Long-standing delays to a flagship regeneration scheme on Ramsgate seafront have triggered a row between Thanet council and the local MP.

The Thanet South MP Craig Mackinlay says he wants an inquiry into the history of the Pleasurama site and the way it was handled by Thanet council.

The project for the Royal Sands development on the former funfair site has been blighted by delays since 2004 when the council first gave planning permission for a scheme involving a 60-bedroom hotel; 107 apartments and shops and leisure facilities.

The council said it was unaware of any evidence that suggests it had dealt with the controversial Pleasurama project inappropriately, after Mr Mackinlay called for an inquiry.

The Thanet South MP has written to the council’s backbench watchdog committee urging it to investigate the history of the deal.

He said the uncertainty around the scheme was holding up wider plans for the regeneration of the town.

The council said it would be responding to Mr Mackinlay direct to address his concerns.

A statement released by the authority said: “The council is not aware of any breaches of good governance in relation to the process and will request that if Mr Mackinlay is, that he reports them via the appropriate channels.”

It also dismissed concerns that changes to the status of the developer of the site Cardy Construction Ltd had any repercussions for the project.

In its statement, the council said: “We can confirm that whilst there has been a change in the status of Cardy Construction Ltd which is regrettable, this is not linked to the Pleasurama Project.

"The changes to Cardy Ramsgate Ltd are entirely lawful and are not something that the council could have controlled or prohibited.”

Last month, a £3 million payment was handed to Thanet District Council by Cardy Ramsgate less than a week before parent company Cardy Construction Limited filed for administration.

The payment, made by the Pleasurama developers, was made to the council for the freehold of the site and the development of the Royal Sands project.

It included work to the cliff face on Ramsgate seafront.

In his letter to the chairman of the council’s scrutiny committee Cllr David Saunders, Mr Mackinlay asks that he start "an urgent inquiry into Thanet District Council's handling of the former Pleasurama site" and says a solution to the years-long dereliction of the sea front land is "essential."

“I have become increasingly convinced that a full and independent inquiry is necessary into the complete extent of the council’s involvement in this facility,” the MP writes.

He goes on to list a series of questions the inquiry should attempt to answer, including whether the deal the council agreed in 2015 was “in line with standards of good governance.”

Planning permission for the project was granted in 2004 for a 60-bed hotel, 107 residential apartments, leisure facilities and retail units at the former funfair site.

But over the years, the site was the subject of a series of legal wrangles.

In 2014, the then Labour-run council scrapped an agreement with SFP Ventures UK who were contracted to build out the scheme but had defaulted.

The authority then entered a contractual arrangement with Cardy Construction Ltd to take forward the development of the site but the development remains in limbo.

The council retains ownership of the cliff wall adjacent to the site.