A parliamentary candidate has pledged to do “all in his power” to block controversial developments despite having no direct influence over council decisions if elected.

Planning issues in the Canterbury seat have been raised throughout the general election campaign but decisions remain a matter solely for councils.

Ahead of polls opening tomorrow, a press release from the Green Party candidate, Henry Stanton, stated he would “do all in his power to stop the controversial large-scale housing developments proposed for Brooklands Farm and at Blean, Tyler Hill and Rough Common”.

His fellow hopefuls have also expressed concerns about the way the planning system is currently operating and weighed in on Canterbury City Council’s draft Local Plan proposals.

But MPs have no special powers to influence, block or propose policy relating to developments.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) when questioned about his statement, Mr Stanton said: “As an MP obviously I don’t have any direct authority over the local plan.

“However what I can do is raise awareness among the council and county council and also with the relevant minister of how egregious this particular plan is.

“My view of how an MP should operate is they are supposed to be representing the views of the residents of the constituency they’ve been elected in, and this is a cause of real concern to loads of the constituents that I’ve spoken to.”

However, it falls to local authorities to produce plans for the government to show they have enough land allocated to housing to meet the demand projected for coming years.

If they fail to do this, they are placed in the “state of presumption in favour of sustainable development” - meaning they have to approve houses at sites which aren’t allocated for development.

Canterbury City Council’s (CCC) Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition administration elected in May last year is currently working on its local plan, which governs house building in the district until 2040.

The plan scrapped the previous Conservative administration’s controversial “traffic zoning” proposals but includes a number of large-scale housing developments, amounting to 9,346 homes in total.

The new allocation for 2,000 homes north of the University of Kent campus near Blean, Tyler Hill and Rough Common has attracted opposition, including protests from the campaign Save the Blean, founded to oppose the bid.

Brooklands Farm is an allocation for 1,400 homes on agricultural land near Whitstable, carried over from the previous Tory administration’s plan.

Even Labour candidate Rosie Duffield is critical of her council colleagues’ development plan despite the party’s national policy wanting stricter housing targets.

Conservative candidate and former councillor Louise Harvey-Quirke expressed her concerns about the planning situation in the constituency.

“I think it’s absolutely legitimate for an MP to represent their residents and I would hope that given the opportunity I would do the same for residents of Canterbury, Whitstable and the villages,” she said.

“But you have to make clear that they have no direct way of impacting it, they can't refuse applications, they can’t tell the council what to do, it doesn’t work that way.

“As an MP I would look to make changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, so that they recognise properly issues such as congestion.”

She was similarly critical of the local plan, stressing that the previous Tory administration she served in before losing her seat last May rejected the site north of the University for not having sufficient infrastructure.

“For me as a parliamentary candidate, I can’t see the benefit for Canterbury and I certainly can’t see how there’s any benefit to the people that live in Blean, Rough Common and Tyler Hill to add that site back in,” she said.

The Liberal Democrat candidate Russ Timpson stressed “we acknowledge that there is a housing crisis”.

He added: “We cannot have unbridled housing development without the commensurate investment in infrastructure.

“It seems quite wrong to me that we can build thousands of new houses when infrastructure in terms of schools, roads, hospitals, GPs etc are clearly swamped and overwhelmed at the moment.

“I think the ideal solution is when your MP works with the city council who in turn works with parish councils etc so there can be some agreement – we’ve got too much division.

“Let’s not deny the reality that city councils are mandated and have been instructed to build houses so there is clearly a role for somebody to be in the Houses of Parliament making the case for an alternative view.”

He also expressed fears that a possible incoming Labour government will simply “wave through” large developments.

In their manifesto for the general election, Labour has promised to reform the planning system to “get Britain building again”, and introduce mandatory housing targets for local councils to build 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Ms Duffield said: “MPs have limited say in local planning matters, as these are determined by local authorities, but I will always represent the views of my constituents and advocate for them.

“Unlike some of the other candidates, I'm not going to promise that I can stop any development single-handedly, but I do not believe that we need 1,400 houses developed on the Brooklands Farm site or the 2,000 in the Blean, and last week I met with campaigners from the Save Brooklands Farm group.

“It's a stunningly beautiful site, and the views are enjoyed by all who live nearby - after all, we are in the 'Garden of England'.

“No candidate standing as your MP should promise electors that they can or will 'stop this development' as that is simply dishonest. It's not how local planning works.

“But I will work in Parliament to stop the government imposing housing numbers on our local councils that we simply do not need and cannot sustain - other areas of the UK are far better able to do this as they have far more space.”

Canterbury’s Reform UK Candidate Bridget Porter told the LDRS: “Reform UK opposes all building on prime agricultural land which should be reserved for farming.

“As a parliamentary candidate, I oppose these large-scale developments without the infrastructure being in place beforehand.

“Most of these developments are not catering for local people’s needs but for incomers with larger budgets than local residents and young people can afford.

“I can only hope that the consultation on these developments will highlight these problems and a decision is made to refuse them.”

The other candidate in the Canterbury seat is Luke Buchanan-Hodgman for the Social Democratic Party.