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Campaigners opposed to proposals for a garden community near Maidstone have taken their fight to the town hall.
More than a dozen protesters, armed with placards and dressed in yellow hi-vis jackets, marched through the town centre this morning, calling for the controversial scheme to be scrapped.
Campaigners march on town hall
The Save Our Heath Lands group has been set up in recent weeks to fight the plans for up to 5,000 homes near Lenham, which have been the subject of a number of behind-closed-doors meetings at the town hall.
The council is acting as the master-developer for the project, which means it takes a controlling interest in the land, leads the design process, enables the required infrastructure, identifies suitable development partners and oversees the stewardship of the new community.
The scheme was discussed by the policy and resources committee earlier this year, with the location kept confidential prior to and during the meeting, despite efforts from KentOnline for details to be disclosed.
Council chiefs said including this information could compromise the authority's financial position and this outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.
Just 10 minutes after an article was published on KentOnline, stating that location details were not revealed at the meeting, a media statement confirming the plans for land east of Lenham was released.
The protest came ahead of an announcement later today in which the locations of hundreds of plots of land which could be used for development in the borough are to be revealed.
Cllr Tom Sams is backing the campaign and said: "We've had residents ringing us crying, physically and emotionally upset, and it's about the fact this has been landed on their doorstep.
"Some of them have lived there for 50 years, all they've ever known is Lenham Heath, and there's complete secrecy about how this has come about.
"The borough council has not done itself any favours because they've withheld information, which is a complete disgrace.
"I've been a councillor for 20 years and this is not the borough council I'm used to.
"I'm used to transparency, openness and discussions. That hasn't happened in this case and I'm disgusted."
Faversham and Mid Kent MP Helen Whately has also thrown her weight behind the campaign.
She wrote in a letter to constituents: "The development would destroy an area of farmland at the foot of the North Downs and put huge pressure on local roads and services.
"There are better ways the council could meet the demand for more homes in this area. This development is too big and in the wrong place. The council needs to think again."
Barton Willmore's literature claims the creation of a strategic-scale, free standing garden village would "reduce the pressure to extend existing settlements, thereby helping to preserve their historic character".
In justifying the site selection, planning consultants Barton Willmore argue the land is flat, away from an area of outstanding natural beauty and relatively unconstrained in heritage, ecology and flood risk terms.
Also included in the proposals appears to be three primary schools and a secondary school as well as open space, a "district centre" and areas dedicated for "employment".
