The battle to save our endangered honey bees in Kent has won a new ally.

Housebuilder Ward Homes, part of the Barratt Group, will now grow bee-friendly plants across 180 acres of its garden and open spaces over the next three years.

Currently it has developments at Longfield, Dartford, Kings Hill near West Malling, and Ashford.

Bees are dying in great numbers from loss of flowery habitats, rising disease and increasing use of pesticides.

Jane Moseley, a director of the British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA), said: “A third of food we eat is dependent on pollination, yet last year was the worst on record for the loss of honey bee colonies.

“Given the amount of landscaping at its 400 developments nationally, we are delighted to be working with Ward Homes to raise awareness of the British honey bee.

“More bee-friendly space will help to increase the bees’ food supply, providing them and other pollinators with more adequate nutrition, especially pollen during the late summer when the specialised bees, which take the colony through the winter, are born.”

Mark Clare, chief executive of Barratt Developments, said bee friendly planting will become standard practice in all its show home gardens and open spaces.

He added: “We’ll also be working with our home owners to provide help and advice in creating such environments - whether it’s a window box, roof terrace or wild flower meadow.”

Scientists at the world-leading research centre in East Malling are working against the clock to develop a ‘new type’ of bee from an alternative insect species in a £10 million project.

Experts are hoping their new type bee - still some five years away - could be a major factor in combating the serious collapse in bee populations.

The news came as Environment Minister Lord de Mauley pledged to publish a pollinator strategy and an urgent government review into the problem.