An outspoken retail campaigner has criticised Ashford council for failing to put £100,000 of Portas Pilot funding into use.

Not one penny of the cash, which was awarded to Ashford with the aim of breathing life back into the flagging high street, has yet been spent on improving the town centre.

That’s according to information obtained by Paul Turner-Mitchell, who has been a critic of the Portas project since its inception.

But town leaders say plans for spending the cash are progressing well.

Mr Turner-Mitchell has been keeping track of how each of the 27 councils around the country who successfully applied to become a Portas Pilot town have been using the money they received.

Ashford was one of 15 towns selected as part of a second wave of winners in July 2012, and fewer than half of these have begun to spend the cash.

Mr Turner-Mitchell said: “The rate of major chain closures is increasing dramatically and we are seeing high streets turn into ghost towns.

“We want to see councils mounting an urgent fightback, but it looks like all they’re doing is twiddling their thumbs and scratching their heads.

“The problem is that local government thinking is so risk averse and bureaucratic nothing gets done – and this just makes the problem worse.”

Mr Turner-Mitchell, who owns a fashion boutique in Lancashire, has been using Freedom of Information laws to keep tabs on the spending.

But Cllr Graham Galpin, ABC’s portfolio holder for the town centre and urban economy, insists that not splashing the cash straight away was the correct decision.

He added: “If you were to spend it from day one, it would have been unplanned, unprogrammed, and unsustainable.

“It really will take some time to spend any amount of money to do a long term addition to the town."

He said plans for spending the cash were progressing well, with sums earmarked for a website and smart phone app, the establishment of a Town Team and a renewal of the town’s market. Town Team manager Jo Wynn-Carter was appointed last month.

“If you were to spend it from day one, it would have been unplanned, unprogrammed, and unsustainable" - Cllr Graham Galpin

Cllr Graham Galpin says that the Portas Pilot cash has already begun to make a difference and further ideas for improving the town centre have been identified.

Among the areas the council is concentrating on are the appearance and upkeep of the town centre and market, as well as dealing with anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Galpin added: “The Town Team is set up and is beginning to really make an impact. Getting the right person as our Town Team manager, who can make things happen has been important.

“At the last meeting we looked at anti-social behaviour in the town. We are looking at how it is policed, and we now have a dedicated police inspector for Victoria and Stour wards.

“We’ve also set aside £50,000 to replace signage in the town, so that those wonderful signs that now point the wrong way can be replaced.

“The next thing is how clean and bright and shiny the town environment is. We’ve got the new street cleaning contract with Biffa, which is great."