A COUNCIL is to carry out further public consultation on a £150m regeneration scheme.

Gravesham Council will talk to residents more about the Heritage Quarter regeneration scheme.

The council says the reason for this is because comments from consultees are likely to require amendments to the scheme which will result in further consultation.

Although this will delay the announced timetable for the planning process, the council says it believes it is vital that the public consultation phase is fully informed and includes all the possible options for parts of the regeneration scheme.

Gravesham Council leader Councillor Mike Snelling said: “The council is prepared to listen – we are listening to all sides of the debate but we are concerned that everyone is given the opportunity to hear the real issues and come to an informed decision.

“Although the decision to extend the process is planning-led it is particularly welcome because it gives us the chance to debate the real issues and avoid the situation of the debate becoming polarised on narrow lines.”

The council has also said a development agreement was signed on February 2 last year between Edinburgh House and the council.

The then leader, Councillor John Burden, authorised the signing with support of both political groups on the authority and the endorsement of the then cabinet. This is a legally binding agreement and committed the council to the development, subject to planning consent.

This agreement was based on indicative plans for the development and part of those plans specified the provision of 223 homes on the land at St Andrews Gardens.

s the scheme evolved towards detailed plans which have now been submitted for approval, it became clear there were issues surrounding how those apartments could be built, specifically the footprint and height of the building.

The original plans had shown a 12- to 14-floor tower with a substantially larger footprint than the taller one in the present application.

The scheme now due for consideration by the council’s independent regulatory board includes a 32-storey tower building.

And the architects and developers consider the tower to be the best solution of how to revitalise the town centre while re-connecting the town to the river frontage and maximising important views of the river.

The plans currently consist of 120,000sq ft of retail space and 30,000sq ft of leisure and office space and the developer says the scheme will create around 1,000 jobs.

Subject to planning approval, work is expected to start early next year and the whole scheme should be complete by 2013.