Thousands of homes across the Towns could be approved in the face of huge opposition because the council does not have a five-year housing plan.

Medway is under huge pressure to find enough land for 30,000 new homes over the next 20 years and it has emerged this week that councillors may be forced to approve highly controversial proposals because developers will win on appeal.

The issue came to light at Wednesday’s planning committee where Dave Harris, the head of planning, said the need to find sites was acute.

He said the council was “nowhere near a five-year housing land supply” and that it was more like a two-year supply, adding that some greenfield sites will have to be released.

The committee was discussing plans to build 134 homes on agricultural land off Mierscourt Road, Rainham.

The council has received 479 letters of objection and six letters of support.

As part of the plans, the developer Redrow has agreed to give the council £649,792 towards school places, £113,500 towards transport improvements, £231,714 to open spaces, £62,705 to local health facilities, £20,829 to waste and recycling and £18,319 to community facilities.

The proposals also include 25% affordable housing.

Cllr David Royle said: “The traffic is quite impossible. The queues at Mierscourt Road stretch back way beyond the Lonsdale Drive junction. I can see no way in which the extra amount of traffic can be accommodated.”

He also spoke of parking issues the impact on already full schools, and the other developments planned for the area.

In October, an application by Gladman to build 200 homes on land off Moor Street, Rainham, used by the summer boot fair, was thrown out by the council’s planning committee. It went to appeal and a decision is still to be made.

The month before, another application for 300 homes off Otterham Quay Lane was rejected. Persimmon has since appealed the decision.

The council will be fined several thousands of pounds if the appeals are successful.

Cllr Royle’s points were applauded from the packed public gallery and his views echoed by Cllr Martin Potter, Cllr Les Wicks and Cllr David Carr.

Rainham councillor and former mayor, Cllr Carr said: “The point which worries me if we turn this down and it goes to appeal it will almost certainly be passed. We’re going to have to approve this because there isn’t any other option dislikeable as it may be.”

Cllr Nick Bowler said he had sat on the housing strategy committee since 2007 when it was expected to take six months to come up with a plan, but nine years later there has been no progress and the local plan has been rejected by government inspectors twice.

Cllr Stuart Tranter, the new Mayor of Medway, said he grew up in Rainham and that it would “break my heart” to have to agree with plan but said he had to consider the financial cost to the council of a successful appeal.

Chairman Cllr Diane Chambers said: “If we refuse this it will still happen but it will happen without our input.” The homes plan was approved by nine votes to six.

The committee also approved phase one of a development next to Medway Valley Leisure Park but wanted an agreement on the neighbouring open space to be signed with the next two months.

Redrow is also behind this proposal to build 620 homes on the brownfield site next to the river and phase one will see 210 of those homes built.