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The Building Blocks of Life: Hoo Peninsula
In the 2024 government manifesto, Labour pledged to build 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament to meet demand for housing nationally and to support economic growth. We know that affordable, good quality housing is an important social determinant of health and has an impact on the health and wellbeing of local residents.
As part of our ongoing place-based engagement, Healthwatch Medway spoke to 31 residents living in Hoo, Chattenden, Upnor and Wainscott in February 2026, to understand how their local environment affects their health and wellbeing. The most frequent concern raised, by over a third (39%) of respondents was about housing developments in the area, particularly in Hoo.
Residents mentioned concerns around building new houses without the infrastructure to support the development.
“There is a lot I love about this village but a lot I dislike. So much building and only 2 GP surgeries in the village. Its because Medway Council are allowing all these developments but not putting money where it needs to go, into infrastructure. The roads are atrocious; developers promise to build more roads with the houses they build by they don’t do it; they just build houses. We don’t get a say, but the councillors on Medway council do. And the worst part is that the local councillors don’t live here, they don’t understand the day-to-day issues, the traffic and the lack of GP access. It’s a lovely area but we are full.”
Concerns around infrastructure were related to limited access to healthcare (50%) and increased pressure on roads (42%) due to the increased population linked to new housing on the Peninsula.
Recent research supports our findings as nationally, over two in five (45%) of adults support limiting new building projects. The study also found that the public are not opposed to building new homes and growth itself, but want to see infrastructure in place to support new housing developments.
Locally, Kent and Medway’s Housing Strategy for 2025-2030 recognises the pressure on local services and frustration amongst local communities often occurs due to infrastructure coming after housing development. The strategy also recognised the need for a digital platform to inform planning for future developments to identify gaps and opportunities for funding infrastructure.
Insights from residents in the Hoo Peninsula are aligned with national concerns that housing developments should be planned alongside the supporting infrastructure. For residents in the Hoo Peninsula, this means ensuring that healthcare services and roads are prioritised alongside new developments.
Local planning needs to consider the needs of the local people. Addressing these concerns is key to ensuring additional pressure is not placed on already stretched services, which will in turn help support the health and wellbeing of local residents.
Bias and limitations
Engagement was based on convenience sampling, as residents we spoke to were those who were available and willing to speak to us at the time and location of each engagement event. Therefore, the sample is not representative of the Hoo Peninsula population. These findings should be interpreted as indicative trends rather than conclusive evidence.
