Plans to build 112 homes on land once occupied by Pfizer have been approved - but none of the properties will be classed as ‘affordable’.

Dover District Council’s (DDC) planning committee has given the green light to the scheme for Discovery Park, Sandwich, where the pharmaceutical giant had been based.

It is for land between Innovation Way and Monks Way and comes a decade after outline plans for the wider development of the science park were first put forward and approved by DDC.

This latest proposal is a detailed reserved matters application covering areas such as housing design, landscaping, road layout and materials.

The committee voted eight to one to approve it, following an officers’ recommendation.

But Cllr Helen Williams (Lab) told councillors: “I’m really concerned there is no affordable housing provided.

“In 10 years so much has changed and we urgently need affordable housing.

“This area and all areas of Britain are very short of it and that was not the situation 10 years ago.”

Affordable housing schemes aim to make cheaper homes available for people who cannot afford to buy or rent at market rates.

The government says they should be "social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing, provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market".

But despite the lack of affordable homes in the scheme, Cllr James Back (Con) told the meeting how “there are no planning reasons to refuse this”.

“I was on the committee in 2014 when this came before us,” he said.

“At the time we had a viability study which stated they said they couldn’t build affordable housing. We can’t go retrospective and ask for them now.”

The overall masterplan for the development of the park had been submitted to the council in January 2014 and granted outline permission in September 2015.

This latest application came from Discovery Park (South) Limited and the homes will be accessed via a new road junction, which will be constructed off Monk’s Way.

The majority will be built on a field but a corner of the car park will also be set aside, bosses say.

There will be a mix of terraced and semi-detached houses, each with a garden and driveway.

Some will be up to three storeys high.

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Since 2015 a new Travelodge, petrol station and drive-thru have all been built in Discovery Park.

A total of 500 homes have been proposed for the area.

Pfizer had left most of its base at Discovery Park in 2012.