Hundreds of extra homes will be built in Sittingbourne and on Sheppey after a planning inspector agreed Swale council's controversial house-building plans despite widespread opposition.

The authority had to find more land for housing to meet a target of 776 a year until 2031.

And this afternoon, after a delay caused by the general election, a report by the inspector, Sue Turner, was finally published, revealing which plots had been added to Swale's Local Plan.

In Sittingbourne, the extra burden totals nearly 1,000 homes - with 567 of them off Cryalls Lane and Wises Lane in Borden, despite a huge campaign against the proposals by Borden Residents Against Development.

There would also be nearly 200 more at Crown Quay Lane, where 650 homes are planned, another 80 at the monster development earmarked for fields off Quinton Road, taking it up to 1,450, and an additional 271 in the town centre, making the total there 567.

Iwade will be getting another 572 homes, with massive expansion plans to the north and east.

On Sheppey, the extras in Minster and Halfway include 620 off Barton Hill Drive, 140 off Belgrave Road, an extra 50 at Thistle Hill, taking its total to be built to 473, and 50 at Scocles Road and Elm Lane - a total rise of 875 up to 1,494.

Additional sites in Faversham total 834 homes, up from 905 to 1,739.

Ukip councillor Mike Baldock, leader of the opposition on Swale council, said: "The wish of Sheppey and Sittingbourne Conservative councillors to treat Faversham as a special part of the borough has come to fruition.

"This Local Plan will ensure the economies of Sheppey and Sittingbourne will suffer from gridlock caused by inappropriate building. We will have chaos on our roads for the next 15 to 20 years.

"Sittingbourne and Sheppey Conservatives have sold out their constituents.

"Our MP should now be talking to the Housing Minister insisting that this won't work. We just can't cope with this much housing."

Labour leader on Swale, Cllr Roger Truelove, said: "There's no point people saying it's not political - it's government policy and borough council policy.

"A lot of us worked very hard, came up with lots of arguments, a lot of people did a lot of homework. It's acknowledged but rejected by the inspector.

"She was under pressure from the government and has accepted what the council has said because if she didn't they would have to find somewhere else, leaving it vulnerable, so the council was desperate to get it agreed."

Cllr Gerry Lewin (Con), deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for planning services, said the additional 16 building plots - which total hundreds of homes - were not chosen lightly.

He said: “It has taken a tremendous amount of work to defend our position for meeting the new higher housing target.

"Developers and landowners wanted an even higher number so their own schemes could be included but we were able to persuade the inspector of the merits of our approach.

“The additional 16 sites that we needed to include to meet the higher target weren’t chosen lightly. The evidence we gathered showed – and the inspector agreed – that these were the most appropriate of the 170 schemes that developers proposed.

“By having an adopted plan – we believe the first in Kent since the major changes to national policy in 2012 - we are now in a much stronger position to fight off speculative planning applications, and we can work to ensure those allocated for housing provide sufficient infrastructure for the local community.”

The plan will be reviewed by April 2022, with a revised transport plan to address what the council described as "potential adverse traffic impacts from developments beyond 2022".

A meeting of the Full Council will be asked to approve the Local Plan for adoption when it meets on July 26.