in their 80s who come in with letters from the MP at the time saying the money has been allocated - it states quite clearly there will be the money for a HLC in Strood.

“They were never told anything else. If that money which was allocated was then used somewhere else that should’ve been made public.”

Mr Gilbert agreed and could not explain why the move had not been communicated, but reiterated the ICB was identifying the health needs of Strood so it could deliver facilities in the future.

Chair of the scrutiny committee, Cllr Dan McDonald (Lab), said the reasons no progress was made on the Strood HLC between 2017 and 2022 needed to be explained.

He said: “When the CCG closed down they didn’t burn all their papers, they didn’t throw it all in the fire and disappear - many CCG colleagues are in the ICB.

“When I read the report and it says ‘reasons unknown’ for the delay, there must have been reasons. We need to find out what those reasons are.

“During dialogue between the council and the ICB, people have said the money’s gone back to government and now we find out it hasn’t just disappeared into the ether, it’s been used on another project.

“Strood lost out. It’s fantastic for the Chatham residents, but Strood is still losing out.

“We need some transparency about why this money was put in, then moved along and put somewhere else - we need to find out what went wrong.”

The item was followed by a report assessing the four existing HLCs in Medway, which detailed efforts to improve their utilisation as, on average, only 40% of bookable areas in HLCs have been used by healthcare organisations.

This was largely blamed on lack of advertising of the spaces and increasing service charge costs.

Councillors voted to note the report of Strood’s HLC and to have discussions outside of the meeting between councillors and the ICB about why the £6million was not used between 2017 and 2022.