Breathing new life into a town centre is like filling pieces of a jigsaw, say those overseeing its regeneration.

Medway Council's development arm, Medway Development Company (MDC) is behind projects to build new homes in Chatham, including at Mountbatten House - which the council recently purchased for £1.975 million - and at Chatham Waterfront which will eventually host 182 new flats.

A video - which cost the council just over £9,000 to make - setting out MDC's ambitions for the area around the Brook Theatre and the Chatham Waterfront bus station was unveiled at a committee meeting earlier this month.

It imagines plans for new commercial space and a new public plaza, gardens, and spaces for outdoor pop-up restaurants.

Cllr Adrian Gulvin (Con), the council's portfolio holder for resources and a director of MDC, said: "The main real benefit is we have reversed that 'doughnutting' that happened in so many city centres over the years where nobody actually lives in the centre, and by having people living right slap bang in the middle of Chatham, then they'll want to go shopping there, have other facilities, and [use] the evening economy.

"That is all extra footfall for the High Street and the Pentagon.

"No matter what people like Mary Portas say, we are never ever going to get our town centres back to where they were 20 or 30 years ago. It's just not going to happen.

"Realistically, internet shopping and out-of-town shopping changed the whole thing dramatically, and I think the Covid epidemic when it comes to internet shopping has really accelerated the trend.

"Shops are very important, they are a vital part of the town centre, but retail itself is going to shrink. We've got to accept it's going to shrink.

"If you think of the centre of Chatham as a giant jigsaw puzzle, getting Mountbatten House, that means we've got the whole of the outside of the jigsaw puzzle in place, and once you've got the outside in place, you can start filling all the bits in the middle."

In terms of the project's progress, Cllr Gulvin said one apartment had been sold at Garrison Point on the former Whiffen's Avenue car park - another MDC scheme which will eventually deliver 115 apartments.

Cllr Gulvin also says if it wasn't for the council leading on regeneration of the town, they would not have had interest to develop the former Trafalgar Centre and the NCP car park in Rhode Street.

Terance Butler Holdings (TBH) purchased the shopping centre last year and has put forward plans to construct 200 flats on the site.

He also said progress is being made towards the council's purchase of the former Debenhams department store and for a healthy living centre and innovation hub which will support co-working opportunities to go into the top floor of the Pentagon.

All three projects will be funded from a pot of just under £9.5 million from the government's Future High Street Fund.

Other schemes which are due to be supported from this are a new studio space at the Brook Theatre and co-working space at St John's Church.

Reacting to the video, Gian Chahal, vice-chairman of the Chatham Town Centre Forum, said: "Any investment into the Chatham town centre is very welcomed. Businesses are facing a very challenging time and any initiative that will drive footfall into the area will be hugely welcomed.

"Town centres need to provide an experience for customers in order to survive and Chatham Town Centre Forum has certainly been working hard with the council to support new initiatives into the area."

John Brice is the manager of the Safer Medway Partnership, which is a collection of almost 200 businesses across the Towns dedicated to working towards stamping out anti-social behaviour.

He said he was in favour of seeing more housing in the town centre, adding, "Because of the issues that town centres are facing with out-of-town shopping and internet shopping, life needs to be breathed back into town centres."

George Atzev, founder of Future Chatham - an independent source of information and opinion on the changes, development and regeneration of Chatham - said: "I really welcome the video's recognition of the need to rethink the role of Chatham town centre.

"Changing consumer habits and economic conditions have underlined the urgency for Chatham to become more of a multifunctional hub for the community, as a place to live, work and visit.

"It would be beneficial if there was greater community involvement in setting such visions though.

"These visions are an opportunity to capture the voices and needs of our local community, and can be an ideal platform to maximise the benefits of regeneration.

"I'm confident that this new vision will kickstart a much-needed conversation locally on the future of Chatham."

Chatham Central councillor Vince Maple (Lab) said he supported Medway Development Company's work in the town and welcomed more housing coming forward there, although he did have concerns about the level of affordable housing.

He said: "Any investment into Chatham is always to be welcomed, that's a good thing and as a broad principle to support our high streets in town centres generally, not just in Chatham, having more residential in them, or much closer to them, is a good thing.

"What that does is ultimately mean those shops are people's local shops, so they're likely to spend money there, they are likely to enjoy the night-time economy there, that's their home, that's the community.

"So the broad principle, I think it's a very positive step and something that should be welcomed.

"We've seen one or two great new independent stores opening and that's fantastic to see, but we've had the kind of anchor stores from Go Outdoors, Debenhams, and Buzz Bingo closing.

"So not just in some cases, quite big employers but, of course, quite big pieces of land which left empty can be quite demoralising for people who perhaps want to see a vibrant town centre.

"We need to see that element being brought forward as soon as possible.

"One or two plans are in the public domain, certainly about the Trafalgar Centre which has been empty for I think now over eight years; we can't have some of these other sites being empty for eight years, we can't see that as the norm.

"You don't want to have a situation where you've got new housing next to empty retail units, which there's currently a risk of if we don't manage to find ways to get those units open and filled, and of course I accept some of those are not run by the council, but the council is still absolutely a key influencer."

What do you think of the ambitious plans Chatham? Comment below.