A 550-home development has gone back to the drawing board after it was controversially approved before the public consultation period had ended.

The Kingsnorth Green scheme was given the green light in November, but Ashford Borough Council has agreed to reassess plans following a complaint from residents living near the proposed site.

Councillors gave the scheme the nod on November 14 last year - even though the public consultation was due to run until November 25.

The housing development - included in the council's Local Plan - will see 126 acres of land off Pound Lane, Magpie Hall Road, Bond Lane and Ashford Road developed if built.

Pentland Homes and Jarvis Homes are behind the plans to develop the site.

Kingsnorth Residents Association (KRA) hit back at plans to develop the site after claiming that the council had not fully consulted residents in the Kingsnorth parish.

The action group formed after the development was given outline planning permission, as many residents claimed they were unaware of the application until it had been passed by the committee.

But now the council has agreed to put the application back to consultation following complaints from the KRA, Kingsnorth Parish Council and local councillors.

The authority is set to review the development in March.

Julian Fisher, chairman of the KRA, said: "We are delighted the council has seen sense and put this back out to consultation giving the whole community the chance to be able to give its views on this.

“We started the residents association as the whole community was up in arms at the ridiculously short period of time we were given to respond to the original application.

"The Kingsnorth Green application along with the Court Lodge application means the village faces being swamped with 1,500 homes.

"The impact to the local community in terms of environment, flooding and particularly transport on the already overcrowded Ashford Road is going to be massive.

Last month, formal plans were submitted to build 1,000 homes on the land off Pound Lane and next to the Kingsnorth Green site.

Dubbed Court Lodge, it will include a new square with retail and office space and a two-form entry primary school if the plans are approved.

Mr Fisher, who runs the Queen's Head pub added: "This will impact not only on the residents Kingsnorth village but families on the existing estates on Park Farm, Knights Park, and Bridgefield.

"We understand that the principle of development on these sites has been established in the Local Plan but we can fight them to minimise their impact.

"We will be supporting the parish council in demanding that there is a full ecological, environmental and transport impact of all of these developments combined to find a proper solution rather than looking at each development piecemeal which misses the bigger picture.”

An ABC spokesman said: “The council has decided to carry out a public consultation again, on the amended application and the current list of supporting documents, to give everyone a full opportunity to comment.

"This will necessitate reporting the application to committee again, once the comments have been considered.”

To submit your comments, visit www.ashford.gov.uk and search 15/00856/AS.