The council is to spend more than £2 million on a housing, roads and rail funding bid even though there’s no guarantee of success.

It was decided an extra £850,000 would be injected into Medway’s housing and infrastructure fund (HIF) plan at a meeting last Thursday.

Already £1,297,000 has gone into the project which, if successful, will see £170 million government funds allocated for building homes, a railway line, plus extra roads in Hoo.

The result was supposed to be released in May but has been delayed indefinitely.

Council leader Cllr Alan Jarrett (Con) said: “This is like Mastermind - we’ve started so we’ll have to finish.

“It’s frustrating. We’ve been getting mixed messages constantly.”

If the authority triumphs, the cash will help the Towns achieve a government target to build 33,000 homes.

The project must be completed by March 2023, so £2 million has gone towards preparing the site for development and ensuring it will be completed on time.

Initially £750,000 plus an extra £445,000 went towards road and rail plans.

However, £850,000 is needed for them to reach the required standard to start building works, if the bid succeeds.

Cllr Andy Stamp (Lab) said: “I’m very disappointed to see this come to full council again. Where is the council’s Plan B?

“We have no choice to release this money because the bid cannot fail.”

Cllr Rodney Chambers (Con) said the extra funds would put pressure on the government to make a decision.

The Hempstead representative said: “We prepare ourselves to move forward very quickly if we get the bid because of this time scale. I think it’s justified to ask for the extra funds.”

Councillors passed the motion unanimously.

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