An application to demolish a church to build 22 new homes has been recommended for approval.

The Brethren's Meeting Room, on the corner of Canterbury Lane and Otterham Quay Lane in Rainham, is run by the Long Reach Gospel Trust, which is part of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

It says the rising number of people in the congregation means it needs a larger site and is in the process of relocating to Swale.

If the outline application is approved by Medway Council, the trust would then need to submit detailed plans for the homes before the church could be torn down and the houses built.

The proposals have faced some opposition, with seven letters of objection from residents, as well as from Swale council and a neighbouring industrial park.

People living nearby have argued the area is too heavily developed, suffers from congestion problems, has insufficient infrastructure to cope with new homes, and the development would damage wildlife.

One resident said they could not think of a site less suitable for development.

Since the location is right on the boundary with Swale council, it has submitted an objection, saying the development will cause significant air quality problems which had not been accounted for as no assessments had been carried out inside its jurisdiction.

It also said that in the supporting documents the trust had claimed it would be relocating to somewhere in Swale but that no application had been made and acceptance was not guaranteed.

Tetlow King Planning, on behalf of IPM Sipp Ltd which owns Cloverlay Industrial Park, said the change to a residential area would be likely to throw up problems for the businesses based there.

It said the noise from the industrial park would likely cause difficulties for residents of the planned development, either incurring costly attempts to reduce noise for businesses or inconveniencing the new homeowners.

The proposals include a mixture of two and three-bedroom houses, 48 parking spaces and six garages.

Planning officers have recommended the outline application for approval by councillors with conditions of Section 106 money, where developers have to provide funds for infrastructure.

Detailed plans of what the site would look like would have to be approved as part of a separate application.

The plans are due to be decided upon at the next Medway Council planning meeting on Wednesday, December 20.