More than £2.5 million of extra funding has been unlocked for a major housing project that would see a town landmark brought back into use after nearly 20 years. Work to redevelop the former Co-op building, between Spital Street and Hythe Street in Dartford is set to start next year.

It comes after a previous iteration of the project was mothballed by the council in May 2022 amid financial challenges which would have seen it increase in "scale and density" in a way deemed not in keeping with its "market town traditions". Dartford council acquired the Westgate site from government agency Homes England a year later, and has been working on its own in-house blueprint ever since.

At a meeting last Monday (October 13) councillors debated approving more funding to bring the £35m plans to the

See Full Page