A bid to turn a beloved garden centre – which closed in the summer – into a village hall for the community has now been submitted.

Preston Garden Centre and the adjoining Coppers Bistro, located between Canterbury and Sandwich, shut in August, leaving villagers mourning the loss of the “gorgeous” business.

For years, members of Preston Parish Council have been planning on building a new village hall, replacing the current rundown centre, in Mill Lane, using section 106 money from the developers behind the nearby 73-home Preston Grange housing scheme.

But now, the team at the council have submitted an application to alter the section 106 agreement that will allow the money to pay for the garden centre, rather than build a new hall.

Parish council chairman Tommy Gale said: “We have been trying to get a new village hall for coming up to 25 years, so it’s been a long time.

“We’re actually in touching distance of having a new one now.

“Losing Coopers and the garden centre was a real shame and the expanding and reopening of it will be fantastic.

“The whole parish council has put a lot into this for many years.”

Previously, members of the council planned to demolish and build a new community hall on the current, run-down plot.

Now, councillors believe they could save more than £1 million by buying instead of building.

Preston Garden Centre and the accompanying restaurant are on the market for £1.35 million, reduced from a previous price of £1.45 million. This compares to the £2.6 million quoted for the construction of an entire new village hall.

Cllr Gale added: “What we would end up with would be much better value.

“We’re looking at building a sports hall, for example, with the money we would save.

“We plan to lease it at the beginning with the view to purchase it in July and will try to get it reopened in the spring.”

Section 106 is a legally binding agreement between a local planning authority and a developer which outlines measures the developer must take to reduce the impact of a development on the local community.

When permission for the 73-home Preston Grange housing scheme was given in 2016, a section 106 payment of £250,000 was promised to the authority to build a new village hall.

If the agreement is altered, this will now go towards buying the garden centre.

The rest of the money will come from building and selling new homes on a piece of land known as Six Acres.

The parcel of green land was given to the parish council by a hauling company which moved out of the village.

As permission has yet to be granted for the new homes, members of Preston Parish Council could get a loan in the meantime to fund the rest of the purchase.