Experts have been hired to develop Gravesend Market when it reopens next summer after a £1.6 million lottery grant.

Consultant Quarterbridge Project Management has put together a £13,000 business plan designed to increase footfall and revenue at the market once the refurbishment is completed.

Work includes finding the right mix of businesses, setting up an annual programme of events and setting rents for traders.

Council bosses described the firm as “market leaders” in regenerating town centre markets when they agreed to the proposal at a meeting.

The firm’s previous projects include the new outdoor market in Colchester and the redevelopment of the Market Hall in Market Harborough.

The council’s director of communities, Melanie Norris, told members the group received approval from other local authorities.

In addition, members also gave the director permission to take all necessary steps to appoint contractors to carry out refurbishment works.

Terms of the grant state the funding must be spent by December 2016.

The market was closed last month for work to start on the £1.6 million upgrade after funding was secured through the government’s Coastal Communities Fund.

However, stallholders criticised the council when traders learned that they would have to reapply for their pitches in the new market.

The authority offered to relocate businesses to the St George’s Centre in the interim but some said the move involved increased rents and less space.

Council leader John Cubitt stressed it was important to gain the group’s “expertise” to make the most of the ambitious project.