Residents will have to wait to find out whether controversial plans to transform part of an Asda car park into a drive-thru – tipped to be KFC – will go ahead.

Plans have been put forward relating to part of the Asda superstore in Crossways Boulevard, Greenhithe.

Euro Garages, which owns the grocer, is proposing to erect a takeaway business in the car park with dine-in capacity and a 24-hour drive-thru.

The name of the proposed user has not been specified but KFC – whose nearest restaurant is 1.4 miles away at Bluewater – is tipped to be behind the bid.

If approved, the "hot food" restaurant will employ 45 staff and cater for sit-down diners, takeaway and delivery meals.

Last week a report was presented to Dartford council's development control board which recommended the application be approved.

But councillors took the decision to defer the application owing to outstanding concerns held over parking, traffic problems and the ongoing issues of so-called boy racers.

It comes after fears were raised that there could be insufficient spaces for shoppers at the busy supermarket which also contains a petrol station.

Speaking after Thursday night's meeting, Cllr Katie Lynch, who represents Swanscombe and Greenhithe Resident’s Association, said a decision could have a long-term impact and "should not be rushed through".

"The amount of parking at Asda is already insufficient and it’s important we ensure the revised parking assessment is comprehensive," she said.

"We should be pushing for four normal trade weeks to be assessed, the spaces which will be lost should be taken out of use to see the true impact and an element factored in for usage growth from new surroundings housing developments and the additional parked restaurant trade.

"Anything less will not be statistically robust."

Concerns were also raised that a drive-thru in this location could make it more difficult to enforce a PSPO set to come into force to tackle street racing in the area.

The Crossways Boulevard area sees regular congregations of up to 150 cars at times centring on the Asda car park and neighbouring industrial estate.

The problems, which typically arise over weekends, sees modified cars whizzing up and down the busy dual carriageway between the Dartford Crossing and Bluewater shopping centre at speeds of up to 80mph. The speed limit is 40mph.

One resident in nearby Charles Street said: "The traffic noise in the evening is bad enough. You have boy racers using the road every night.

"With a drive thru and fast food restaurant it is going to make the area a death trap."

Whilst another in Dawes Close added: "A 24 hour restaurant here will only serve to exacerbate this problem, providing a meeting point and making it harder to eject these vehicles which could claim legitimate use of this facility to avoid being moved on."

On the issue of parking, Kent County Council's Highways team had originally raised a holding objection until further information had been submitted.

This was in respect of a walking route to the new restaurant and to address on-site observations about the use of the car park by non-Asda customers.

They requested survey data of the existing site and the proposed car parking demand to demonstrate the proposals can accommodate the full car parking demand for both uses to operate at maximum capacity.

But the authority concluded the trip generation data showed no significant change to the number of vehicles on the local highway network.

However, at Thursday's council meeting a decision was taken by councillors to postpone the Asda Supermarket application to allow for a more detailed parking assessment to be carried out.

Under the designs, a single-storey building would be erected in the existing car park, which would see spaces reduced from 380 to 346.

The facility would remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and would have a dedicated delivery collection point for online ordering apps Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo.

A date has not yet been confirmed for when the application will be re-visited.