Plans for a café and 195 waterfront homes – a quarter of which has been classed as affordable housing – have been approved.

The application for Medway Council’s old headquarters, the former site of Strood Civic Centre, was given the green light at a planning meeting last night (December 18).

The development will consist of 140 apartments, 64 of which will be one-bed flats, 69 two-bed flats, and seven three-bed flats.

There will also be 55 houses which will comprise of 13 two-bed, 28 three-bed and 14 four-bed.

Proposals for the site were submitted by Medway Development Company in February and had been recommended for approval on the grounds it is a high-quality design and would provide housing and regeneration of a brownfield site.

The land had once been occupied by the Invicta Engineering Works Factory, the Aveling and Porter headquarters, and the main offices of Medway Council but has been vacant for years.

The buildings were demolished in anticipation of redevelopment and initial plans for housing were put forward in August last year

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But, following a consultation in January, final plans decided a quarter of the properties would be affordable housing featuring 11 one-bed and 16 two-bed affordable flats and 12 one-bed and 10 two-bed shared ownership flats.

They also included a café or bar and a workspace, and 142 parking spaces provided in a mix of car parks, on-street parking, garages and driveways.

During a planning meeting last night, councillors voted 12 to one in favour of the development.

But the lack of money for infrastructure or services such as schools, libraries and roads has proven a sticking point for some.

Cllr Michael Pearce (Ind), who represents Hoo St Werburgh and High Halstow ward, criticised the plans, pointing out how Medway Council is the sole shareholder of Medway Development Company.

He said: “The applicant is not the same as private developers, who intend to make millions and millions in profits. This means with this applicant, more money should be invested into the design of the development itself or the surrounding area benefiting local people.

“The government recently published a press release talking about a planning overhaul to reach 1.5 million new houses.

“They mention tough new ‘golden rules’ on development to guarantee affordable housing, local services and green spaces.

“They say developers must provide the necessary infrastructure for local communities, such as nurseries, GP surgeries and transport, as well as a premium level of social and affordable housing.

“Two of the golden rules state development must boost public services and infrastructure and improve genuine green spaces.

“I completely agree – but this proposal does not currently do this.”

His criticism follows planning officers not requiring a Section 106 contribution due to the cost to decontaminate the site, as well as the 25% allocation of affordable housing.

However, Cllr Adrian Gulvin (Con), who represents Lordswood and Walderslade ward, took a different overall view.

He said: “This site has been a waiting development for a long long time and it’s really good now to see this coming forward.

“You’ve got to put into perspective the problems with this site – in the report, it explains you can either have 106 or you could have affordable, not both.

“The reason for that is it’s a very costly sight indeed to redevelop.

“In fact, when it was actively marketed a few years ago, no private developer was interested in taking it on for that reason.”