Gravesend’s old police station has been demolished ahead of plans to build dozens of new flats in the heart of the town.

The building became obsolete when the £30 million North Kent police hub opened in Thames Way, Northfleet, in 2008 and the station in Windmill Street subsequently shut in 2009.

Kent and Sussex Properties (KSP) has had an application for 86 residential units approved by Gravesham council, but it has been re-submitted with a tweak to up the number to 96.

Regardless of whether the amendment is given the go-ahead, KSP will build a mixed- use development measuring four to six storeys in height.

There will be 30 one-bedroom flats, 48 two-bedroom flats, and eight three-bedroom flats, with approximately 923 square metres of commercial floor space on the ground floor.

Also included is a 98-space underground car park, which is next on the agenda now that demolition is complete, and storage for bicycles.

The look of the building has been designed by DB Architects, with the remit of bringing stylish and modern accommodation to the town. The property is in a conservation area.

Even when it was empty, it still managed to hit the headlines.

Kent Police was fined £100,000 in 2014 after a potentially ‘enormous and damaging’ security blunder when confidential information, including copies of police interview tapes, were left in the basement of the former Gravesend police station.

The highly sensitive information included records relating back to the 1980s, thought to have been left at the site when police left the building in July 2009.