A parish council fighting against plans for hundreds of homes on its doorstep has warned that politicians should pay heed to voters’ concerns or risk being ousted.

It comes following the result of the shock by-election in Chesham and Amersham where the Lib Dems overturned a big Tory majority, with unpopular planning policies thought to be a major factor.

Lynsted with Kingsdown Parish Council chairman Julien Speed said it was a “warning shot” for parties in Swale.

The parish council issued a legal challenge against the borough council, claiming its Local Plan, which proposes at least 1,100 more homes in the Teynham ‘Area of Opportunity’ and a bypass on farmland in Lynsted, “isn’t legally compliant”.

A survey of 261 villagers found 95% opposed the scheme.

Speaking about the by-election, on the other side of London, Mr Speed said: “It’s a warning shot from voters that highlights extreme concern about the impact of planning policies.

“We’ve already seen the strength of feeling about excess housing development in Swale East, where a big Conservative majority was over-turned by the Greens in the recent Kent County Council elections.”

'Communities must be able to influence planning applications...'

Mr Speed wants to see new government proposals, to remove the planning application stage for applications put forward in designated ‘development zones’, scrapped.

He also favours more local control over the direction of development in each borough. He said: “Communities must be able to influence planning applications.

“All Local Plans should be subject to a referendum, as Neighbourhood Plans are. Authorities must be asked at draft plan consultation, as one of the soundness tests for Local Plan examination, if they have engaged with communities satisfactorily and acted on feedback received.”

Mr Speed called on a new “evidence-based” way of setting a national housing target as well, after concerns Lynsted with Kingsdown is getting an unfair amount.

He added: “It must be up-to-date, not based on the 2014 projections used to justify the 300,000 homes per annum target. It should also be accurate, removing the current problem that over-counts students and births in at least 50 districts. No inflation should be applied through formulae to reach the arbitrary 300,000 figure.

“The housing target must also reflect recent demographic changes such as the reduction in EU nationals living in the UK post-Brexit, and the change to working patterns caused by Covid.

“This will reduce the occupancy of office space on a permanent basis.

“Further, the ‘levelling up’ agenda should surely result in increased demand for housing in areas of investment in the Midlands/the North, as opposed to the already congested South East.”

He added: “Environmental matters should be given greater weight than economic and social factors in plan-making and decision-making.”

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