Plans for 42 new homes have been approved despite fears of overdevelopment and traffic dangers.

It is on top of 110 homes granted last year in the same village.

This latest application for London Road, Sholden, has now been voted through by planning committee councillors.

Outline permission was previously given by Dover District Council members and this gave clearance for a now more detailed application looking at appearance, landscape, layout and scale.

The application had two letters against it from locals saying that school places were limited and no more housing in the area was needed.

The argued that the area doesn't have infrastructure for more homes and were against more countryside being built on.

They also feared increased traffic congestion and risk of accidents and danger to schoolchildren in the area.

'Sholden has had to endure substantial development recently...'

Ward district councillor Stephen Manion told KentOnline: "I have concerns on the proposed landscaping that may not deliver in a form of development that would deliver an appropriately high standard of urban design.

"The applicant's proposal would likely create a poor layout that will not provide a high quality development nor a high standard of amenity for future development.

"Sholden has had to endure substantial development recently so any future development needs to be carried out to a high standard to minimise access issues."

Council officers recommend approval, saying there were no clear planning reasons to outweigh the benefits of housing here and 13 would be affordable.

The houses, applied for by Abbey Developments of Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, are to be three and four bedroomed and 2 to 2.5 storeys high. They are planned to be placed on 1.2 hectares (2.96 acres) of field.

A planning statement from it said that the scheme has a social objective "to support strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by ensuring that a sufficient number and range of homes can be provided to meet the needs of present and future generations."

It added: "This application meets with all the appropriate national and local policies and guidance."

Kent Fire and Rescue Service said that the off-site emergency access requirements had been met and others consulted such as Southern Water had no objections.

DDC's planning committee last autumn approved 110 homes in the village's Sandwich Road.

That application was by Richborough Estates Limited, of Birmingham and planning officers supported that too.

They stressed that the development would provide new housing, including affordable, new public open space and improvements to the public rights of way network.

But a total 54 letters of objection from neighbours were against it.

Some objectors argued that Sholden should remain a village and that this scheme would lead to a loss of agricultural land.

They said it would also lead to traffic congestion and that the area already had a shortage of GPs and school places.

They added that too little open space was being offered by the developers.