Part of a building which housed the town’s old Argos store could be turned into housing, if a new scheme is approved.

Planning permission for the empty store in Sittingbourne High Street to be turned into a gym was granted in 2019.

However, work stalled due to the pandemic.

Now proposals have gone before Swale council suggesting the first floor of the building, between the Wimpy and Lloyds Bank, is converted into seven self-contained apartments. They would be made of one, two and three bedroom flats.

Regaland Ltd has submitted an application to the authority to determine whether prior approval would be required in relation to the highways and transport impact, risk of site contamination and flooding.

It is not yet clear what is planned for the ground floor, which remains vacant.

Argos closed in 2017 when the store was relocated to Sainsbury’s in the Avenue of Remembrance.

Family friendly workout hub HITIO Gym was granted planning consent for its £650,000 project to take over the empty building more than a year ago, but the work was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March the company announced: “As I’m sure you can appreciate, our construction of the new gym is delayed as we’ve taken the advice to keep workers off for non-essential work reasons.”

To view or comment on the plans, search using the reference 21/505645/PNMA here.

Read more: All the latest news from Sittingbourne