Fears are rife that Maidstone is about to get not one, but two new tower blocks on a key gateway to the town.

Last Thursday, on the recommendation of council officers, members of the borough’s planning committee approved a proposal for 310 flats on a former KCC-owned plot near the Springfield roundabout on the A229.

The scheme includes an 18-storey tower block of flats.

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But there is speculation that a second multi-storey tower block may follow on the neighbouring site - once home to the Springfield reference library.

That site is in separate ownership and the developers there already have planning permission for a development of houses and low-rise apartment blocks, totalling 114 homes, which they inherited when they bought the site last year.

But agents for the owners say they don’t like the design they have inherited and the company has been having pre-application discussions with Maidstone council’s planning officers to see what alternative designs they might submit.

VIDEO: Alan Smith talks about the redevelopment

They were told any application should have regard to the neighbouring built development – which of course will now include the 18-storey tower block.

The existing library tower, which is to be demolished, is already one of the taller buildings in Maidstone at 13 storeys.

A council spokesman said: “Pre-application discussions are confidential. They do not bind the authority to approving or rejecting any subsequent planning application.”

Meanwhile, local residents are still mystified how the council could approve a scheme for 310 homes that has only 187 parking spaces.