Future of Barton's Point
Published
Friday 14 November, 2025
Updated
Friday 14 November, 2025
Swale Borough Council’s Environmental Services and Climate Change Committee discussed the incredibly rare ecosystem within Barton’s Point Coastal Park at a meeting on 12 November.
Members have now agreed the next steps for the future of the coastal park, with the creation of a members working group to further discuss the council’s options.
The group will review the possible implications on other site users, the lake management, the café, events, drainage, toilets, grounds maintenance and will consider new futures such as prioritising education or environmental stewardship or the creation of a habitat bank – a way for developers to invest in biodiversity to mitigate the impact of housebuilding elsewhere.
The council previously announced they were working on detailed plans for Barton’s Point, having chosen a preferred leisure operator, but needed to undertake surveys to better understand the park’s ecology.
This due diligence from the council helped reveal the park’s unique biodiversity within its rare brackish lake and grasslands.
The natural mixing of salt and fresh water has created a prized environment with complex and varied species interactions, making the area highly sensitive to increased footfall.
The results of the year-long survey, conducted by specialists Bakerwell, meant that any future use would need to carefully consider the park’s sensitive and unique ecosystem.
The council has now decided not to go ahead with their original plans for leisure facilities and will instead focus on enhancing and preserving the coastal park’s important ecology.
Cllr Dolley Wooster, chair of Swale Borough Council’s Environmental Services and Climate Change Committee, said:
“Bartons Point is an incredibly important area in Swale and as part of the plans for the area an extensive ecological survey was undertaken.
“The experts at Bakerwell have advised that any planning applications would need to carefully consider the park’s sensitive and unique ecosystem, and it would be challenging to implement anything that would increase the number of visitors.
“Taking into account how amazing and unique our coastal park truly is, we can turn our focus quite rightly into preserving, enhancing and educating people on this important ecological haven.”
