A REPORT calling for double the number of affordable homes to be built in the UK could open up another threat to Kent’s countryside, say council chiefs and MPs.

But housebuilders have welcomed the findings of the Barker report, which suggested between 70,000 and 120,000 extra homes would be needed each year to meet demand and help curb spiralling house prices.

County council leaders have swiftly condemned the report, but Chancellor Gordon Brown signalled in his budget statement that he broadly supports its findings.

Kent County Council leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart (Con) said it could spell bad news for Kent.

“It is yet another proposal for more building in the countryside and we will oppose that. Kent has a substantial land bank in the growth areas of north Kent and Ashford and we should be concentrating on those. The reason houses are not being built is because of the lack of the community infrastructure,” he said.

Both Ashford and north Kent have already been earmarked as areas for significant growth over the next two decades, under the Government’s Sustainable Communities Plan.

In her report, former Bank of England economist Kate Barker said just three new homes were being built in Britain for every 1,000 people.

She concluded that slow rate was “not a realistic option unless we are prepared to accept increasing problems of homelessness, declining affordability and social division.”

A failure to build more homes would undermine the UK’s competitiveness and ability to improve public services, she added.

But that conclusion cut no ice with Ashford MP Damian Green. He said: “There is an a danger this will mean more building on the green belt. But the worst of the propositions is that planning matters will be done on a regional basis, meaning no-one in Kent will have much power to influence planning decisions.

"What we need is a better economic balance so that people do not feel they can only be successful if they live and work in the south east.”

However, the National Housebuilder Federation said the report could not be ignored.

Spokesman Pierre Williams said: “No-one wants to see Kent concreted over but the reality is it never will be. People have been brainwashed into thinking that it is the case. Most of the homes we need can be built on brown field sites.”

About 170,000 homes are currently being built each year but 230,000 new households are forming – a shortage of 60,000, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott will set out how the Government will respond to the report shortly.