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A former gas holder site that has been derelict for 20 years could be given a new lease of life as a housing development
Blueberry Homes has submitted a planning application to Tonbridge and Malling council seeking permission to build 144 apartments in two blocks on the site in Medway Wharf Road.
The appropriately-named 'Old Gas Works', will include some flexible commercial space, improved landscaping to the River Medway waterfront, and a new public square.
The two blocks will each have a roof terrace and there will be two designated play areas in a large communal courtyard.
Blueberry director Scott Rigden said: "This is a very challenging site and the design prepared for us by The Harris Partnership incorporates all the detail we envisaged to deliver a high-quality, modern living development.
"Ideally, the landscaping we have planned for the riverside will be the catalyst for further development along the Medway, such as the creation of more public space, strengthening connections to the town and the waterfront experience."
The site once belonged to the Tonbridge Gas Company which was established in 1836, but ceased operation 20 years ago. The two remaining gas-holders date from 1895 and 1922.
In January, 2020, Tonbridge and Malling council declined to give the site owner - gas-transporting company SGN Ltd - permission to demolish the gasholders, without knowing what was going to replace them.
The ward councillor at the time, Cllr Matt Boughton , who has recently been elected as leader of the council, described the gas-holders as a "key landmark."
However, the former industrial area has been extensively redeveloped for flats over the last few years particularly in Canary Wharf and Blossoms Bank, and there is a currently a separate planning application to build 183 homes on the former River Centre Car Park in Medway Wharf Road.
The gas-holder site lies between the two branches of the River Medway and is in a flood zone.
