Residents in Eccles have until February 26 to file their views on a planning proposal that will more than double the size of their village.

So far they have not be slow off the mark. Already in the first seven days since Tonbridge and Malling council launched its consultation of the proposal from Trenport Investments, it has received 158 letters of objection.

Eccles, which falls within the parish of Aylesford, currently comprises 752 homes.

Trenport is seeking permission to build another 950, wrapping around the old village in a C-shape.

The scheme will involve moving existing village football fields (the home of Eccles Football Club) and public allotments and St Mark's Primary school, as well as substantial highway alterations.

The plan is being referred to as Bushey Wood, though actually Bushey Wood is a separate entity nearby.

Instead, the plot cover 63 hectares of mainly prime agricultural land.

Villagers had long been prepared for some major housing nearby - there was an allocation in the council's 2007 Local Plan. But then the land specified was on a disused cement works, separated by a green buffer.

Eccles Ward Parish Councillor Steve Beadle said: "This is totally different. It joins with and will swamp the village.

"Residents are furious, not just because of the concerns about loss of biodiversity and open space and the generation of extra traffic, but because it will completely alter the identity and character of our village."

Cllr Beadle expects TMBC will be receiving a lot more letters.

He said: "I've never seen the village so united over a single issue. And it's not just us. A development this size is going to have knock-on effects for surrounding villages like Aylesford and Burham too."

Trenport argues that its scheme will help fill the borough's housing shortage. It promises new allotments, playing fields, a new school and a "village hub" comprising "community and commercial space."

The scheme will see the housing accessed from two points in Bull Lane and from a new junction off New Court Road.

The development land has been owned by Trenport since 2001, but is largely let to tenant farmers.

They farm seven fields covering 58 acres.

There are complications with the site, which lies in a Zone 1 flood area.

The River Medway lies 850m to the south-west of the site and there are several watercourse tributaries flowing across the land.

There are four public rights of way crossing the site and it is also home to a Romano-British villa and an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, which are scheduled national monuments.

Trenport has already built the 1,000 home development at nearby Peters Village in Wouldham.