VITAL cash needed to pay for roads, schools and other community facilities as Kent’s housing explosion takes off should come from new businesses, say council chiefs.

Kent County Council Conservative leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart has pressed the government to consider a scheme that would see the business rates paid by new companies in Kent’s growth areas being used to pay for community facilities.

KCC estimates that in the Ebbsfleet area of the Thames Gateway alone, the scheme could generate £27m a year.

At present, the money from the business rates goes to central Government and is then re-distributed to local authorities.

However, ministers are examining other ideas to use the business rates to promote economic growth.

Sir Sandy said the business levy paid by new companies could be retained locally to help solve the problem.

He said: “Something radical has to be done about providing community investment. The Government is very good at setting 20 year house-building targets but very bad at planning long-term for the accompanying infrastructure compared to places like France, with its TGV network, the USA and the growing economies of the Far East.

“The log jam caused by the UK’s failure to put the right infrastructure in place is one of the main reasons new house building in this country has fallen from 300,000 completions a year in the 1970s to 120,000 now.”

Kent County Council says that if the Government’s plans for a huge expansion of house-building in Ashford and north Kent are realised, £10bn will need to be spent over the next 20 years on new roads, schools and other facilities.

Sir Sandy set out his ideas at a Downing Street seminar.