Today is the last day that residents in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling can give their views on the council's draft Local Plan.

Council officials say they have already received more than 1,500 submissions.

Tonbridge and Malling council is having to prepare a plan to determine where the 15,894 homes which the government says it must build by 2040 should go.

As well as asking the public for their views on 291 specific sites that have been suggested for housing, the council wants to know what overall approach it should take to development.

It has suggested five options: they range from building nothing whatsoever on the green belt, to creating a new garden community somewhere in the borough.

Daniel Markham, from Tassell Close, East Malling, wants to see the green belt protected. He said: “Far from building on the green belt, people want to see it extended.”

He argued Kings Hill should be protected by a ring of green around the community.

But Mr Markham, a former Conservative councillor for East Malling, argued the real issue was with the government’s targets. He said “The borough should be campaigning to challenge these.”

Tony Ward chairs the Broadwater Action Group, which is opposed to development at Broadwater Farm in East Malling.

He said: “Firstly, the housing figures should be challenged. There’s no way our natural population will grow by 29% in the plan period – that means we are just building homes for Londoners to move into.

“Beyond that, development should be spread out across the whole borough.

“Since 2006, some 58% of all new homes in the borough have been within one mile of West Malling – on just 1% of the total land area of the borough. That is patently unfair.”

Option one is to keep all development outside of the green belt but that would concentrate most development in Tonbridge and the north east corner of the borough, around Kings Hill.

A second option is to focus development around identified urban areas, that would require using some green belt land.

A third option is to develop around both the identified urban areas and the rural service areas, but again this may involve using some green belt land. Option four is described as “the spread it all out option”.

The final approach would be to establish a new garden village.

Stewart Geldhill is the chairman of the Save Capel campaign, battling to stop a garden village proposal put forward by neighbouring Tunbridge Wells council in their Local Plan.

He said: "It's slightly strange that Tonbridge and Malling are giving the option of a garden village, since they objected vigorously to the Tudeley garden village proposed by Tunbridge Wells.

"We have a lot of members who live in the Hadlow, Golden Green and East Peckham areas of Tonbridge, and they are all concerned that more development could be heading their way."

But Mr Geldhill praised Tonbridge and Malling for at least giving people options. He said they have gone about it far more democratically than Tunbridge Wells, who, he said, "are just seeking to impose their ideas on residents."

Tonbridge and Malling council leader Matt Boughton has being doing his best to encourage the public to engage with the consultation.

If you haven't yet responded to the consultation, you can do so today here.

Cllr Boughton himself has attended 25 public meetings at communities around the borough as well as personally conducting a two-hour online briefing which all residents could log on to.

There are currently around 55,000 homes in the borough, so the government is looking to increase that by 29%.

The difficulty for the council is that 71% of the borough is already classified as green belt.