A forerunner to the regeneration is on the starting blocks.

The Sittingbourne Town Centre Opportunities Fund (STCOF) has been set up to buy and revamp empty properties with marketable potential.

It’s a joint venture between Swale council and the Cathedral Group, a member of the Spirt of Sittingbourne consortium.

Both parties will stump up £500,000 each to get the scheme moving ahead of the main redevelopment project.

It was rubber stamped by councillors last Wednesday. Cllr Mike Cosgrove, the council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said the fund wasn’t about playing Monopoly with real money.

He said: “We’ll make sure the risk is minimised while the potential for real change can be made good.”

According to Swale leader, Cllr Andrew Bowles, the fund was “a long time in gestation”. He said a “poor return” on the money markets necessitated the need for an alternative

In its proposal, the council promised to do “something new and exciting” with the properties it buys in order to generate a return.

Any profit will be shared between the two shareholders, but investors with a spare £500,000 are welcome on board.

Professional surveyors will advise and negotiate on the buying of buildings with funding only handed over when a site has been agreed on.

Cllr Roger Truelove, Labour representative for Chalkwell ward, gave STCOF a cautious welcome, saying: “It’s good to see we’re trying new thinking after several years of pedestrian thinking.”

A masterplan will be drawn-up and “a number of stages” gone through before the fund starts doing business.

Cllr Mike Henderson, Independent member for Davington Priory ward, wasn’t as enamoured with the scheme.

He said: “The thing that’s really going to regenerate Sittingbourne is pulling business into town, doing up one or two shopfronts ain’t going to achieve that.”

He hopes doors “would not in any way stay closed” to similar schemes being started in Faversham and Sheppey.

Cllr John Wright, cabinet member for housing, cited the Island’s beach hut project as a good example of a joint enterprise between the public and private sector.