Moves to declare the Loose Valley a “Landscape of Local Value” (LLV) have come too late to protect the area from a greenfield development.

Government inspector Tim Hunt has granted Millwood Designer Homes planning permission on appeal to build 36 homes on a field off Cripple Street - even though the land was specifically included - at the insistence of local ward councillors - in the new LLV designation in the emerging Local Plan.

Mr Hunt acknowledged that the development would adversely affect an Area of Local Landscape Importance and would negatively affect the setting of a listed property, namely Bockingford Farmhouse, but he considered the harm “would be less than substantial.”

Maidstone council had refused planning permission in March.

Mr Hunt said the scheme must be allowed because Maidstone did not have a five-year housing supply.

He said: “Maidstone cannot accommodate all of its required growth on existing urban sites and so the change in local character such as this is something that, to me, seems inevitable.”

In his report, Mr Hunt made no reference at all to the new Landscape of Local Value designation, which has yet to be adopted by the borough council.

The scheme includes the re-alignment of Cripple Street, in front of the development, but rather than straightening the road, the proposal is actually to increase the degree of bend, which existing residents fear will make it more dangerous.

Mr Hunt said he had considered a document from Kent County Council warning that South Maidstone could not take any more traffic congestion, and that hot-spots such as the Wheatsheaf junction were already beyond capacity, but the inspector noted that the highways authority had not objected to the application.

Bryn Cornwell, chairman of the Valley Conservation Society, said: “This is devastating. Just when we thought there was a ray of common sense showing through at last, this decision has set us back 20 years.

“This section of Cripple Street is narrow and twisty and already dangerous.

“If the inspector drove up there, it is difficult to believe he didn’t see this for himself.”

South ward Cllr Brian Clark said: “After reaching agreement to include this site in the Maidstone Borough Council’s draft Landscape of Local Value, forming part of the emerging Local Plan, we are all very disappointed to learn that the appeal at this site has been upheld.”

Cllr Chittenden said: “As the initial planning application had been submitted prior to the site’s inclusion in the LLV plan, the inspector did not include the status in his review. Sadly, the inspector considered the harm to the Loose Valley to be insufficient to dismiss the appeal.”