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A group of residents is determined not to allow 120 homes to be built in their village.
Housebuilder Persimmon has a planning application before Tunbridge Wells council to build housing at Bassetts Farm, east of Horsmonden.
But objectors are campaigning against the scheme and have set up a website - the Bassetts Farm Forum - to help co-ordinate a village response.
So far more than 230 letters of objection have been submitted, even though Permission has downgraded its plans from an original application for 165 homes.
The downgrade has partly been achieved by excluding from the planning outline an area that had already been granted permission for 20 homes.
Persimmon said it still intended to build out the existing permission, so in fact the total number of new homes would be 140.
The developer has also sought to make the project more acceptable by promising a community orchard and saying it will leave space for a new doctors’ surgery - but the firm has not promised to build it.
One villager described the move as a “cynical tactic”. He said: “You apply for more homes than you intend to build, then scale this back as a 'gesture' to local opposition.
“Then they add in the sweetener of a GP surgery, that will never happen.”
The site lies just off Goudhurst Road and covers 15.57 hectares - an area the size of 30 standard 11-a-side football pitches.
Persimmon said 40% of the homes - 48 properties - would be “affordable”.
The site lies close to the High Weald National Landscape area, formerly known as the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Part of the plot is also earmarked by Persimmon for allotments and an expansion of Horsmonden Primary School.
Persimmon said 68% of the overall site - 10.5 hectares - would be left as green space.
Public reaction to the application has been scathing.
In her submission to the borough council, Zoe Ferguson of Lamberts Place, said: “It all seems to be a concoction of panic, poor management of council taxpayers' money and total disregard and lack of respect to the people living in Horsmonden and surrounding communities.”
In her submission, Susan Huzzey, of Goudhurst Road, said: “People see this development as reckless, inappropriate, outside of legal obligations, overly large and poorly designed.”
She praised the Bassetts Farm Forum for “clearly articulating the issues”.
The forum has submitted extensive and detailed reports on every aspect of the application: a 53-page analysis of the overall application, a six-page document on traffic issues, a seven-page report on energy issues, nine pages on housing design, 20 pages in a response to Persimmon’s responses, and many more.
The developer argues that because Tunbridge Wells council doesn’t have a five-year land supply as required by the government - it has only 3.8 years - then the law requires there be a “tilted balance” towards permitting sustainable development.
But the Forum has sought to undermine that reasoning by arguing the project cannot be defined as sustainable.
Among other objectors to the scheme are Brenchley and Matfeld Parish Council, which is worried about the knock-on effect the extra traffic will have on its patch, and the former MP for Tunbridge Wells, Greg Clark.
He said: “The Horsmonden community has gone to the trouble of developing a Neighbourhood Development Plan, which has been examined and adopted.
“It is important that the provisions of that Neighbourhood Plan should be respected.
“Any scheme should be restricted to within the existing adopted limits to built development.
“The medical centre should be delivered alongside any residential development and a legal agreement should be put in place to ensure it is delivered within a set timeframe.
“The overall number of homes should be reduced and the density of the site optimised to provide more smaller, lower-budget family homes, the need for which is identified in the Horsmonden Neighbourhood Plan.
“Furthermore, the access road to the site (Goudhurst Road) is already experiencing significant traffic problems relating to quantity and speed.
“The applicant must provide a proportionate financial contribution towards the delivery of the off-site highway works (to make it safer).”
Horsmonden Parish Council raised a series of objections. It said the Horsmonden Neighbourhood Plan had been prepared following in-depth engagement with the community, but it was not being followed.
A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes South East said: “It is important to recognise that our site at Bassett’s Farm, Hormonden, is a draft allocation for new homes in Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s emerging Local Plan because it is deemed suitable for development.
“There are significant housing needs both in Horsmonden and Tunbridge Wells, and this has real impacts often on younger families and first-time buyers.
“We have been collaborative in our approach and are bringing forward a high-quality scheme, including land for a medical centre and large areas of open space, that helps respond to local housing needs.”
Details of this application can be found on the Tunbridge Wells council website under application number 24/00078.
Mr Clark did not stand at the general election in July last year. He was replaced by Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat.
