A businessman has raised his concerns over continued works in a high street.

Work to improve the High Street is part of the Strood regeneration project by Medway Council.

It aims to improve journey times, pedestrian access and the look of the town to encourage more people to visit.

John Kennedy, a plumber's merchant from Strood, said: "There are areas that have massive low spots so when it rains, huge puddles are created.

"I took a friend from out of town to Strood a week ago and he commented that it was great to see them doing work to make the paths look good again. He actually thought the paving was old and was being repaired.

"When I told him the paving is all new, he was in complete disbelief at the state of what was being done."

There are other areas around Strood High Street that are undergoing works unrelated to the regeneration project.

He added that a quick walk around the area showed manhole covers and the like with "70-150mm gaps around them that instead of being paved up have just had the gaps filled with concrete."

He added: "I have already seen one lady flat on her face in the area next to the statue.

"It must be costing the local residents and business owners millions of pounds and the work is very poor, to say the least."

Medway Council said a contractor had been contacted and had begun to replace cracked paving slabs as part of remedial work.

Four months ago Medway Council renewed some pavements around the Strood area as part of the regeneration project but deny the sunken pavements are part of those works, and are two to three years old.

The authority is now looking in to repairing the affected areas.

Parts of the open area near Barclays Bank have been filled in as a temporary solution after a set of traffic lights were removed a few weeks ago.

Since the paving improvements, Medway Council has also added feature lighting in the open area and a green patch outside Just Tyres in Commercial Road.

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