King’s Cross has been revealed as the inspiration behind £100 million regeneration plans for a Kent town.

Developers behind plans to revitalise Sittingbourne say they have looked at the area to the north of the London station, which has been transformed into a vibrant new city quarter after 150 years of industrial use.

King's Cross has new homes, shopping, offices, cultural venues, bars, restaurants and even a university, all linked by high speed rail from London St Pancras.

Historic buildings are being restored and complemented by modern architecture and are set within a framework of new parks, squares and streets.

It’s a vision Swale council’s development partner, the Spirit of Sittingbourne, is keen to replicate in Kent if councillors approve their plans at a crunch council meeting next month.

It’s estimated the revamp could bring an extra 400,000 people a year into the area, generate £250 million of economic wealth over a decade and create 1,000 jobs.

Spirit is made up of Canterbury-based developer Quinn Estates, Hythe-based architect Guy Holloway and London developers Cathedral Group and Essential Land LLP.

Mixed use builder Quinn Estates has a track record in Swale having completed an expansion of Eurolink with developer George Wilson and completed the Foundry business park in Faversham.

Director Mark Quinn said: “We have taken a lot from what they’ve (King’s Cross) done and we think we are going to be able to bring that down here successfully.

“If you had told people in Kings Cross 15 years ago a two-bedroom flat would cost £1 million and land prices would be the same as Mayfair they would have laughed at you.

“It wasn’t that type of place. I’m sure a lot of people question if you can do the same with Sittingbourne but we are here to prove you can.

“It’s a well thought out scheme which impacts negatively on the minimal number of people.

“You can’t stop the whole town centre being developed because a couple of people don’t want to look over a car park from their house.

“You can’t own a view in this country and certainly not a car park.

“We hope common-sense prevails and people back a very sensible very deliverable scheme.

“We have been clever by employing someone who has invested a great deal of architectural integrity into this scheme. Some of these will be the best buildings we have ever built.”

To date, the Cathedral Group has spent £1 million on the project.

While a decision on the application is yet to be determined, bosses say they are confident about the scheme.

They expect to have documents signed with a cinema operator prior to the proposal going before a special meeting of the local authority’s planning committee members on Monday, March 16.

Richard Upton, chief executive of London-based developer Cathedral, said: “The high street as a centre for retailing is dead over the next 20 to 30 years.

“High streets need to reinvent themselves to what they were 100 years ago, which was places people bump into each other for leisure, education and civic.

“Cinemas have survived and been the strongest part of retailing through the recession.

"Some of these will be the best buildings we have ever built...” - Quinn Estates' Mark Quinn

"Any out-of-town retail, by definition, crucifies a town centre so we are strengthening Sittingbourne as a socio-economic unit and a place to live.”

During consultation, a poll showed 98% of people were in favour of seeing regeneration in the town.

Cathedral’s projects director, Rob Sloper, said: “This is all about getting people to
stay in Sittingbourne.

“People are entitled to their opinion and can say ‘people won’t go to the restaurants’ but we have big multi-nationals interested.

“Our brand is about high-quality design and that high-quality design is what brings in multi-nationals. It is not about cheap design.”