The long wait for shops on the Thistle Hill estate might be about to get a little shorter.

However, plans for two retail units have been met with scepticism.

A planning application was submitted last week for two retail units with 34 parking spaces at Aspen Drive, Minster.

One of them, measuring 1,000 sq ft has been designated for a shop while the other, measuring more than 4,000 sq ft could also be used for shops or a restaurant, cafe, drinking establishment, takeaway or financial and professional business.

Residents have been waiting for stores since 2007 when they were included as a condition of developer Bovis’s original planning permission.

Swale council granted extensions for the delivery of the units in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Bovis now has a deadline of January next year to build them. It previously blamed the delays on difficulty in attracting retailers to the site.

The latest proposals include drawings of the buildings for the first time, meaning it could be the biggest indication yet that the project is finally be moving forward.

Borough and parish councillor Ken Ingleton said: “It’s anybody’s guess as to whether they are actually going to do it.”

He added if the application has been prompted by plans announced for an Asda supermarket in Plover Road, Minster.

He said: “It seems strange that for years they have been unable to find anyone to use the shop and suddenly they put in an application.

“It’s just shops, it’s smaller than the last application.

“From its history, I won’t believe it until they actually build it. The shops are most important to a lot of the people up there.

“One of the biggest things that we are being asked about is when are they going to build the shops.

“Lots of people don’t have facilities to go to and there’s nothing within a reasonable walking distance for the whole estate.”