Newly-submitted designs show how a council’s new high street offices could look once the authority moves to a new location.

Canterbury City Council is preparing to move operations to Whitefriars in the city centre, after its current headquarters in Military Road was deemed unfit for purpose due to its size and running costs.

The new offices will fill four separate sites in the shopping centre including the former Topshop and RBS units.

The existing dilapidated site - which has been the council's home for more than 40 years - is likely to be sold to a housing developer for a multi-million pound sum.

This will pave the way for the move which is planned to begin at the end of the year.

Most council staff will be based on the second floor above the former Topshop store, which would also have a small reception area on the ground floor.

Residents needing face-to-face appointments will go to a new front-of-house reception at the old RBS bank unit in Rose Lane.

New artist’s impressions submitted by Studio Evans Lane show how the entrance could look, including new signage and council branding.

The site would also host the print and mail service, and potentially become a base for the authority's enforcement officers.

Elsewhere, an empty space above Flying Tiger will be used as a storage area, while the council's CCTV control room will relocate to the Whitefriars management suite above Boots.

All of the sites are currently owned by the council following its controversial £155 million acquisition of the shopping complex - a purchase completed in 2018.

A council report previously suggested the proposed move will "increase footfall through the shopping centre", promoting a "greater spend in the surrounding retail stores and food/beverage outlets".

The original plan was for the authority to move into a £12 million new-build in Wincheap, but the pandemic and the council's financial situation sparked a drastic rethink.