It is up to a planning inspector to decide the future of an estate desperately in need of a shop.

At a Swale council planning meeting on Thursday,plans for another 33 homes in Great Easthall were criticised by councillors because they don’t include a village shop, something promised since day one.

Trenport Investments Ltd decided a store would not be viable after Tesco rejected the site.

The issue came before the planning committee in December and a decision was deferred. Now the applicant has applied for the plans to be considered by the planning inspector.

Resident Trevor Grain said: “Dozens of families chose this area based upon a number of promises made by the developer.

“There have already been a number of setbacks: the shelving of the primary school, no sign of a medical centre or indeed a completed northern relief road to name just a few."

“Scrapping our promised local shops and public house will be a further blow.”

Cllr James Hall (Ukip, Murston) added: “I will be voting to refuse because of the diabolical way these residents have been treated and let down by the developers.”

Other councillors called the lack of shops “absolutely absurd” and “shameful”, with Cllr Ghlin Whelan (Lab, Chalkwell) describing the development as a “shambles from start to finish.”

Great Easthall features hundreds of homes and has developed over 10 years. The land supposed to include the shop, in Swale Way has been owned by two developers since 2003.

It was bought at auction in 2015 by Old Hall Street Properties Limited, part of Trenport Property Holdings Ltd.

It had been hoped the shop would be built on land next to Lakeview Village Hall.

Councillors recommended refusal and a decision by the planning inspector is expected in three to six months.