The government’s plans to increase house building by 10% in one Kent borough has been described as “a slap in the face” by the area’s MP.

In her bid to “get Britain building”, Labour’s new housing minister, Angela Rayner, has announced changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

It will require Maidstone to find space for a further 124 homes every year - on top of the level already set. Kent as a whole may have to build an extra 5,000 homes per year under proposed new targets.

Her reforms not only make housing targets for local authorities compulsory again, but also contain a new method of calculating those targets, which for many will result in an increase.

Maidstone is currently required to build on average 1,220 homes a year. That has been upped to 1,344 - a rise of more than 10%.

The hike has shocked Maidstone’s Conservative Group, which got the town’s Local Plan Review passed with the current housing targets, as one of their last acts before losing power in the May local elections.

Claudine Russell, Conservative group leader, said: “Despite a recently adopted Local Plan Review, our having a five-year land housing supply and an excellent record of delivery, Maidstone is now one of the boroughs to be hit by yet higher housing targets.

“In a borough with no large brownfield sites, this will again mean that green fields would be sacrificed to meet this need.”

With the current Local Plan period running till 2038, the policy change means Maidstone may have to find room for a further 1,726 homes - even though the Local Plan Review is still being challenged in the courts by opponents of its provision for a 2,000-home garden village at Lidsing.

Cllr Russell said: “The Local Plan process is a wheel that a local authority never climbs off, but we are a good local authority, with a good track record of delivery and a plan that has been reviewed and recently adopted.

“To hit us with yet higher targets while simultaneously reducing the London targets is awful, we don’t have enough infrastructure for these numbers.

“Yet more farmland will fall to housing and it seems that the new government is build, build, build, which is all well and good until we run out of food.

“The concept of food security seems lost on them.”

Stuart Jeffery (Green) is the new leader of Maidstone council. He said: “Nothing is definite yet - the government’s plans are out to consultation and we will be making a comprehensive response and I’m sure we will be pushing back on the housing numbers.

“But it seems like the government wants these increases to start immediately, which I don’t think is even vaguely possible.

“Maidstone has over-performed in the past, exceeding the targets set, but there is a limit to what we can do. There is a limit to growth.”

He said: “What we would like to see is more social housing built, but the developers don’t want to provide that.”

Helen Whately is the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, which includes parts of Maidstone. She said: “Labour’s new planning overhaul is a slap in the face for Kent.

“They have chosen to prioritise building on our green fields over brownfield sites in London.

“This is the wrong choice, it means hundreds more new houses here, over and above current plans.

“At the same time, Labour is reviewing all planned transport investments, throwing into doubt the badly needed improvements at Blue Bell Hill.”

The MP for Maidstone and Malling, Helen Grant, said: “Throughout my time as a Member of Parliament, overdevelopment has been a persistent issue raised by constituents.

“Angela Rayner’s plans for top-down housing targets and the re-classification of the green belt will pose major threats, especially in Kent.”

Katie Lam is the MP for the newly created Weald of Kent constituency, which includes Yalding, Coxheath, Sutton Valence, Marden, Headcorn and Staplehurst - all villages with the borough of Maidstone.

She said: “These new housing targets are a reminder that the only reward for hardworking, conscientious local authorities – like Maidstone – who have actually built the houses they were asked to build, is more houses.

“It’s shameful that housing targets have been lowered in London, which is not only where the best infrastructure exists, is where a lot of buyers actually want to live.

“Instead, this government seems happy to shunt them down the train line into the countryside, whatever the impact on farmland, road traffic or water supply.

“This is a terrible mistake.”

Lenham resident Kate Hammond is the chairman of the Save Our Heathlands group that vigorously opposed plans for a garden village at Lenham Heath in the recently adopted Maidstone Local Plan Review.

She was dismayed by the new government’s increased targets.

She said: “They really need to stop and think this through.

“You can’t just build without considering the infrastructure, the water supply and sewage issues that so many communities have experienced, the lack of doctors’ surgeries, and the loss of farmland. Just where will we get our food?”

She said: “This is not building to help our young people - it is blighting their future.”

The government’s proposed new planning reforms can be viewed here.

The public consultation ends on September 24.