AS MUCH as 200 acres of nationally protected countryside could be swallowed up for houses if plans for a science park and research campus at Wye College, near Ashford, go ahead.

The stark prediction was made by Kent County Council’s strategic planning director Peter Raine, who told county councillors that Wye would become a "bustling university town" under the college’s plans.

In a presentation to a KCC’s cross-party environment overview committee, he described the scheme as potentially the biggest development in Kent in the last 20 years after the Channel Tunnel rail link and one that could produce 12,000 jobs in and around Ashford and the rest of east Kent.

But in a candid admission of what the plans would mean for Wye and the surrounding area, he warned land designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the North Downs would be irreparably damaged.

"There is a level of housing that will be necessary as a result of the jobs being created. Inevitably, you are going to change the face of the village and it would be a good idea to have extra houses to support the jobs that are going to be created."

"It would turn Wye into a small bustling university town. Something in the order of 2,000 houses would require 200 acreas of [land designated] as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty."

That was because the number of jobs meant too few homes could be built on available brown field sites to cope.

"It is almost impossible to estimate how many jobs there will be but between two and three thousand jobs within the village of Wye itself associated with the research centre and science park.

"But we are talking about three or four times that number in east Kent and Ashford. This will use up most, if not all, of the available brown field sites in the village and at that point, you are straight into AONB and planning problems."

It would be for Imperial College to justify to the local planning authorities and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister its plans justified building homes on protected countryside, he added.

A balance had to be struck between the potential for a major jobs boost and safeguarding the countryside. "The question is whether the level of damage to Wye and AONB is a reasonable one to be struck. That will be a matter that must be determined through the planning process."