The level of housebuilding planned for Faversham has been branded “unforgivable” by the town’s MP.

Swale Borough Council is poised add an extra 10,000 properties to its housing target over the next 16 years, with Faversham having to cater for 3,410 of the homes.

The huge figure is a cause of “extreme concern” for MP Helen Whately, who has written to the council’s chief executive calling for more even distribution across the borough.

As it currently stands, the authority has a preferred option to earmark 1,400 extra homes in Sheppey, and 1,050 in Sittingbourne, while 2,000 other properties will be built on ‘windfall sites’ as part of its new Local Plan.

Faversham residents say the distribution is unfair with town celebrity Bob Geldof recently labelling the proposals “absolutely destructive”.

In her letter, Mrs Whately said: “While I recognise the need for new homes in and around Faversham I am extremely concerned at the scale of development.

“The council is proposing an unforgivable scale of development.

“Added to this, there’s enormous encroachment into the surrounding countryside and high quality agricultural land.

“The proposals appear to justify this on a grounds of ‘rebalancing’ which I whole-heartedly reject, and goes contrary to the approaches seen across the country where larger towns often support the lions’ share of development.

“I do appreciate the pressure you are under, and that the council is expected to strike a balance between protecting the countryside and providing housing.”

It is the huge demands of the Conservative government which are forcing the council into allocating more land for development.

There have been calls for Mrs Whately to confront her government over the huge housing targets it is imposing on the borough.

'There’s enormous encroachment into the surrounding countryside and high quality agricultural land...'

She says she “regularly makes the case to government colleagues” and pledges to “keep making the case” to relevant ministers.

But there has yet to be any movement on the 10,000-home target.

“I know that the council is finding the current housing need particularly challenging to meet,” Mrs Whately said.

“I think it is important to note that due to the housing crisis all the major political parties stood on election manifestos at the last General Election committed to building more homes to address this.

“That said, I regularly make the case to colleagues in government that we should not take on more than our fair share of development.”

Consultation on Swale’s Local Plan closed at the start of this week.

The council will now gather the responses before preparing its final version of the plan, which is due to be rubber-stamped next year.

A large chunk of the housing planned for Faversham is set to be covered in a 2,500-home development run by the Duchy of Cornwall.