Plans to build new homes for ex-servicemen in Gravesend have stalled after a grant application fell through.

There are 10 bungalows at Elizabeth Huggins Cottages in Cross Lane West housing ex-servicemen and their families.

In February the Elizabeth Huggins Cottages Charity got the go-ahead from Gravesham Council to knock down the existing homes and replace them with 34 properties also aimed at disabled serving personnel or former armed forces members.

But the Ministry of Defence has turned down the group’s application for between £3-5million in funding from the armed forces covenant fund.

Elizabeth Huggins trustee and Gravesham councillor John Cubitt said: "We are back to square one in a sense.

"Had we got the MOD funding the expectation was that we would have been looking to get started this year.

"As it is it will be at least 12 months before we can progress any further.

"I’m disappointed not to get the grant but optimistic because it’s such a good cause I’m sure the grant will become available in due course."

The charity is now putting together a brochure aimed at attracting funding from other sources.

News Shopper:

Bernard Carter.

Elizabeth Huggins resident Bernard Carter, 79, spearheaded efforts by existing tenants to block the scheme.

There were concerns about the upheaval caused to existing residents during construction and the lack of lift provision in the plans for the new development.

The former RAF bomb armourer claims the charity has failed to tell residents its funding bid fell through.

He said: “What they have actually done is left 13 old age pensioners with no information since that meeting in February.

“They have never asked about their welfare and they don’t even care about their welfare.

“A lot of people have been in hospital caused by stress because they might be evicted from their homes.”

If built, the development would feature four three bedroom two storey houses, eight single bedroom flats, a dozen two bedroom flats, nine two bedroom cottages and one three bedroom maisonette for the complex warden plus car parking and cycle storage.