DEVELOPERS have warned that new house-building targets for Kent and the south east will do nothing to ease a chronic shortage of homes.

The Home Builders Federation, which represents private developers, was responding to a recommendation by government inspectors that targets for the region over the next two decades should increase to 32,000 instead of the 28,900 that regional planners had argued should be the limit.

In Kent, the increase proposed for the South East Plan will mean a rise in the overall target to 131,580 from the 122,000 homes planners had argued should be the limit.

That is the equivalent of 6,579 additional homes each year but according to the HBF, that will not go far enough to help people on to the housing ladder.

Executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation Stewart Baseley said the planned targets were "woefully inadequate".

He said: "32,000 new homes per year will not go anywhere near meeting the clear housing need in the region.

"This is less than required to meet government household growth projections. There is a clear need for 40,000 new homes per year to meet the accumulated and growing housing shortfall in the south east."

He warned: "Without sufficient homes, the social consequences for families in the region will be dire.

"With housing affordability already stretched to the limit, these woefully inadequate targets will mean more people than ever will be excluded from home ownership."