COUNCIL chiefs in Gravesend and Dartford have insisted plans for a huge expansion of house-building in north Kent will not eat into the countryside.

The council leaders of both Dartford and Gravesham have rejected suggestions the Government’s plans for Thames Gateway will swallow up large parts of the countryside.

Cllr John Muckle (Lab), the leader of Dartford Council and Cllr Rosemary Leadley, (Lab), the leader of Gravesham Council, were giving evidence to county councillors on Kent County Council’s Policy Scrutiny Committee.

The committee was examining the Government’s Sustainable Communities Plan, which earmarks north Kent for a huge expansion in the number of homes to be built over the next two decades.

Cllr Muckle told the committee he was confident most of the homes would be built on so-called “brown field” land. He said: "Dartford and Kent Thameside are in a position to take a great deal of this growth without the need to touch green field sites.

"Ninety six per cent of the homes could go on brown field or damaged land. The Green Belt is sacrosanct and there is no need to touch it.”

Kent is expected to see 116,000 new homes built between now and 2021, with about 35,000 of those in north Kent.

Cllr Muckle was responding to a suggestion from Tory county councillor Michael Snelling, who is also the leader of the Tory Conservative group at Gravesham.

He asked whether, if the Government insisted on more houses above the figures already cited, north Kent could accommodate them on brown field land. “There is a fear that if extra houses are demanded, they may have to go on green field sites,” he stressed.

Mr Muckle said the biggest fear was that local councils could be stripped of their powers to decide big planning applications if ministers opted to set up a special development corporation to deliver the new homes.