Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council has written to Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick about the "unsustainable" hike in house-building numbers under the government's proposed changes to the planning system.

Under the proposals, the housing requirement for Tonbridge and Malling would leap from the currently planned 696 new homes a year to 1,440 - more than double.

Council leader Nicolas Heslop told Mr Jenrick that the borough was being "penalised" for having performed well against housing targets in the past.

He quoted figures that showed the borough had consistently performed above its housing targets since 2006, despite the constraints placed on building by having a large area (71%) of Greenbelt land in the district.

But Mr Heslop said the jump to 1,440 homes per year "would not be possible" under the government's proposed zonal approach to planning.

The strongly worded letter called for a full review of measures "to protect the best of our countryside and biodiversity while allowing sustainable development to occur."

The protest followed an extraordinary meeting of the council's planning and transportation advisory board, at which member after member spoke of their horror at the government's proposals.

Cllr Heslop said “The scale of the increase in housing numbers planned for Tonbridge and Malling is totally unsustainable.

"Our transport network, health, education and community infrastructure are already stretched beyond capacity in many cases.

“The government needs to consider where these homes can be delivered in light of the existing constraints within Tonbridge and Malling.

“I am pleased that councillors from all parties agreed with our response setting our quite clearly why the increase is unacceptable.

"I hope the government will listen and think again.”

The borough's protest has been echoed across Kent. Three weeks ago, 10 Kent MPs - including Tonbridge and Malling's Tom Tugendhat - wrote to Mr Jenrick telling him his housing plans were placing a "disproportionate burden" on Kent and were "inherently unreasonable and unrealistic."

Under the council's current adopted Local Plan, it was required to deliver 6,375 new homes over 15 years from 2006 - an average of 425 a year.

In the first five years, it achieved an average of 642, in the second five years, an average of 569, and in the next three years (till 2019) an average of 817.

The borough has already submitted its next Local Plan proposals, which will reach the public hearing stage in the next few months, and they contain the increased target figure of 696 new homes per year.

Beyond the sheer jump in numbers which the government is proposing, Cllr Heslop told Mr Jenrick that the government's First Homes proposals - reserving some new houses for first-time buyers at a discount, - would not work in providing affordable homes in commuter towns such as Tonbridge where there were a great many monied buyers moving out of London.

For full information on Tonbridge's housing supply, click here .

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