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Opposition to a housing estate on the edge of a village has quadrupled in less than a month - as furious residents say the scheme is “too big”.
An application for 70 homes on farmland in Kingsdown near Deal was submitted to Dover District Council (DDC) in February.
As of last week, 630 objections have been lodged with the authority - up from 151 last month.
In contrast, two letters of support have been submitted.
Leading protester Graeme Endacott says the amount of opposition “shows the level of dislike for the whole development”.
“People feel it is too big for this village and they are being very vocal about it,” he said.
London-based Kitewood Estates Ltd wants to build on the land at Woodhill Farm, which is earmarked for 50 homes in DDC’s Local Plan.
The development off Ringwould Road is set to feature one, two, three and four-bedroom homes. These would be 66 houses and four apartments.
Last year, a campaign group called Kingsdown SOS (Stop Outward Expansion) was set up and two public meetings, on December 5 and February 20, had a turnout of 150 protesters each time.
The objections are over the size and design of the scheme, the area’s lack of public transport, fears the roads and infrastructure could not cope and that the local school would be oversubscribed.
Protesters also argue that Kingsdown is a holiday destination and traffic already quadruples in the summer and there would be a loss of prime farmland.
Sonja Earl wrote on DDC’s planning portal: “It would significantly increase the risk of accidents on roads that are not designed to accommodate this level of traffic.”
She also fears it would create safety hazards for pedestrians and cyclists, especially as there are no pavements or designated walking routes along key access roads.
Daisy Yeomans wrote: “It would cause irreversible harm to the habitats and character of the local village, which is defined by its rural setting and landscape.”
Planning agents DHA Planning, working on behalf of Kitewood, argue this would be a high-quality development and form a logical extension of Kingsdown.
If approved, a suitable and safe access off Ringwould Road would be created plus a new pedestrian connection.
A spokesman for Kitewood added: “We consider that the proposed development complies with the policies within the Local Plan including the site allocation policy and its associated criteria.”
Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.
In a statement, a DDC spokesman issued an apology over “intermittent outages” with its online planning portal between February 27 and March 3 - when a number of residents were trying to submit comments.
“We worked with the software provider and the issue was resolved, and all comments received have been taken into account,” the spokesman said.
“Even if our website is down, we still accept comments via email.”
DDC is expected to decide on the scheme before May 6.
