A cycle hub is to be built at Gravesend railway station after the government pledged nearly £700,000.

A grant of £684,160 will be given to Southeastern to develop an area at the station to encourage more people to get on their bikes to get about town.

The Department for Transport thinks there is a lack of choice when it comes to getting to and from the station, with particular concern about security.

A statement on the Department for Transport website said: “The Gravesend Cycle Hub will address this latent demand by providing additional spaces, a secure compound, CCTV coverage and lighting.”

So far, details about what the hub will look like are not known but Cllr John Burden (Lab), who is part of Gravesham council’s planning board, said: “With the bicycle hubs you don’t have to go up or across, you can also tunnel down. It’s a Japanese system.

“It uses lifts and you pay for your bike to be put in a rack and it goes underground and then you get given a code to use when you return for it.”

Plans for Gravesend’s £9.5 million transport quarter have been discussed for some years and also include a realigned, two-way Rathmore Road linking Wrotham Road and Darnley Road.

Work is expected to begin on the project next autumn after it was approved by Kent County Council in November last year.

The scheme also includes major changes to the layout of the town centre which include the widening of Rathmore Road, a taxi rank at the railway station and further disabled parking.

Barrack Row will become a transport interchange that integrates the railway station with the town centre, bus and taxi services, and improves pedestrian walkways. Plans for a multi-storey car park were ditched.