Building work on a flagship multi-million-pound new city centre public square is yet to get underway as planned.

Despite several projects in the £22 million revamp of historic sites across Canterbury already under construction, the new plaza near the Westgate Towers is not among them.

City councillor Charlotte Cornell, the cabinet member responsible for the projects, previously said work on the major schemes would start by September.

But snags in the process of acquiring permission for work around the Grade I-listed building means spades have not yet hit the ground.

In January last year, Canterbury City Council was awarded £19.9m from the government’s Levelling-Up Fund (LUF) for works in the cathedral city and added in another £2.7m of its own money.

Alongside the Westgate square - which will remain open to vehicle traffic when complete - major projects include a similar scheme next to the St George’s Clocktower and the restoration of Canterbury Castle.

The castle, which dates back to Norman times, has been decked in scaffolding for several months but the areas around Westgate and the Clocktower, at opposing ends of the high street, are yet to see any physical work.

Originally, the deadline for spending all LUF money was the end of March 2025, however, the government extended the deadline for the local authority to October 2025.

In February, Cllr Cornell (Lab) told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that initial work could have started by the beginning of this month.

At the time, she explained CCC had not asked for an extension to the deadline by that point “because at the moment we don’t predict needing it”.

However, a CCC spokesman said: "While the original grant conditions stated that the LUF grant must be spent by March 31, 2025, extensions were automatically agreed nationally in line with the funding and delivery profiles reported to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in October 2023.

“This is helpful for us given the complex two-stage scheduled monument consent process we are going through."

A revised timescale for the yet-to-begin projects has not been confirmed by the council.

Both the Westgate Towers and St George’s Clocktower are scheduled monuments listed by Historic England, meaning they are subject to additional restrictions on construction work in or around them.

CCC must apply for specific consent for the works related to those landmarks, which are set to include the small public square around Westgate and revamping the Clocktower to host events.

Canterbury Castle however is also a scheduled monument, but surveys are complete and other work on the imposing Gas Street ruin has been under way for some time.

Cllr Cornell previously explained the space behind the structure will become “a new public park that will present excellent views of the city, somewhere to sit, hopefully somewhere to host new events like performances with the castle as a backdrop”.

She added: “The public will be able to go in the castle, hopefully, go up a level in the castle, look out from the castle into the city and the other way out of the city and learn a lot more about the heritage that was there.”

A contract to stabilise the stonework so the castle can reopen to the public is now out to tender.

“All being well, work is expected to start in the autumn and will continue through the winter months,” CCC’s latest Levelling Up newsletter issued in August says of the castle.

Work is under way however for several other projects in the Levelling Up scheme.

Scaffolding now surrounds the Poor Priest’s Hospital in Stour Street, where the roof tiles are being replaced.

Several small parks around the city - such as St Mary Magdalene Gardens and St Mary de Castro Gardens - will become “story gardens” featuring exhibits about Canterbury’s history.

Landscape designers are close to finishing the designs for these, CCC’s newsletter says.