Great Expectations

Key stretches of the Thames & Medway canal will be restored while retaining sections for biodiversity. Works will focus on improving accessibility, signage and public realm management both in the urban core of Gravesham and the Canal.

The project involves the restoration, enhancement and increasing access to the historic Riverside Leisure Area, including the nationally significant New Tavern Fort. This provides a link between Gravesend town centre and the Thames Waterfront, Estuary Path and Thames Marshes. It is the only recreational open space in the town centre providing a meeting place, events site and recreational opportunities for an increasingly expanding population. It is also a significant national heritage site, once a key element in defending the maritime gateway to London.

1km of the Thames and Medway Canal will be restored to provide safe, water-based recreation, as well as provide an important ecological corridor. This work builds on and completes restoration works started with contaminated land grant funds in 1994.

There will be new circular walks, and improvements to the National Cycle Route 1 and Saxon Shore Way, providing access for pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists. This will extend from the Canal Basin Regeneration Area of Gravesend to Higham station and on to Cliffe Pools and the wider countryside.

Visitors will be able to experience firsthand the beauty of the marshes and the spectacle of the birds it supports. To complete the story, all visitors will be encouraged to arrive by train, bike and on foot thus benefiting from the improvements made to the adjacent Thames and Medway Canal.