Council planning officers are poring over proposals for thousands of new homes on Kent farmland submitted by Prince William’s royal estate.

An official application has been lodged by the Duchy of Cornwall, which in 2021 unveiled a controversial masterplan for 2,500 properties across a sprawling site in Faversham sandwiched between the M2 and A2.

The divisive vision - for what would be the largest ever housing development in the town - sparked fears of permanent gridlock in the town.

But now a formal bid for outline permission has been lodged with Swale Borough Council (SBC), which is scrutinising the documents before publishing them on its website.

The Duchy is a royal estate and is headed by Prince William.

While details of the official application have not yet been made public, the masterplan promised a new primary school, cricket pitch, shops and business spaces.

The new homes it proposed stretched from Salters Lane to the Brenley Corner junction.

The Duchy, which says it prides itself on striving to “nurture and improve” its land, acquired the sprawling plot to the south-east of the town about 20 years ago.

It unveiled its masterplan in response to a call from SBC to landowners for potential housing sites back in 2018.

The document spoke of 2,500 jobs being planned at various ‘local centres’ on the development and at a more industrial-focused area on the eastern side of the scheme near Brenley Corner.

Developers said trees would line every street in the “landscape-led” neighbourhood which “starts from the earth up”.

As well as having a network of roads on the development, a new link road was proposed to connect the homes with the A251.

The route would also pass through the neighbouring 250 homes at Preston Fields.

Speaking in 2021, the estate director at the Duchy, Ben Murphy, said: “We are a royal estate and it’s not comfortable for us to see greenfield and good quality land going out of production.

“But if the local authority deems this is the best location for an urban expansion of the town, then it’s about how can we make this the most sustainable community that we can.

“We are following the Prince’s vision and trying to actually improve the land for the benefit of the local people.”

Faversham MP Helen Whately previously outlined her fears that the integral junction “could be permanently gridlocked” if thousands of extra homes were built before Brenley Corner is upgraded.

But Mr Murphy said traffic modelling showed the Duchy’s plans were not dependent on the junction improvements being carried out.

“The Brenley Corner upgrade is a sub-regional development which is needed regardless of whether our work goes ahead,” he said.

He also said a high street similar to Tenterden’s would be constructed and Macknade Farm buildings would be repurposed as a commercial and employment area.

A three-form primary school was included in the masterplan, while Faversham Cricket Club was to be relocated from its Selling Road base and incorporated into the “heart” of the new estate.

Meanwhile, the Duchy said the town’s football club would remain at its current home but a new 3G training pitch would be delivered – something that has now already been put in place.

It added every home on the site – ranging from one-bed to five- or six-bed properties – would be fully powered by renewable energy and “cost very little to live in and produce no emissions”.

The Duchy’s application is expected to be published on SBC’s planning portal shortly.

A spokesman for the royal estate told KentOnline: “We’ll be able to share more information in the next few weeks towards the end of the month.”