COULD this be the new site for a skyscraper in Gravesend?

The developer behind the plans for a 32-storey tower block on the riverfront, which was scrapped earlier this year, has said it will look closely at the former Lord Street car park site after Barratt pulled out of an agreement to build flats there.

Gravesham Borough Council announced it had finally reached an agreement with Barratt over the site after two years of wrangling over the number of apartments allowed.

In October 2007 Barratt approached the council and asked to build 130 apartments instead of the 106 it had received planning permission for.

The council dismissed the idea, with council leader Mike Snelling saying that cramming in so many apartments would only create "rabbit hutches".

Following threats of legal action Barratt agreed to hand back the land to the council, and pay compensation.

Cllr Snelling said he had not been approached about the site by Edinburgh House, the developer behind the Heritage Quarter tower plans, but said the council would be looking at all options for it - including replacing the old car park.

"I'm not suggesting for one minute we will just say to Edinburgh House go and build flats there," he said.

"I'm sure someone will suggest we put a car park there, particularly with the new rail links that are coming."

A spokesman for Edinburgh House said: "We will now look at the site and make a decision on it.

"In terms of the tower, we will have to review the site. It would have to generate a certain amount of income, but one of the things with the original tower was that it was necessary with the constrictions of the land. We would have to look at the size of this site to determine what could be put there."

Barratt was given planning permission for a five, six, seven and nine-storey building with commercial units on the ground floor and a public green space in the middle of it.

Despite giving back the Lord Street site, it has agreed to complete landscaping and finishing work on its other site at the southern end of Parrock Street car park.