Sheppey East Neighbourhood Board
Published
Thursday 12 March, 2026
Updated
Monday 3 August, 2026
The Pride in Place neighbourhood board for Sheppey East will help lead the £20 million government funded investment into the area, over the next ten years.
The board is chaired by Garry Ratcliffe and brings together residents, business owners, community volunteers and professionals from across Sheppey East, with backgrounds spanning education, healthcare, governance, the voluntary sector, business and the arts.
The members of the board are:
- Garry Ratcliffe (chair) - lives with his husband, Kyle, and their four adopted children just off Lower Road and brings three decades of public sector leadership and deep local roots to the £20 million long-term investment programme.
- Kevin McKenna MP - Member of Parliament for Sittingbourne and Sheppey.
- Nathan Wood – born and raised on the Isle of Sheppey, he runs a family business providing skilled jobs, training and apprenticeships, and volunteers as a youth football coach with Sheerness East Youth Football Club.
- Jamie Woodrow – has worked at Nore Academy and Estuary Academy engaging with young people, families and community stakeholders, with a strong focus on transparency and the effective use of public funding.
- Bobbie Taiano – a long-standing Sheppey East resident who has worked with a charity for family carers and has experience with both a Health Authority and local council.
- Tracy Rogers – has called Eastchurch home for over 13 years and is actively involved in village life, including the Big Lunch, Christmas Lights and Hug in a Mug, and previously with Starquest Performing Arts at Sheppey Little Theatre.
- Serena Williams – works in a senior governance role in the Civil Service, with a career spanning education and policing, and a particular commitment to ensuring less represented voices are heard, including disabled people and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
- Gary Hunt – brings a career in public service, central government, governance and the voluntary sector, having led local charities, with interests in heritage, the arts, music, science and the natural environment.
- Nicola Waghorne - has lived on the Isle of Sheppey for most of her life. Before moving into the charity sector, Nicola worked for British Airways, developing strong customer service and organisational skills. For more than 13 years, Nicola has worked for Sheppey Matters in Eastchurch, where she has developed and delivered a wide range of community projects.
- Dean Grace-Hicks – has over 23 years’ experience caring for people and leading large healthcare teams across acute, community, corporate and prison healthcare, and has lived on Sheppey for the past eight years.
- Peter Constant – has long-standing connections to the Island and lived experience of supporting a family member with a dual diagnosis of Down’s syndrome and autism, alongside international business development and tourism experience.
- Lee Jarmain – a local leader who brings extensive experience of partnership working and involvement in numerous projects across the Island.
- Cllr Lee-Anne Moore - Swale Borough Council ward member for Sheppey East
The board members will now begin an intensive period of community engagement across Sheppey East, hearing from as many residents, groups and organisations as possible ahead of the first formal board meeting in September.
Those conversations will shape the board’s investment plan, which is due to be submitted to government by the end of November 2026, with approval and the start of delivery expected in spring 2027.
