More than 13,000 homes need to be built in Kent every year under new government targets - including some on areas of the green belt.

Analysis shows that in some parts of the county, the totals needing to be hit have soared by more than 60%.

One MP has warned this will be “hugely difficult” to achieve.

The Labour government was elected on a promise to “get Britain building”, with the aim of 1.5 million extra homes over the next five years.

If the new targets finalised this week are to be met, 64,500 of these additional properties will be in Kent.

This is 1,400 more annually than demanded by the previous Conservative government.

The districts that have seen the biggest rises in their targets are Tunbridge Wells - up 66% from 660 to 1,098 per year - and Sevenoaks, up 63% from 704 per year to 1,149.

Mike Martin, Lib Dem MP for Tunbridge Wells, said: “This increase in Tunbridge Wells borough is hugely difficult to achieve.

“Within Tunbridge Wells borough, a lot of it is National Landscape, a lot of it is green belt, and that means that a lot of those houses end up being in a smaller and smaller area.

“Personally I’m against building on green belt land but there’s little you can do if the government with a huge majority votes through changes to the law.”

Swathes of land under Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s jurisdiction is covered by either National Landscapes (formerly known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) or the metropolitan green belt - where stricter controls on building limit development.

The metropolitan green belt encircles London and is meant to stop the outwards sprawl of the capital.

However, under changes made to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) by the Labour government, councils will be encouraged to undertake “green belt reviews” when they are unable to meet their housing targets without building on the green belt.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner MP has stressed the need to use “grey belt” instead - land which is technically green belt but has actually previously been developed.

One part of Kent where such a review will be necessary is the Sevenoaks district - which is 93% metropolitan green belt.

In recent years the authority had built an average of only 263 homes per year, less than half the former target set by the Conservative government.

Cllr Julia Thornton (Con), cabinet member for planning at Sevenoaks District Council, said: “We know that protecting our precious green belt is a top priority for residents.

“The government now requires us to allow significantly more homes to be built and to identify lower quality grey and green belt land across the district to accommodate those much larger housing targets.

“We will therefore undertake targeted consultation with landowners in the new year and consult on the plans with all our residents as part of the Local Plan process.”

The new government has shown a keen interest in Kent’s housebuilding.

In November, Swale Borough Council was set to refuse plans for 8,400 homes around the edge of Sittingbourne spread across two applications, referred to as Highsted Park.

However, only three hours before the meeting, a letter was sent from the government informing the authority the power of decision was being revoked - and instead there will be an inquiry, with ministers making the final call.

The new targets show almost no change to how much will need to be built in Swale - with 1,048 now required, compared to 1,040 under the previous government.

Carol Goatham, of Swale campaign group Farms, Fields & Fresh Air, said: “In Kent alone there are in excess of 27,000 housing units with planning permission which have not yet been built, according to the county council’s own figures.

“The government should be focused on getting builders to build out their land-banked housing, not increasing targets which only increase planning applications and put pressure on local communities.”

Only three councils are facing reductions in their targets - Ashford, Medway and Dartford. The latter is England’s second fastest growing borough.

Cllr Linda Harman, Ashford Borough Council’s cabinet member for planning and housing, said the reduction is “not a surprise to us.”

The Ashford Independents representative said: “We had made this calculation during the consultation on the proposed revisions and indeed used this number when talking to residents during our informal meetings about the process for updating our Local Plan in July.”

The new housing targets are mandatory, according to the government.

This means that councils failing to deliver on their targets could face more intervention from ministers as in the case of Highsted Park, or a stronger “presumption in favour of sustainable development”.

The presumption means that under planning rules, councils can no longer block a development merely because it is not in the authority’s Local Plan.

It also gives developers a much better chance of winning on appeal if councils refuse permission first.

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal

The last annual targets set by the previous Tory government were exceeded by just one Kent council - Maidstone.