Members of Maidstone Borough Council's planning referrals committee voted to continue to oppose a planing application for mixed office, warehousing and light industrial use.

The move was a surprise for many of the protesters opposed to development at Woodcut Farm near Junction 8 of the M20.

The application had been rejected by the council's planning committee once, but when the developer appealed, planning officers urged members to change their minds and allow the council team not to defend the refusal at appeal.

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Officer argued that the case was indefensible because the borough's Local Plan now included an allocation for employment use at the site.

However, when the planning committee again voted to stick to its guns - this time with an increased majority - the chief planning officer Rob Jarman referred the matter to the little-used planning referrals committee.

Video: Maidstone council will continue to fight planning application at Wood Cut Farm

The three-man committee, comprised of councillors who do not sit on the planning committee, had the legal power to overturn the planning committee's decision, and were urged to do so by officers because of the potential high costs involved of losing a case at appeal.

Independent Councillor Janetta Sams chaired the meeting and allowed considerable leeway in taking comments from members of the public and visiting councillors.

The list of those urging the council to stand fast and fight the appeal was extensive and included former mayor John Horne, Roger Vidler of the Bearsted and Thurnhan Society, Gary Thomas of the Campaign To Protect Rural England, Peter Couling of the Kent Association of Local Councils, and newly elected Bearsted ward councillor Denis Spooner (Con).

But there were also voices in favour of abandoning the fight.

Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) said the planning committee had been split in its views, and when the No side had won there had "been a scramble to find reasons to justify the decision."

Former council leader Christopher Garland (Con) told the committee that it was inevitable that the council would lose at the appeal and urged his colleagues to get a sense of reality.

But other visiting councillors spoke in favour of continuing the fight. They included Shellina Prendergast (Con), Patrick Garten (Con), John Perry (Con), Gordon Newton (Ind), Valerie Springett (Con) and Eddie Powell (Ukip).

Mr Horne pointed out that even if the council lost and had to pay the high costs predicted by officers that would still amount to only 0.5% of the money the council was receiving from the Government by way of the New Homes Bonus for promoting so much house-building in the borough.

There was much debate about the ethics of a three-man committee being able to over-rule the decision of the 13-man planning committee.

But after two hours of debate, Cllr Mortimer (Lib Dem) voted to withdraw from the appeal, but Cllr Sams and Hinder voted to back the planning committee and continue to fight the appeal.

A senior figure on the council said afterwards that had the committee over-ruled the planning committee, its members had been ready to resign en masse.

Cllr Shellina Prendergast declared it "a good night for democracy."