Islanders are being “held to ransom” over the release of land for vital changes to be made to a junction which is one of Sheppey’s major causes of traffic jams.

That is the view of Ken Ingleton, chairman of Minster Parish Council, who was speaking on behalf of the village on the fifth day of hearings being led by a government planning inspector into Swale council’s local plan, which will set out what can be built and where until 2031.

He made the comment after a representative of landowner SW Attwood and Partners, Martin Page, said land around the junction of Barton Hill Drive and Lower Road would be released if his client’s nearby farmland can be used to build 500 new homes.

Mr Page, a planning consultant from DHA Planning, argued the 71-acre site, known as SW194, should be included in the local plan.

He said: “The capacity of the site to supply a roundabout junction improvement… is something which raises this site above the ordinary. There seems to be common ground that the improvement to the A2500, in particular this junction, is needed now. It’s an important piece of infrastructure to deliver.

“The land will not be compulsory purchased by the highway authority for this roundabout.

“My client would offer land free of charge subject to SW194 (500 new homes) being allocated. This is a site that can deliver something pretty important.”

Mr Ingleton said Minster had been a rural village with just a few hundred homes but had been developed into “a sprawl with a population approaching that of Faversham”.

“There are a lot of difficulties with this site,” he said. “This site is only going to extend the misery. It appears to me someone is trying to hold us to ransom for road improvements that are very seriously needed.

“The road itself is something that needs serious improvements. Coming here this morning, I travelled just over 1km at 7mph following a bicycle. Unfortunately, a bicycle on that road, if there’s traffic coming the other way, you cannot overtake.

“Road improvements need to come a long time before any further development and, if possible, we do not need any further development because we have more than enough already in the village.”

Mr Page, who said the first homes could be completed by 2019, said: “If this site is allocated it would immediately release land to KCC to carry out road improvement, for which they are bidding for funding. That would happen first.”

The site ranked 12th on a list of 87 pieces of land which could have to be added to the local plan should Swale council have to build at above its proposed rate of 540 new homes a year. But Alan Best, the council’s principal planner, said: “This was a site that our members were particularly concerned about in light of consultation undertaken.”