A small group of householders fear for their future if an application from Bowmer and Kirkland to build two new schools in Pope's Field is approved by Maidstone council.

The residents of Gidds Pond Cottages will be directly affected by the proposal to create a primary school and special needs secondary school a few hundred metres from their homes in Bearsted Road.

At present they have designated parking bays outside their homes, yet in order to enable children to more easily walk to the new schools, the developers plan on doing away with their parking in order to widen the footpath.

Anna Gray said: "They say they will give us alternative parking, but haven't been able to tell us where.

"I don't trust that they have our welfare at heart and we don't believe there is anywhere they can give us that will be satisfactory."

Michael Ash said he was concerned that if parking were provided in the field behind their homes, for example, the walk, especially after dark could be dangerous and would be too far for his wife to manage, as she is limited in movement while awaiting a hip replacement operation.

Mrs Gray said: "There is literally nowhere else to park round here. We are all getting older and if they do away with our parking, I fear I will become isolated, with my friends and family unable to come and visit me."

Rachele Verrier said: "Quite apart from our own selfish reasons, we think this is just the wrong place for a school - for the safety of the children.

"This is a very busy road with a lot of speeding traffic and placing a school next to a mental health unit is not showing proper concern for the children's welfare."

Gary Cook agreed. He said: "The location is entirely inappropriate. What parent would want their child's primary school next to a mental health unit?"

Mr Cook revealed that on one occasion he had been woken at 1am by a distressed patient shouting and screaming outside his home, with staff trying to persuade him to return to the hospital.

He said: "Then there's the traffic. Even with the proposed traffic calming measures, the children are going to be forced into crossing a very busy road with fast-moving traffic several times because there are not footpaths on both sides of the roads."

Rebecca Darling for Bowmer and Kirkland said that it was not her company's responsibility to allocate the substitute parking, as that was already proposed under a grant of outline planning permission for the wider Kent Medical Campus site made in 2014. However, the company was in negotiation with KCC and hoped to provide the residents with more detailed proposals soon.

*When fully open, the Cygnet Hospital next to the proposed schools site will cater for 65 patients with a range of conditions from schizophrenia, psychosis and depression to co-morbid substance misuse. Patients could be voluntary or detained under the Mental Health Act.