A major town centre regeneration scheme which would have seen hundreds of new homes and a cinema built has been axed after developers insisted it needed to be bigger.

The £75m Westgate cultural quarter project was heralded as a "key milestone" in Dartford's transformation when it was approved by councillors in 2020.

It would have seen a derelict area between Spital Street and Hythe Street given a new lease of life.

Under the scheme, piloted by Muse Developments, there were plans to deliver 120 new homes, a multi-screen cinema, a health and wellbeing centre and a string of restaurants and bars forming a new "cultural quarter".

The former Co-op building, which has sat vacant since 2007, was also to be given a facelift to become a new 85-bed hotel.

But according to a report to be put before Dartford council's cabinet this week, the development was abandoned after a "challenging commercial market" – first in response to prolonged Brexit uncertainty and then the Covid-19 pandemic – rendered the scheme no longer financially viable.

It meant without more funds from council coffers the project would no longer satisfy the terms of the deal struck with developers.

Muse had suggested a revised project brief but despite both parties' best efforts even the most appropriate proposal would still have required considerable investment.

This involved an increase to the "scale and density" of development which the council could not accept in keeping with the town’s "traditional market-town character".

Now Dartford council is trying to acquire the "Co-op" site from the government's housing agency, Homes England.

A decision will take place at a cabinet meeting on Thursday where the authority is proposing to authorise costs of £250,000, on top of the £1.4m already committed, to secure the land and create a "housing-led scheme".

A council report read: "Whilst the causes of uncertainty in the commercial, hotel, cinema and housing markets resulting from the pandemic are understood, the council should not have to accept an undesirable level of residential density, height or scale as the price for moving forward with the existing scheme.

"It is recognised that it is common private sector development practice to improve viability by either increasing the density of developments or reducing costs through ‘value engineering’ but the council is not a private sector developer.

"It is has a duty to bring forward developments of appropriate scale, sensitivity, sustainability and high quality design when it is in a position to do so."

The council wants to "safeguard" the site and bring forward "lower impact proposals" that can be delivered in the current market and make a lasting contribution.

It says this will allow it to deliver regeneration for this part of town and "act in a more timely manner" on any future plans while avoiding unnecessary delays due to outside commercial partners.

Council leader Jeremy Kite said there had been various changes throughout the pandemic which had impacted the project.

"To make it work the thing had to get bigger and bigger and so we pulled the plug on it," he explained.

"It would have to be enormously high and I think we took the view that although commercial developers have to operate in a certain way, we as a council are not obliged to."

Despite the setback Cllr Kite remains hopeful the authority will still be able to achieve a scheme on a "neighbourhood scale" similar to that before.

Although he conceded certain aspects, such as the cinema proposed, were now unlikely to work, Cllr Kite added: "I think people are increasingly feeling developers are on top of them rather than with them.

"This is an opportunity to work with the community to do something."

The item will be debated before cabinet advisory tonight May 23 before being put before the cabinet for a vote on Thursday, May 26 at 7pm.