There is no timeline for when a closed car park will reopen as plans to take off its crumbling roof are still ongoing, a council says.

The 300-space Park Mall car park in Ashford has been shut since last April after repairs to remove stalactites dripping from the ceiling failed, causing damage to cars and slippery surfaces.

In a bid to get the facility back open, site owner Ashford Borough Council (ABC) said in February how it was considering removing the first storey to create one ground-level open-air facility.

Town centre business owners told KentOnline at the time how they hoped the work would be carried out “sooner rather than later”.

But six months on, the authority says there is no plan as to when this will happen.

An ABC spokesman said: “We are continuing to work with engineers to understand the viability of removing the top floor of the Park Mall car park, there is no timeline as yet.

“When there are any updates we will share them with residents.”

ABC, which is run by an Ashford Independents/Green Party coalition, would lose 260 spaces as a result of removing the first storey, but would regain 40 spots by reopening the ground level.

Bosses have long harboured ambitions to convert the whole Park Mall shopping centre into a residential development.

The authority, which has owned the site since 2015, said last year how its plans could be fast-tracked following the collapse of Wilko, which left the centre in September, but it is yet to reveal any timescales.

Last week, a section of the shopping centre between the former Wilko store and Edinburgh Road car park was closed due to a routine survey.

ABC says four panes of glass in the roof previously needed removing and were subsequently replaced following past inspections.

Park Mall car park has not been fully operational since before September 2021, when former operator NCP closed the facility with just 32 hours' notice.

The top floor was permanently blocked off in March 2023 after being constantly blighted by anti-social behaviour.

Last year, ABC closed the top floor of the neighbouring Edinburgh Road car park amid “ongoing vandalism and anti-social behaviour” issues.