A former police station has moved a step closer to being redeveloped as retirement flats.

Proposals for 75 retired living apartments in Windmill Street, Gravesend, were set out earlier this year and have now been recommended for approval by the planning officers ahead of councillors meeting next week.

The ex-station became obsolete when the new £30 million North Kent headquarters at Northfleet opened in 2008. The station was closed for good in 2009.

The building was partly demolished in 2016 with only the outer walls remaining, and if approval goes ahead, the building's remaining walls will be removed and the new apartments will be built.

The new five-storey complex will include 48 one-bedroom flats and 27 two-bedroom flats with additional communal facilities.

There will be car parking for 24 cars and vehicle access via Woodville Place in the one-way system.

Planning officers said in the report: "The site is within a highly sustainable location at the southern periphery of the town centre with access to a good range of shops and community facilities as well as public transport services.

"It is considered the current proposals have the strong potential to deliver a high quality and much-needed development and unlock a very important vacant development site on the edge of the town centre and where development has stalled for some 14 years.

"It provides an acceptable use for this site and will bring forward positive social, economic, environmental and community benefits and can therefore be supported."

The planning application will face the planning committee on Wednesday.

The site has been the subject of successful planning applications but never came to fruition, including in 2016 when the building was demolished following approval of a Kent and Sussex Properties (KSP) application to build 86 flats.

When KSP applied to increase the number to 96, the site was sold to Elizaveta UK Property, which applied to increase the number of flats to 99 in December 2016.

Gravesham council's planning regulatory board councillors unanimously voted to grant approval for 41 one-bedroom, 50 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom flats, as well as a penthouse apartment.

However, this was never built, and the site was put back up for sale once again in 2020 for £2.5m.