Plans to create two garden villages have been judged "unsound" by a government inspector, who has called for a new railway station and better links to the M20 and M2.

Maidstone council's Local Plan Review, which includes the developments at Lenham Heath and Lidsing, is the subject of a public inquiry.

In his summary of the first stage of public hearings held last November, which has just been published, inspector David Spencer found both proposals to be inadequate in their current form.

But before the many objectors start cracking open the Champagne, the inspector did suggest actions that the council could take to make them acceptable.

On the 5,000-home Lenham scheme, to be known as Heathlands, Mr Spencer said: "The detail of the submitted policy was unsound."

He said to be acceptable it would require a new rail station to be built to serve the development at an early stage.

It would require a substantive re-writing of the landscape policy in order to better protect the Kent Downs AONB.

And it would require additional work to show off-site improvements to Junction 8 of M20 would be deliverable.

Finally the inspector needs additional evidence to show how the council will deal with water treatment and quality.

The proposal for a 2,000-home garden village at Lidsing, on the border of Medway and Maidstone, he also found to be "not sound."

For it to be made acceptable, he would need further evidence that a safe connection to a fourth arm to Junction 4 of the M2 could be achieved.

And he would need additional detail about other off-site highways measures to mitigate the effects of the development - many of which would fall within the Medway unitary authority area, rather than Maidstone.

He said he wanted more detail on how the Kent Downs AONB could be protected, with a guarantee that 17 hectares of mitigatory landscaping south of the M2 could be secured.

However, there was also some good news for the borough council.

The inspector found that Maidstone had successfully carried out its duty to liaise with neighbouring authorities - it was a failure to do so that sunk Tonbridge and Malling's Local Plan two years ago.

He also accepted that the council's housing target figure of 1,157 dwellings per year was the correct one, despite arguments at the hearing from developers that it should be higher.

The target still represents a 31% increase over the target set in 2017 plan just six years ago.

However, the inspector said that because the timescale of the plan had slipped - originally due to be adopted by the end of 2022 - it would be necessary to extend the plan period to 2038, to meet the minimum 15-year requirement. That would increase the housing requirement from 17,746 to 19,669 homes.

Mr Spencer described the plan, with is dependence on two large-scale garden village developments, as a "bold strategy" but said: "In principle there are cogent reasons why this would secure a sustainable pattern of development in Maidstone borough."

In initial reaction, the chairman of Lenham Parish Council, John Britt, said: "In essence, the inspector has agreed with us that the Heathland proposal is not sound.

"That has justified all the hard work the local community has put into fighting this proposal.

"It's difficult to know how the council is going meet the inspector's suggestions as a lot of these factors are outside its control - the provision of a railway station for example is up to Network Rail.

"However, I don't suppose the council is going to give up, so the fight will continue and this will cost us all a lot more money."