Proposals to build more than 200 homes on brownfield sites throughout a town centre by 2038 have received residents’ overwhelming support.

Faversham Town Council’s Neighbourhood Plan will now be adopted into Swale Borough Council (SBC) planning policy following a vote where 94% of respondents backed the project.

Ten brownfield sites dotted around the town centre have been earmarked for potential transformation through demolition and restoration.

The scheme will now have to be considered by SBC - the planning authority – when deciding on future bids in the area.

It is hoped the move will reduce the number of individual developments within the boundaries of the market town’s historic centre and offer both councils more autonomy in planning matters.

Cllr Hannah Perkin (Lib Dem) said: “The Neighbourhood Plan being supported by the residents is a great example of how when a community comes together it can create something really special.

“A huge thank you to the people of Faversham for their support at the referendum and throughout the process.”

Kiln Court and Osborne Court, previously the centre of a row over plans to host asylum-seeking teenagers there, could host the lion’s share of the proposed 219 homes, with 75 earmarked for the site.

Three plots of the former BMM Weston land in Brent Road and space at Beaumont Davey Close have also been put forward.

Land previously approved for development at the Railway Yard has also been earmarked, as has Fentiman’s Yard, Ordnance Wharf, the former White Horse car park in North Lane and the old coach depot in Abbey Street.

But while the Neighbourhood Plan will be used to decide planning applications in the town centre in the future, it will only offer limited protection for the outskirts of Faversham, which continues to be earmarked for large development projects.

Areas such as land at Queen Court Farm in Brogdale Road – where 400 homes could be built – had to be left out of the Neighbourhood Plan as part of the site falls outside the town council’s jurisdiction.

The town is already bracing itself for the arrival of 2,500 houses on the other side of the A2 from the Duchy of Cornwall - although the development led by Prince William’s estate is still awaiting a planning decision.

The 1,800-home Winterbourne Fields development in nearby Dunkirk is also proposed, while residents reacted negatively to SBC’s suggestion last month of an extra 4,000 properties in Faversham.

If plans progress, the homes and a new secondary school would sprawl across land near Brenley Corner, according to official council documents, though specific sites are yet to be identified.