Campaigners opposing plans for up to 5,750 homes at Chilmington Green have taken a petition of more than 8,000 signatures to Number 10 Downing Street.

Members of the Keep Chilmington Green campaign went to London to hand in the petition to the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles on Monday.

At the same time, another copy of the papers - campaigner Karen Hopkins pictured above - was handed to Ashford Borough Council at the Civic Centre in Tannery Lane, to coincide with the end of public consultation on the draft plans – the Chilmington Green Area Action Plan.

Campaign co-ordinator Max Frohnsdorff, who went to the capital, said: “The people of Ashford have spoken. Never again will the council be able to pretend that there is no objection to their flawed and entirely unwelcome development plans that are ruining our town and countryside.

“Now all eyes will be watching the council to see whether they actually work for the residents or whether they are pursuing their own interests to the detriment of local people.

“What they are proposing is a giant dormitory town that will depend on jobs from elsewhere and perpetuate Ashford’s decline. The plan is entirely unsustainable and represents reckless speculation with Ashford’s future.”

ABC said it would consider all comments made during the consultation and make ammendments where necessary.

A council spokesman said: "The issue of providing additional homes for future generations in Ashford is not going to go away and difficult choices are going to have to be made.

"We have been consulting on the proposals for Chilmington Green for some time and the latest part of that consultation closed yesterday. Residents' views do matter and we have welcomed all the views expressed.

"We need to assess the comments received and will report back to residents in due course."

Once complete the plans are due to be submitted to the Secretary of State in October before being examined later this year. The proposed date for adopting the plan is mid-2013.