Work will soon begin on a huge 6,000-home development after plans were approved by Dartford council last night.

The long-awaited Eastern Quarry, which forms a large part of Land Securities' Ebbsfleet Valley project, received outline planning permission in November 2007.

At a meeting, councillors unanimously approved the planning application which in its initial state, provides 150 new homes.

The masterplan for the site includes more than 6,000 homes and 231,000 sq metres of floorspace for businesses - shops, schools, libraries, health centres, places of worship, sports and leisure centres.

Work is likely to start at the Swanscombe site within three to four weeks.

The wasteland is to be turned into four villages: Western Cross, Alkerden, Washmills and Castle Hill.

It is the Castle Hill area where the first homes are due to be built, in the north east corner of the Eastern Quarry.

Of those, 81 will be three-bedroom homes and 69 will have four bedrooms.

They will make up roughly a quarter of the proposed Castle Hill village.

The cluster of homes will built on land to the west of Southfleet Road, Swanscombe, and south of Keary Road.

The rest of Castle Hill and the other three villages, proposed under the original outline planning application, will take up land that stretches over to St Clements Way in the west and Watling Street in the south.

Every house will have at least one parking space, although most will have two, and there will be 52 visitor/unallocated spaces.

Parking restrictions will be put in place to discourage people who commute from Ebbsfleet International from parking in the village.

Castle Hill will be built along the theme of a Kentish village. Houses will surround a neighbourhood garden with grassy areas for children to play, groups of trees, pathways and a meeting space with seating.

Access will be via Main Street North, a new road running along the northern border of the site, and roads to the south and west will give access to the rest of the village once built.