More than 2,500 of the new homes that Maidstone council is searching to find room for in its Local Plan Review are for people not yet in the country.

More than 5,000 are for people from other parts of the UK.

The council has launched a Call For Sites inviting developers and land-owners to suggest extra sites above and beyond those already included in the Local Plan in order to meet new housing targets imposed by the Government.

Even councils with adopted Local Plans like Maidstone are being told they must review the plan every five years, which in Maidstone's case is in 2022, and it is that review that the council is now working towards.

The Government has issued a "standardized method" which councils must now use to determine their housing levels.

It starts with an projection of household formations issued by the Ministry of Housing in 2014. Councils are obliged to see what the projected increase in new household formations is over the next 10 years and take the average. They then have to multiply that by an "affordability ratio" - which takes into account local house prices compared with local wages.

Barely 18 months ago, when the Local Plan was adopted, it was considered that Maidstone needed to build 833 homes per year.

Using the new formula that figure increases to 1,244 homes per year.

However, the Government has said that increases will be capped at 40% of the original requirement, which for Maidstone gives a figure of 1,236 home per year.

The borough needs to find land to cover the difference between the figure already in the Local Plan and the new figure for the remaining nine years of the Local Plan's life until 2031. However, it is now also required to plan for at least 15 years from the 2022 review date and for those extra six years beyond 2031 must find the full 1,236 allocation.

In total it is now looking to build an additional 10,593 new homes.

To explain this huge increase, it is necessary to look more closely at the assumption behind the Government's population forecasts.

The 2014 figures predicted that over the next 10 years, Maidstone's household formation would increase by 11.9%.

Of that jump, an increase of 3.2% will be the “natural” rise in population (births over deaths), an increase of 5.8% will be migration into the borough from other parts of the UK (Londoners moving out and Northerners moving South for example) and an increase of 2.9 % is the result of net immigration.

That means that 5,162 of the new homes being built in Maidstone are for people from elsewhere in the UK and 2,581 of the extra new homes being built in Maidstone are for people who are not yet even in the country.