Maidstone Borough Council has bought the former Springfield library site on Sandling Road so that it can start delivering on its promise to provide 1,000 new affordable homes.

Council leader David Burton set out an ambition to acquire 1,000 homes in September last year, which would be reserved for Maidstone people at affordable rents.

The policy won cross-party support.

Cllr Burton said: "I am really pleased that we have managed to acquire this site.

"It is a great first step to delivering the extra 1,000 affordable homes for Maidstone residents.

"The private sales and private rental market is simply beyond the reach of many, so the council needs to increase its own stock.

"We all know the financial pressure that we are all under at the moment so being able to provide affordable housing for local people is vital."

He said: "Acquiring this amount of housing has proved to be challenging. Although we observe building at scale in our borough, it is almost always already sold. Hence, we are pursuing the acquisition of sites to build our own.

"The secondary benefit of this is that we will tackle sites that are not generally brought forward by the private sector so we will also achieve regeneration and district improvements at the same time.

“We are determined to provide a high quality solution for this brownfield site, which has been vacant for many years, and we hope this new development will make a massive difference to the lives of those in the local community as well as those who will live in these new homes.

“It is still very early days. However, we will be working up a planning application for a mixed affordable/private residential-led development over the next six months. We will then take our proposed plans to the local residents and wider community prior to submitting the application which will give residents a chance to offer their views on the proposals.

“We need more affordable housing in Maidstone for local people. We will make sure that those who may not be able to afford to buy or rent privately have the opportunity to live in one of the 1,000 affordable homes we plan to provide."

The 1,000 affordable houses will be included in Maidstone's overall housing target set by Government, not in addition to it.

An "affordable home" is reckoned to be one where the typical rent for a three-bedroom property would be £975 a month, which is the level of the Local Rent Allowance benefit. Families unable to afford housing costs are generally able to receive support up to this level.

The former 16-storey KCC library tower at Ringlestone was erected in 1966 and demolished in April of this year.