Plans for a winery at what is due to become the UK's largest vineyard have been delayed.

A £30 million proposal for a production facility including a café, visitor centre, and car park is planned for the land off Upper Bush in Cuxton.

Councillors were due to decide on the plans – put forward by Vineyard Farms Ltd – on Wednesday but asked for more time to get further information.

A report presented ahead of the planning committee meeting showed how the site is the single largest vineyard in the UK.

Some 700 acres has already been planted and another 200 will be in the next two to three years.

The developers want to invest £30 million into the building itself, and another £60 million across the wider estate.

Around 15 million bottles a year could be produced with the applicant telling the council there could be between 75 and 100 jobs created once operational.

A total of 85% of the building is proposed to be underground with a biogas station used to make energy from grape skins following processing.

The plans had been the subject of a petition signed by more than 1,000 people.

Council planning head Dave Harris emphasised the development's benefits of being an agricultural operation.

Plus ecological measures, including tree planting, would result in a gain for wildlife, and it could contribute to the local economy and tourism.

He also explained how permitted development rights meant the applicant could build a processing building on site without planning permission due to its agricultural use status.

He said: "You will see it has been designed to reflect the landscape and to limit the impact on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) as much as it can be.

"This is an exceptional design, it's very specific to this site and the conditions.

"There is the impact on the green belt and the ANOB but even there, they have tried to mitigate and limit the impacts as much as possible so that the harm is outweighed by the benefits."

However, ward representative Cllr Matt Fearn (Con) said the "prestige" of top architect Lord Norman Foster's involvement in the design of the building was "just smoke and mirrors, and bring nothing solid".

Lord Foster was the mastermind behind The Gherkin and Wembley Arch.

Cllr Fearn added: "The reality is the application comes from a few people with amble resources serving a niche clientèle – it is not aimed at the people of Medway."

Some councillors queried why the applicant wasn't settling to have just a facility which would process wine, rather than having a visitors' centre as well.

Cllr Stephen Hubbard (Lab) called the development "a trophy application", saying: "What conversations were had with the developer about excluding the bit that say, 'including café/restaurant and a visitors' centre with energy centre'? Because that seems to be the issue.

"We can have the building, the prestige, maybe a trophy-winning building, but it doesn't have to have the restaurant, the cafe."

Councillors voted to defer the decision to hear more about the impact of development on a number of details including the highway network.

Some councillors expressed their desire to carry out a site visit and have a presentation from the applicant.