Ambitious plans to turn part of a shopping mall into a healthy living centre (HLC) have taken a step forward.

Medway Council has allocated a large chunk of funding towards its long-running goal of creating the project inside Chatham’s Pentagon Shopping Centre.

The scheme was given a boost after councillors agreed to invest a total of £2.75 million in the scheme.

The funds will help deliver the development of both an HLC and an innovation hub on the first floor of the shopping centre with £1.25 million going towards the centre and £1.8 million towards the latter.

Money is being put down now by the local authority to be reimbursed by the NHS at a later date.

Speaking at full council held last Wednesday (January 24), Medway Council’s portfolio holder for housing and property, Cllr Naushabah Khan (Lab), called the agreed proposals a big milestone for the project.

She said: “This is all about unlocking the top floor of the Pentagon. We’ve had many a debate across this chamber about the strategy around the Pentagon and Chatham town centre.

“It is a really important project, one that we are all keen to bring forward.

“There have been some delays to this, but hopefully we are at a point now where this takes us a big milestone step in the right direction.”

The plans were supported unanimously, however Tory opposition leader Cllr Adrian Gulvin, who was responsible for the project under the last administration, said the NHS had stood in the way of the HLC being delivered sooner.

“Chatham deserves a first-class health facility and having a reliable tenant on the first floor of the Pentagon will help it immensely," he said.

“What worries me is how long this has taken. I am sorry to say the NHS has not been a good partner.

“This has been in the pipeline for well over three years, the health service has dragged its hands on this quite badly.”

The move is the latest attempt to get the ball rolling on the proposal after a series of stumbling blocks since the idea was originally conceived in late 2021.

In a report about the project from 2022, a deadline for the transformation was set for March 31 this year, but two shops – Chinese Herbal Centre and Jesse’s Cafe – still operate on the first floor.

In October, Just Fabrics closed its doors after 40 years of trading after owners found the council’s relocation options to be too expensive.

The longer the project goes on with some tenants, the greater the cost as the authority is liable for the non-domestic rate for all the empty units.

Although this would effectively mean the council paying itself, 50% of the rate has to be paid to central government and 1% goes to Kent Fire and Rescue Service.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Khan said: “It’s all about unlocking the first floor of the Pentagon so that it provides some really important community assets.

“The HLC will be really fundamental to Chatham and its regeneration efforts and will be really great for residents because it’s an accessible space and will have all the health and medical facilities that local people need to access.

“The innovation centre also has lots and lots of opportunities and it’s all about the future of our high streets and this decision today is about a longer-term plan for the whole Chatham area.”

Despite this there is no specific deadline for the delivery of the HLC but discussions are being had with the integrated care board, which is responsible for the planning functions of the NHS, and its partners.