A housing scheme has been abandoned because of the credit crunch.

George Wimpey has decided not to go ahead with plans to buy the site of Maidstone council's service vehicle depot in Armstrong Road and build 85 homes on it.

Rod Martin, the company’s land and development manager in the South East, said: “We never actually signed a deal with Maidstone council. We negotiated basic terms with them in April last year, but we never exchanged contracts. Basically, all the work we did on the scheme since then we did at our own risk.

“Now, with falling demand in the housing market, the situation is different and we just can’t proceed under the terms agreed last year.”

A Maidstone council spokesman said: “Wimpey substantially dropped their offer, so we have decided to put it back on the market and get a better deal for our taxpayers.”