Fed-up residents say it is time to regenerate a run-down shopping precinct that has become like a “mini Beirut” with antisocial behaviour.

The Bockhanger Square precinct off Bybrook Road, Kennington, was built in 1965 and includes shops and a community hall.

However, plans to redevelop the area with new housing and shops in 2013 were shelved by the council because the scheme was not commercially viable.

That was despite Ashford Borough Council leader Gerry Clarkson’s pledge at the time that it was an opportunity “to have something really special”.

This month’s edition of Kennington News has reported on the residents’ damning verdict, with shopkeeper Sunni Dhanda stating the decision to drop the plans was a “kick in the teeth”.

Now residents say their community is being “forgotten” while council cash is directed to more glamorous projects elsewhere in the town.

Bybrook Road resident Rob Everest said: “It’s awful. The council did up Stanhope about three years ago but has pulled the plug here.

“There hasn’t been money spent here for a number of years and it is attracting youths from outside the area.

“You see needles on the floor of the shelter and that worries me. All of the residents here are afraid to let their kids out to play.

“We are being left behind. With the new housing plans in Ashford there is a tragic flaw of not caring about the areas around the town that are here already.”

Kentish Express historian Steve Salter, whose mother used to work in the fish’n’chip shop at Bockhanger, has added his voice to the concerns.

He said: “The area has been totally and utterly forgotten. It is now looking very tired and tatty. It has been referred to in the past as a mini Beirut because it oozes antisocial behaviour.

“It looks like a typical council estate. In my view it needs a total overhaul. The plans in 2013 would give the area a whole new lease of life.”

Bybrook ward Cllr Andrew Buchanan (Con) said the problems had been known about for some time but denied it had been forgotten.

He said: “It has not been forgotten, the key thing is to find a commercially viable scheme that suits everybody.

"I will be discussing it with council officers and the cabinet portfolio holder. Whatever is needed will take time, but it is certainly not off the radar."

The council has said that money has been spent in Bybrook to renovate the flats, build new homes and knock down tatty garages.

A spokesman said: "Improving the facilities at Bockhanger remains an ambition for the council, but it is a project that can only be taken forward when it is commercially viable to do so.

"We will of course remain in contact with the community and ward councillors."