Campaigners fighting to have an area of disused farmland given Village Green status are claiming cross-party support for the project.

The proposal by the MERlin campaign group (Medway Ecological Riverine Link) to have Bunyards Farm, on the border between Aylesford and Allington, given the protected status comes ahead of a proposal 435-home development there.

Maidstone councillor Stanley Forecast (Con), Kent County Councillor Chris Passmore (Lib Dem) and Tom Cannon (Con), who is both a borough and county councillor, are all supporting the application.

KCC has already considered the issue once and has decided the matter should be determined via a public inquiry in the New Year.

The campaigners will seek to prove the public has had unfettered access to the land, using it as if by right, for at least 20 years.

The landowners, the Andrew Cheale Will Trust, will try to prove that at least during some of that time the land was fenced off and public access denied.

With the heavy purse of the developers behind the No campaign, MERlin has described the contest as a David and Goliath battle.

They desperately need to raise £11,000 to pay for a barrister to present their case at the inquiry.

Campaigner James Willis said: “We appeal to the public to please make a donation.

“What better Christmas present could you give your children and grandchildren than giving them this beautiful 15-hectare open space?”

Donations can be made via a JustGiving page here.

The MERLin group began its campaign back in July 2021.

Since then, the group has collected witness statements from many local residents attesting to their use of the field for such activities as dog-walking and blackberry picking.

If successful, the Village Green application would prevent the land – which is the last remaining green space between Allington and Aylesford – being built on.