A campaign group who says it's fearful that housing developers will use Covid to gain permission for a previously rejected development have won the sympathy of MP Helen Grant.

The Save Fant Farm group had fought long and hard to see off an earlier proposal to build 225 homes at Fant Farm, off Gatland Lane in Maidstone .

But with three proposals for the site submitted under the borough councils recent Call For Sites, the group's chairman Gareth Owen had warned that any future application would be a lot harder to contest.

He said firstly, the rules for Covid social distancing had made it much harder to organise public meetings or protests against the plans, and secondly that Maidstone council was cutting short its Local Plan consultation process in a bid to get the Local Plan plan passed sooner.

Mr Owen called it: "A denial of natural justice."

But now Mrs Grant, MP for Maidstone and the Weald, has written to Rob Jarman, chief planner at Maidstone council asking him "to address Save Fant Farm's concerns about both the ability for local people to have their say on the Local Plan Review and the number of units identified in this Fant Farm proposal."

Construction firm Gleesons has presented the borough council with three options for the site - for 225 homes, for 400 homes and for 750 homes.

Mr Owen said: "Nothing has changed at Fant Farm to make it more suitable for development since the Government's planning inspector refused permission for 225 homes back in 2017."

But one thing has changed and that is the enormous pressure the Government is exerting on local authorities to increase their housing provision.

Mrs Grant told Mr Owen: "I completely appreciate where you are coming from.

"I also recognise that the changes to housing targets being proposed by the Government are relevant here.

"I am campaigning to encourage the Government to reconsider."

"Last week, I led a delegation of Kent MPs to meet (virtually) with the Housing Minister Christopher Pincher.

"We asked him to seriously reconsider the new planning proposals and relieve the disproportionate housing burden they place on Kent.

"In response, the Minister confirmed the Government was actively looking at responses to its consultation and will be bringing forward revised plans soon."

She said: "Let us hope some sense will prevail."

Traffic from any development at Fant Farm would inevitable largely travel up Farleigh Road to the crossroads with Tonbridge Road and Fountain Lane.

That junction is already heavily congested - largely as a result of extensive house-building along Hermitage Lane , which becomes Fountain Lane.

KCC has recently put forward a proposal for a major revision of the junction to include a double roundabout.

Mrs Grant said: "I know only too well of the nightmare scenario that people face on Hermitage Lane, particularly at rush hour, day in and day out.

"I therefore support any measures which can improve traffic flow along the road, although it is important that local people are engaged and consulted on the proposals at every stage.

"However, the only way to really improve the traffic situation in the west of Maidstone is to stop building houses in the area until a really comprehensive infrastructure plan can be approved and built, and related issues such as persistently recurring sinkholes in the locality can be fully investigated.

"That is the reason why I have called for a building moratorium in Barming, with immediate effect."

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