A wildlife charity has hit out at plans for the county to become an 'investment zone' saying it's a "full-scale attack on nature".

Bosses at Kent Wildlife Trust made the statement in response to the government identifying the county as a possible investment zone which could allow developers to bypass environmental regulation.

In a post on Instagram the charity is urging residents to join its campaign against the changes and to 'demand action' from their local MPs.

It said: "The #UK #Government has launched a full-scale #attackonnature, leaving wildlife unprotected by tearing up some of the most fundamental laws we’ve got.

"Seventeen protected #wildlife sites in #Kent could lose some environmental protection if plans go ahead, and Kent has been identified as a possible investment zone area, allowing developers to bypass environmental regulation.

"Kent Wildlife Trust is asking people to contact their MPs and demand action."

The charity's chief executive Evan Bowen-Jones added: "Whatever comes next off the back of any form of change from the regulations that we have been living with for the last 30/40 years has to be based upon doing no harm to nature.

"We potentially lose huge amounts of wildlife in this county, we potentially have worse pollution than we’ve currently got so your drinking water, your beaches and rivers all become dirtier and filled with more sewage.

"It will not be very nice for your families to go and have fun on a hot summer's day.

"In fact, those hot summer days will get hotter and hotter until it's intolerable and we will have people dying because of it.

"That is potentially what is going to happen if this government plan goes unchecked.

"It's an attack on nature, it's an attack on the economy in terms of having a sustainable economy, it's an attack on your children and their future."

Earlier this week, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) made a similar statement saying it wouldn't rule out 'direct action' after setting out a campaign against the government's key “growth” policies.

It believes the plans will damage wildlife and nature and the charity's chief executive said a meeting with the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, Ranil Jayawardena, had not provided any reassurance that the government’s growth policies would protect nature.

The Kent trust join the RSPB, the National Trust, and Wildlife and Countryside Link in its plans to protect nature from the government's decisions.