The head of the company that is proposing to build a new garden village at Detling Airfield has made a robust defence of his plans.

Quinn Estates has submitted a planning application to Maidstone council for permission to build 1700 homes, along with commercial space, a new primary school, a new special school, a hotel, shopping centre, doctors surgery, country park and a Park and Ride site on a development to be known as Binbury Park.

But as well as providing "much needed housing" for Maidstone in an area that he described as "a brilliant location in the centre of Kent", Mark Quinn has also advocated the scheme on the strength of improved highway safety.

Included in the proposal are plans for a new roundabout and new access to the Kent showground and revisions to the A249.

In an interview with kmtv, Mr Quinn said: "We've got a scheme that will probably save lives, preventing accidents and taking traffic (congestion) down by 90%."

He said: "It will be of national significance, preventing the economic disruption caused by queuing (on the A249)."

But the proposal for a greenfield site in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has many opponents.

Hilary Newport, the director of the Kent branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "Development can only be permitted in an AONB if it is in the national interest, if there are no alternatives sites, and if everything possible is done to preserve the countryside. This application fails dismally on all three counts."

The majority of the development site actually falls within the parish of Thurnham.

The Bearsted and Thurnham Society has also objected, pointing out that the site was not in the borough's Local Plan, signed off only a year ago, was poorly served by public transport,

and would greatly increase traffic flows.

It questioned the value of the Park and Ride Scheme, doubting it would reduce traffic movements as much as is claimed by the developer.

The borough council is already trying to offload its two remaining park and rides sites to a private operator because the schemes have been losing large amounts of money.

The borough will determine the application in January.

Application number 18/504836 refers,