PLANS for a £75m town centre transport hub as well as new homes and offices have been given permission.

Gravesham Council’s regulatory board granted outline planning permission to the Gravesend Transport Quarter scheme at a meeting last week.

It includes renovating the train station as well as creating a bus interchange next to it, a two-way road system, new homes and car parks, and a public square by the Civic Centre.

The plans for the redevelopment, which is expected to be complete by 2015, are designed by the council, Kent Highways Service and Network Rail.

Council leader Councillor Mike Snelling said: “Gravesend is going places and this development will set the tone for regeneration for decades.”

Designs for the station include lengthening the existing two platforms to accommodate trains with up to 12 carriages.

A transport hub will be attached to the station, and will include bus stands and taxi ranks as well as 1,000 square metres of office and retail space.

Currently traffic in the town centre is stilted by a one-way system, and the designs propose a two-way system and the realignment of existing roads.

Between 15 and 60 new homes will be built above a new multi-storey car park in Barrack Road and along Rathmore Road, with underground parking.

The new public square by the Civic Centre will be accompanied by an increase in the size and number of pedestrian areas.

Funding for the project comes from Network Rail, the government, Kent County Council, the developers contracted to build the homes, and Gravesham Council.