A contention by a developer that his Staplehurst plot represented the perfect place for new housing has been hotly disputed by his neighbours.

Barry Sancto of Pickhill Developments said in last week’s KM that his company’s 17-acre plot near The Grange on the corner of George Street and the A229, could solve the villages’s housing problems.

Maidstone council had looked at allocating other plots for housing off Marden Road, but had unleashed a storm of protest over the flooding and sewage problems there.

But Brian Baker of New Town Cottages, George Street, said the Grange plot was no more suitable.

He said: “Our properties actually sit on the level of the water table.

“If you dig a few inches down into the earth, you find water. So Mr Sancto saying his plot presents no flooding problems is untrue.”

Mr Baker, 52, said he was “bemused” by Mr Sancto’s claim that the village supported development on his site. He said: “We’re not, and we never have been, in favour of it.”

Mr Baker also contested that there was any demand for more housing in Staplehurst.

He said: “There are currently 130 empty properties in the village.

“It has become so expensive to park at and travel from the station, that there is not the demand to live in the village there once was. The commuters are now all looking to live in Tonbridge or Sevenoaks.”