Multi-million-pound proposals to build an 80-bed hotel, shops and restaurants have been scrapped.

Coplan Estates’ scheme for the William Street car park in Herne Bay was the second phase of the town's central development plan, which began with the opening of the Aldi supermarket in March 2017.

The company had been in discussions with a budget hotel chain interested in running the four-storey building, but over the past 12 months, it has been decided that the scheme is “no longer financially viable”.

Coplan had signed a development agreement with Canterbury City Council for the project, which has now expired.

Caroline Hicks, the head of property and regeneration at the local authority, says a national hotel chain was interested in taking on the site.

“The interest was there from the operator, but not the value,” she said.

“That operator is actively talking to some other people in the area as well, so it hasn’t gone.

"The success of the Premier Inn by the Harvester shows there’s a market there, but it doesn’t have huge margins.”

Coplan Estates director Colin McQueston told KentOnline two years ago that the development would cost £12m to £15m.

The council’s head of planning and regeneration, Ian Brown, says the company was hoping to fill the shops on the site with national chains like Next.

He said: “Those kinds of chains are struggling to hang onto the stores they’ve got at the moment.”

Mr Brown says the council will consider developing the site if there is still demand to do so.

“The cinema operator was trying to talk to us a little while ago to see if there was some extra space to potentially increase the size of the cinema,” he added.

“We might also get interest from people telling us to capitalise on the success of the leisure centre and sports provision.

“People may say, though, that they don’t want anything else done in that part of town. They may want more work to be on the seafront or at the King’s Hall instead.”