Medway

Medway
Unitary authority area and borough
Clockwise from top: Rochester Cathedral, HMS Ocelot, Rochester Castle, Royal Engineers Museum, Upnor Castle, Chatham Historic Dockyard
Coat of arms Council logo
Shown within Kent
Coordinates: 51°23′N 0°32′E / 51.39°N 0.54°E / 51.39; 0.54
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Ceremonial county	Kent[1]
Status	Unitary authority
Incorporated	1 April 1998
Admin HQ	Gun Wharf, Chatham
Government
• Type	Unitary authority
• Body	Medway Council
• Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (Labour Co-op)
• Mayor	Cllr Marian Nestorov
• MPs	None (Parliament dissolved) Previously: Kelly Tolhurst (C) Tracey Crouch (C) Rehman Chishti (C)
• Deputy Mayor	Cllr Douglas Hamandishe
• Council Leader	Cllr Vince Maple
Area
• Total	74.14 sq mi (192.03 km2)
• Rank	148th (of 296)
Population  (2022)
• Total	282,702
• Rank	56th (of 296)
• Density	3,800/sq mi (1,500/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [2]
• Ethnic groups	List 84.3% White 5.9% Asian 5.6% Black 2.8% Mixed 1.4% other
Religion (2021) [2]
• Religion	List 45.1% Christianity 43% no religion 5.5% not stated 2.7% Islam 1.6% Sikhism 1.1% Hinduism 0.6% other 0.4% Buddhism 0.1% Judaism
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	00LC (ONS) E06000035 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TQ768688
Website	medway.gov.uk

Medway is a borough and unitary authority area in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019.^[3] The unitary authority was formed in 1998, when the boroughs of Rochester-upon-Medway and Gillingham were merged to form Medway Towns.^[4] The borough is governed by Medway Council, a unitary authority which is independent of Kent County Council, but remains part of the ceremonial county of Kent.^[5]

Medway is one of the boroughs included in the Thames Gateway development scheme. It is also the home of Universities at Medway, a tri-partite collaboration of the University of Greenwich, the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University on a single campus in Chatham, together with the Medway School of Arts.^[6]