The Government is being urged to think again about plans to build millions of new homes in England by 2020, including more than 10,000 in the Dover district.

Kent has seen a 15 per cent increase in its housing target as a result of the Government’s proposed changes to the South East Plan.

Dover’s target rose from 6,100 to 10,100 – a 65 per cent increase.

The Environmental Audit Committee has now urged the Government to re-examine its proposed house-building target in light of the current economic downturn.

The committee highlighted that the housing market has slowed down and the pressure to provide land for such a huge number of new homes, could in fact, lead to greenfield land in Kent and the rest of the country being unnecessarily earmarked for development.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England has added its support to the committee’s report.

“We feel it successfully highlights how unrealistic the housing targets are in the current economic climate,” said CPRE director Hilary Newport.

“We are concerned that at a time when the housing market has all but collapsed and housebuilders are laying off workers, the three million new homes target is completely unrealistic and unjustified, and could have a devastating and unnecessary impact on Kent’s greenfield land.”