It was a pleasure to welcome The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, to Medway, yesterday, to formally open The Fitted Rigging House (South) at The Historic Dockyard, Chatham. This comes after Medway received £14.5m worth of Government funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, as part of the Levelling Up Fund. Levelling Up fund in Medway is also being spent on the Brook Theatre restoration, and The Docking Station, which will transform a former police section house into a unique creative facility, home to the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries. The event was also attended by The Worshipful The Mayor of Medway, and the Chairman of the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust.
At the opening The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said:
“The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a brilliant day out for the whole family filled with opportunities to learn about our naval heritage.
“I was delighted to open the Fitted Rigging House and it was fantastic to see all of the work going on to make this Dockyard not only an engaging museum and collection of heritage buildings but a unique creative facility and site for local businesses.
“Thanks to Government support for this redevelopment – including £2.2 million from the Levelling Up Fund – the Dockyard will also become a leading creative destination.”
The Rt Hon Kelly Tolhurst MP, Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood said after the opening:
"As always, it was great to visit The Historic Dockyard Chatham, alongside the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport to view the new Fitted Rigging House. The Historic Dockyard is an important part of our local heritage. I am constantly pushing Ministers for investment in our local assets, so I am glad to see the result of this funding we have secured. We all want to see the Historic Dockyard remain a cultural and economic hub, and its prosperity is vital in it continuing to attract more private investment into our communities.
Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust has worked tirelessly to deliver the project and I am glad that we have successfully made the case that the Dockyard is a great place for investment. I was elected on a platform of supporting our local economy and this is just a small part of the record levels of investment that our constituency is beginning to receive to deliver on plans to level-up and regenerate parts of our constituency.
My thanks to Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, Richard Morsley, Paul Barnard, and the rest of the team at the Dockyard for showing us around their latest development.”
This came on a week when The Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, Secretary of State for Education, visited Maidstone to announce £200m in skills programmes across the country.
We look forward to welcoming more Ministers to Medway over the coming months.
