The protracted and infuriating "M Block saga" in Gravesend is an example of the inertia that shackles the UK's economic potential, highlighting a fundamental failure by Keir Starmer's Government.
Sorry. Hopefully this will put it in context: M Block: How Gravesend's Maternity Ward Became a 20-Year Blight – And Why Nothing's Been Done.
It's a classic tale of well-intentioned but utterly disconnected decisions. Back in 2006, Gravesend's M Block, a vital maternity hospital, was declared "surplus." But there was no plan for its future, no feasibility study, and crucially, no real talk with the community. What followed? Two decades of dereliction. Despite planning permissions and changes of ownership, this monument to inaction still stands, a painful reminder of what happens when strategy gives way to speculative inaction.
This piece would have more impact if I had the faintest idea with the “M Block saga” ( with or without quotation marks) was about.
Sorry. Hopefully this will put it in context: M Block: How Gravesend's Maternity Ward Became a 20-Year Blight – And Why Nothing's Been Done.
It's a classic tale of well-intentioned but utterly disconnected decisions. Back in 2006, Gravesend's M Block, a vital maternity hospital, was declared "surplus." But there was no plan for its future, no feasibility study, and crucially, no real talk with the community. What followed? Two decades of dereliction. Despite planning permissions and changes of ownership, this monument to inaction still stands, a painful reminder of what happens when strategy gives way to speculative inaction.