Land in Minster has been earmarked as a “reserve site” for hundreds of new homes to protect other parts of the borough from development.

Swale Council is putting together its core strategy – a planning blueprint up to 2031 –with Sittingbourne and Sheppey the focus for building, and more modest plans for Faversham.

Cabinet member for planning Cllr Gerry Lewin said despite not being “terribly keen”, farmland off Scocles Road had been put forward, if necessary, for 767 homes.

Failure to do so, he said, could have left the door open for developers to suggest their own options such as a “huge strip of land” south of Iwade that had been offered to the council for development.

Cllr Lewin said the offer had been rejected because there had been enough growth already there.

The future of the Scocles Road site depends on whether enough homes are built as part of the regeneration of Queenborough and Rushenden, where 1,800 are planned.

The project’s progress has stalled and the council says there is a risk of it not achieving the amount of housing proposed.

The council’s spatial planning manager Gill Harris said the number of homes was realistic but the delay could be blamed on, among other things, the slow housing market.

Cllr Lewin said a change of land ownership following the demise of the South East of England Development Agency had been another factor, as was the fact it was brownfield and therefore less attractive to house builders.

Ms Harris said a reserve site had to be included if not enough homes could be built at Queenborough and Rushenden to avoid development in “wholly inappropriate places”.

“There are developers that want us to allocate land at Iwade. They can come back and say Queenborough and Rushenden is too slow, we (the council) have not allocated a sufficient supply, we need to look at proposals for Iwade. We would find it tough to argue against that,” she said.

Allocating land on the Island, said Cllr Lewin, ensured Sheppey still benefited from the new housing.

Ms Harris added: “It’s about trying to put housing, jobs and services as close together as we can. Petrol costs are going through the roof. Have to consider whether people can afford to travel long distances to work or shop.”

Minster Parish Council chairman Ken Ingleton said he was disgusted by the number of homes planned for the village.

He said the same argument for protecting Iwade could be made for Minster. “There’s the reserve site on one side of Thistle Hill, then on the other side of Thistle Hill there’s a site for 500, without all the other small sites around the area.

“We have 1,000 more spaces on Thistle Hill so we’re looking at another 2,500 dwellings and Minster parish is just over 5,000 dwellings. We’re looking at a substantial difference in size.

“We do not have the infrastructure and we are losing the openness of the village that Minster is renowned for,” he added.