Maidstone council’s bid to meet its home-building targets has taken another twist, with all the landowners who had sites rejected for housing now being asked to consider offering their plots for gypsy and traveller sites.

The authority is struggling to reach the 187 permanent pitches it has been advised to supply over the next 16 years.

So far 75 have been given planning permission and the draft Local Plan identifies another 23.

Maidstone council has to find another 2,353 homes to meet an 18,600 target.

But a spokesman confirmed a total of 241 people who had their sites rejected for houses had been approached about the possibility of accommodating travellers in the future.

Carpenter Kevin Hurley and his neighbour Wendy DuChesne offered a two-and-a-half-acre plot off Lested Lane in Chart Sutton for potential development.

They suggested building 10 to 14 properties there, when the council issued a call for sites to help reach the 18,600 homes target by 2031.

But after that was refused, Mr Hurley was contacted by a planning officer asking if he would consider allowing it to be considered for gypsy and traveller pitches instead.

Mr Hurley, 56, who has not yet responded to the letter, said: “I’m very surprised the council would even consider it for this. It is a residential area.

“At the end of the day you can still earn money out of renting to gypsies and travellers. I think local people would be horrified about it if they knew this was being suggested.”

Ms DuChesne, a civil servant, added: “Nothing in the site assessment suggests to me there is a good reason to say no to housing development. We wanted the houses to be done sympathetically, and made affordable, to help make the village a better place.

“I don’t think it is any more appropriate for gypsy and travellers to live there. It is a square bordered by people’s gardens.”

A council spokesman said the approach did not mean that the land had been deemed suitable for a gypsy or traveller site, and that assessments would have to take place at any suggested locations.

But planning officials will look at national guidance allowing gypsy accommodation to be in more rural locations than is normally appropriate for conventional housing.

The spokesman added: “We had many sites put forward by landowners in the call for housing, but very few for gypsy and traveller use.

“We know there is a need for additional pitches just like there is a need for additional homes.”