Swale council has agreed to borrow £28 million to pay for a new town centre, which means it will own buildings housing a cinema, restaurants, a hotel and shops.

The ruling Tory cabinet, green lit the plan despite widespread reservations about the risk involved in saddling the council with such a large debt, even though independent legal and financial consultants had recommended the deal.

It will see the authority pay for the construction of, and own buildings for, a cinema, restaurants, a hotel and retail units.

A report upon which the cabinet’s original decision had been based was described just a week earlier as “inadequate” due to lack of details by fellow councillors on the Scrutiny Committee, who put forward a list of concerns for the cabinet to consider, such as the lack of the definitive sum for the loan.

But in the end, it came down to a vote involving just five senior councillors, with finance portfolio member Cllr Duncan Dewar-Whalley and leader Cllr Andrew Bowles both missing last week’s meeting.

Cllr Gerry Lewin, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Cllr Bowles, said the council did not want to lose the opportunity to invest for the future benefit of the borough.

Speaking afterwards, Cllr Mike Henderson (Ind), who was at cabinet, said the decision to go ahead without getting answers to all the points raised by scrutiny had been disgusting.

“This is the biggest deal the council has faced in all the years I’ve been on it,” he added. “They’ve never contemplated borrowing money, let alone £28m. I simply do not believe they have done it in a way which is at all proper.”

The cabinet also agreed to pay £2.2m towards altering the road layout in front of the town’s railway station and another £500,000 to underwrite demolition costs of the former Princes St depot, where two retail units and a drive-thru Costa are planned.