A star of iconic children's TV show Bagpuss is among those fighting against plans for a 1,300-home estate on a sprawling plot of farmland.

Emily Firmin - who played the beloved cat's owner in the 1970s programme - believes the proposals for the site the size of 110 football pitches off South Street in Whitstable will ruin the "beautiful" area.

The 57-year-old is campaigning alongside fellow local Moi Poulton to ensure the plot, called Brooklands Farm, is not transformed into the sweeping development.

Speaking to KentOnline, Ms Firmin said: "We are shocked - this is beautiful, natural wilderness.

“It’s not as simple as re-homing the animals that are there; a lot of species don’t survive that kind of change.”

The site has been earmarked for housing in Canterbury City Council's draft Local Plan, which - if approved by the local authority - will act as the district's building blueprint through to 2045.

Brooklands Farm is the largest scheme put forward for Whitstable, and will act as an extension to Chestfield village.

Papers produced by the local authority show a SEND school - a facility for children with special educational needs or disabilities - will be built in addition to a primary school at the site.

Ms Firmin, who appeared in sepia photographs at the start of each Bagpuss episode, grew up in Blean with her father Peter, the creator of the famous series.

The former actress says, having spent many years nurturing the wilderness, the threat to wildlife is of massive concern to her.

“My father ran a country footpath group and, even up until his death, spoke with excitement when discussing nature,” Ms Firmin, who now works as an artist, added.

“My parents created a wildlife meadow-slash-woodland and as a family we encouraged wildlife to appear on an old, flooded piece of unworkable farmland.

"I do keep an eye on what wildlife is around, and the area in Brooklands Farm is thriving."

The plot is currently used for farming, and is believed to be home to various species in the wooded areas that run through it.

Council documents also reveal the 195-acre site will be equipped with "shopping and community uses", allotments, a cricket pitch and play areas.

The land earmarked for the development stretches along South Street and Chestfield Road to the A299 Thanet Way.

Ms Poulton, who likens the development to a "small town", fears it will form part of a local house-building "frenzy".

“Many in the community feel helpless to stop this," she said.

"There is a building frenzy in Kent, and we continue to concrete over or plan to concrete over the Garden of England.

"We should be protecting our farmland, not irreversibly building over it.

"The infrastructure isn’t in place to cope with a development of this scale.”

This comes as Whitstable's Green Party campaigns to halt all new housing schemes in the town.

"We continue to concrete over or plan to concrete over the Garden of England..."

The group says that by 2045, enough sewage to fill more than 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year will be filling the system.

Responding to the campaigners' concerns, city council spokesman Rob Davies said: "The land was submitted to the council's call for sites process, which is an essential component of the preparation of the new Local Plan.

"The cabinet approved an updated local development scheme in October 2022 which sets out that the final draft of the Local Plan is expected to be published in autumn 2023.

"Even if this site is approved in the Local Plan, an application would be required and planning consent received, the process for which would allow further scrutiny of detailed designs.

"No planning application has been received."

In all, the draft Local Plan is proposing to build 13,000 extra homes across Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay by 2045.

That figure is on top of the 16,000 already earmarked for construction by 2031.

A consultation on the council's vision for the district in 22 years' time closed last Monday.