People are being urged to have their say on whether they want a new 'garden town' of more than 10,000 homes being built in Sittingbourne, before it’s too late.

Swale council has published an early consultation document to inform the next Local Plan, to determine what will be built and where.

Called "Looking Ahead" it asks questions about issues facing Swale up to 2038.

One of the proposals is for a new garden town to be built in south Sittingbourne.

Cllr Monique Bonney (Ind), chairman of the Five Parishes Opposition Group, set up to represent people living in Bapchild, Bredgar, Milstead, Rodmersham and Tunstall, is urging people to have their say.

“We need as many local residents to respond as quickly as they can to this consultation,” she said.

“Under the new Local Plan the council is looking at building approximately 17,000 new homes in the Swale area and, as a result, there has arisen the concept of a new town or village which could be a conurbation of 10,000 houses or more either split into two, into villages, which are huge.

“So you have an idea, Sittingbourne town – the urban area – has approximately 18,800 homes so by adding a new settlement of over 10,000 homes would significantly impact not just Sittingbourne but the villages around it.

“It’s really important for locals to take part and give their views as to how they think this will impact them.”

The Looking Ahead document says: “We need to review our Local Plan to produce a new plan every five years and there are major challenges for it to address.

“We must deal with matters raised by the inspection of our 2017 adopted local plan and consider coming changes to national planning policy, particularly those around future housing numbers and how they may impact upon us.

“These are likely to mean we will need to build more new homes every year than we have done in the past - perhaps an increase in our housing target number from 776 per year, to over 1,050 per year, once the new local plan is in place in 2022.”

“This is a very early opportunity to influence and engage with this new Local Plan - its scope and content.

“It will give us an important chance to gather opinions and gauge the wider appetite for certain approaches that could be further considered, particularly about how we can in future provide for new development needs.”

The consultation deadline is Friday.

• To find out more or to respond, visit www.swale.gov.uk/current-consultations