Controversial plans for the first 8,500 homes at a sprawling "garden town" have been approved tonight amid huge opposition from campaigners.

The Otterpool Park development for land on and around the former Folkestone Racecourse has been in the works in various forms since 2012, when Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC) first proposed redeveloping the site.

More than 10 years on, the authority's planning committee has tonight voted to back the project by seven votes to five.

Council officers recommended the committee waved through the plan, the specifics of which have been in the works for five years.

The approved outline bid is for up to 8,500 homes, but the whole development will include “up to 10,000 homes and associated facilities”, according to documents submitted to the council, which owns the company behind the scheme.

Speaking at tonight's meeting, Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins showed his support for the development.

He told councillors: “This is something that affects the whole of the district, and actually I would say is of national significance.

Read more: Exclusive look around abandoned Folkestone Racecourse ahead of Otterpool Park development

"It is a great opportunity for local people who want to get onto the housing ladder.

“Amongst the 22% of the homes that will be affordable there will be many local people that will buy or rent their first affordable home at Otterpool Park because of the work that’s been done, there are many local people who will work on the development of this new town.

“We often talk about creating opportunity, this committee has the opportunity to deliver it now.”

Cllr Clive Goddard (Con), chairman of the planning committee, also backed the proposals.

“It is one of the biggest [planning] applications in the country and in my mind the best in the country,” he said.

Read more: Protesters march on Hythe High Street against 10,000-home Otterpool Park plan

“This is the flagship, this council has already put Folkestone and Hythe on the map, everybody wants to be here - business and residents.”

However, Lympne Parish councillor Michael Boor attended to speak against the development.

He took issue with the “large scale of the project, which we believe will make it undeliverable in a form beneficial to the residents living adjacent to the site or the district as a whole".

Cllr Boor also accused the developers of “kicking awkward issues down the road” by intending to deliver the scheme in several phases - with more specific details to be determined later down the line.

“Far from becoming some kind of utopian idyll, it will become a mental and financial millstone around the necks of Folkestone and Hythe residents for decades to come,” he added.

Cllr Jim Martin (Green), who has opposed the council’s Princes Parade development in Hythe, raised concerns over the viability of the project.

“This is enormous - the second largest planning application in the country to undertake," he said.

“The applicant is completely inexperienced and has no track record in delivering anything like this, I’m just wondering if you’re as nervous as I am,” he asked officers.

In documents lodged with FHDC, developers Otterpool Park LLP said the scheme will in effect create a 'second town’ for the district, with it being second in scale between the main settlement of Folkestone and neighbouring Hythe.

The development company, which is owned by the council, adds: “Otterpool Park will seek to showcase what a sustainable future can look like by enabling people to live affordable, happy and healthy lives in high-quality homes.”