Traders in Gravesend have signed a petition supporting plans for the Heritage Quarter.

Designs are due to go before council planners within the next few weeks with hopes that work on the £120 million scheme will begin some time next year.

In the face of opposition from civic groups Urban Gravesham and Gravesham Heritage Association, eight businesses have put pen to paper to support the plans.

They include Robert Atkinson, pictured, from Stamps and Hobbies in the High Street, which has traded for 46 years. Not entirely happy with the plans, he admits something needs to change.

The 61-year-old said: "We do need regeneration. If it doesn’t happen it’s just going to keep rumbling on and on and we’ll continue to suffer.

"I think the plan should be open for more discussion but we really need to keep pushing forward with it. The decline in the town is most certain – from out of town shopping to the internet.

"If you haven’t got people coming in, there’s empty shops and that isn’t very attractive – and when it starts looking like that, you’ve got more people deciding not to come back."

Plans to be considered by Gravesham council from developers Edinburgh House include underground car parks, new shops in an extended St George’s Centre, a hotel, homes, offices and community spaces.

Another of those supporting the plans is Julia Lomax, from St George’s Flowers.

The 41-year-old said: "I think it’s quite obvious that the area is becoming run down and the only way we’re going to get the town back is through regeneration.

"I know that a lot of the older generation have a problem with the plans but I think we need to let the younger generation get on with it."

She added: "It will bring more people into the town and bring more shops – which is what is keeping people away. My cousin had this place before me for about five years and if you look back through the books you can just see the decline over the years."

Her signature is joined by representatives of Bennett and Brown in Windmill Street, The Bike Shop in Windmill Street, Mohan Building Services in Manor Road, Star Carpets in Parrock Street, The Egg Free Cake Box in Milton Road and Tower Plumbing in Berkley Crescent.