Recently approved plans to demolish Gough House to build an eight-storey block of shops and flats cannot go ahead unless an issue with the adjacent car park is resolved.

Kingston Council agreed to grant planning permission for the scheme in December 2017, but only issued the permission on May 8 this year.

Plans involve the site of the existing two-storey building and the council-owned Neville House car park behind it.

At a meeting in March, councillors voted to sell the car park for an undisclosed amount, following advice from officers hoping to bring about town centre regeneration "as quickly as possible".

This follows a two-year negotiation with developers Danehurst.

But more than 100 residents signed a petition to "call in" the decision, meaning the council will have to discuss it again.

Bob Tyler, who organised the call-in, said: "The development not being able to go ahead otherwise is not a reason to vote something through. The car park is used a hell of a lot by disabled people getting into town."

He also thinks an archaeological survey should be conducted, further to the the desk-based assessment submitted with the application.

"There could be something there," he said. "Many a strange thing has been found under a council car park!"

The existing assessment, completed in 2016, suggested further archaeological work could be a condition of planning approval, but no such condition appears in the council's decision notice.

While the sale of the car park is a separate decision to the planning permission, work cannot begin unless the issue is sorted.

The date on which the call-in will be discussed has not yet been decided.