Maidstone council has over-estimated the number of new homes that need to be built in the borough, a Government inspector has ruled, although not for the reasons that most objectors were stating.

Inspector Robert Mellor has ordered Maidstone council to slash 900 homes from its housing target figure in his interim report into the borough’s Local Plan which has just been released.

The inspector had heard claims from many objectors during his seven-week examination in public that began in October that the borough had failed to co-operate fully with neighbouring boroughs to find housing sites, had failed to take into account pollution levels and constraints imposed by infrastructure and traffic congestion.

But Mr Mellor largely dismissed those claims and said that the borough had acted properly.

Instead he took issue with the borough boosting its “objectively assessed housing need” by 5% for a “market signals adjustment” - ie to counter the inexorable rise in house prices.

Mr Mellor said the choice of 5% was entirely “arbitrary” and there was no indication such a figure would have any effect.

He therefore ordered its deletion, which will cut the housing need estimate to 17,660 new homes by 2031.

“A lack of capacity at The Wheatsheaf junction is likely to contribute to queues backing up and obstructing The Swan Junction..." - Robert Mellor, planning inspector

The one area where Mr Mellor did agree with objectors that there were constraints that would restrict growth was on the A229 Loose Road to the south of Maidstone.

In particular Mr Mellor took issue with two site allocations in the Local Plan for housing in Boughton Lane, one for 180 homes on the playing fields at New Line Learning, another a short distance away for 75 homes.

Mr Mellor said traffic from those sites would add heavily to congestion at The Swan and Wheatsheaf junctions. He did not accept the council’s claim that it was possible to improve either junction to mitigate the extra congestion.

He said: “The A229 already carries more traffic than the A274 and is also likely to attract additional movements due to development at villages to the south of Maidstone.

“A lack of capacity at The Wheatsheaf junction is likely to contribute to queues backing up and obstructing The Swan Junction.

“Moreover, Boughton Lane is itself already anticipated to carry significantly more traffic due to school expansion.”

Mr Mellor ruled both sites should be deleted from the plan.

However, a third site in Boughton Lane, for 25 homes at Boughton Mount, could stay. He said the difference was that the Boughton Mount site was a brownfield site, and the net increase in traffic, after deducting that which was already permitted, would be negligible.

Mr Mellor said his interim report was intended as a “broad overview” to indicate where the main modifications would need to be made to make the Local Plan sound. A more detailed analysis would be set out in his final report, not expected for several months.

To view the inspector’s report click here.