Almost six months after £100 million plans were passed to regenerate the town centre, work has yet to start.

The planning committee passed phase one of Spirit of Sittingbourne’s application on March 16.

Three days later signs were put up at each of the development sites informing people what was going to be built where.

Spirit is made up of Quinn Estates working in conjunction with architect Guy Holloway; Cathedral Group and Essential Land LLP.

At the time Richard Upton, chief executive of Cathedral Group, said he hoped contractors would be on site in a matter of weeks.

The vision was that by summer 2017 the town would boast a seven screen cinema, seven restaurants, four retail units, 215 residential apartments, a new public square plus a 308 space multi-storey car park.

However, a development agreement means the local authority won’t release the land it owns to Spirit to build on unless an operator has signed on the dotted line to run the cinema.

At the July meeting of the council Cllr Mike Cosgrove told Labour Cllr Ghlin Whelan he expected ‘heads of terms to be agreed by the end of August and the name of the operator released as soon as possible after that,’ but the target wasn’t met.

It’s understood this is now likely to happen mid-September.

Cllr Whelan said: “Of course a delay of about a month is not significant, as long as the operator is really secured.

“But this further delay only illustrates what a long drawn out process this will be. It will probably be the end of the year before a full legal agreement is tied up.

“Only then can the rest of the project begin.

"They will have to start with the road realignment around the station before moving on to the multi-storey car park.

"This is not going to be widely welcomed.

“Of course, there are no restaurant chains in place yet.

"It really wasn’t wise to put up the celebratory “It’s Here” signs so prematurely, but it was just before major elections in the town.”

A spokesman for Swale council said: "Negotiations between our development partner and potential cinema operators are ongoing, and we have no control over their duration.

"We fully understand people’s eagerness to know more – we are as keen as they are to see work begin - but the final agreement is crucial for the regeneration to be a long term success, and bring genuine benefits for the town and wider area.”

A spokesman for Spirit of Sittingbourne said they hoped to have a heads of terms agreement signed by the end of the week.