Plots of land identified as taking another 6,000 homes as part of a council's long-term housing blueprint have been branded "blatantly stupid".

Shocked residents in Kings Hill attended a meeting called by the parish council to discuss proposals under the draft Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (TMBC) Local Plan which revealed the scale of potential development.

Around 80 residents attended the Mary Ellis Hall at the Community Centre on Sunday, October 16 where they were told they had a little over two weeks to make their views known - with the deadline being November 2.

Posted around the room were boards showing the allocations suggested for development in the first draft of the Local Plan - known as Regulation 18, which sets out which areas could be formally allocated later in the planning process.

They included three distinct plots off Tower Hill, totalling 52 homes; 104 dwellings on ancient woodland at Hoath Wood, and 136 new homes at Heath Farm Fields, next to the sports centre in Wateringbury Road.

But the big ones and causing the most consternation were 3,000 homes at Broadwater Farm, plus 1,228 homes on the west quarter of the Kings Hill Golf Club and 275 homes on the club's east quarter.

Several in the audience were members of the golf club and protested this was the first they had known of the plans and that the club had a 125-year lease.

But parish councillor David Rush, who was chairing the meeting, explained that at this stage, the suggested plots could have been put forward by anybody, without the landowner necessarily being supportive, or even aware, of the suggestion.

Present at the meeting were two of Kings Hill's three TMBC representatives – Cllr Kim Tanner, Cllr Dan Harman and Cllr Dave Davis, who is the borough's cabinet member for strategic planning and infrastructure and responsible for the Local Plan process.

He explained "only 20 to 25%" of those sites currently listed would make it through to the final draft of the plan, but he emphasised how important it was that everyone responded to the public consultation to ensure that the sites they objected to weren't the ones left in.

Cllr Rush agreed, warning: "If there are no comments made, it might be assumed that the site is acceptable."

Other parishes were already making their responses.

Cllr Harman said: "There are some blatantly stupid sites on the list that nobody in their right mind would ever want to see built on."

Other sites in the firing line included 145 homes on a plot off Teston Road, 644 homes on land east of Canon Lane and south of Hollandbury Park and 69 homes at Kate Reed Wood off the A228.

Cllr Rush warned the official consultation response on the TMBC website was 50 questions long and completing it was a "gargantuan task".

However, all the speakers emphasised that it was not necessary to complete all the online questionnaire, and any response, even just an email about a single site, would be considered and would be helpful - but respondents must include their name and address.

Concerns were raised about the borough council's consultation document only listing the sites by a reference number and difficulties therefore in wading through 300 suggestions to find those relevant to Kings Hill.

To assist, the parish council said it would shortly publish a list of the relevant sites and reference numbers on its website.

Tony Ward, a founding member of the Broadwater Action Group (BAG) formed to oppose the proposed development at Broadwater Farm, encouraged the audience to join BAG - for free.

Those that did so would immediately receive an explanation of the consultation process, details on how to respond and even guidance on what might be an appropriate response.

Cllr Davis warned the borough was obliged to find room by 2040 for 15,941 new homes after government housing targets for the council were confirmed.

One disbelieving member of the audience asked: "How is that possible? There are around 59,000 homes in the borough now, so 15,000 new homes is a 25% increase in population. surely the population is not going to grow by 25%?

Cllr Davis said: "We are getting a lot of Londoners who are leaping over the green belt to come here and then commute back into London on over-crowded roads and overcrowded trains."