Helen Whately

Iwas shocked when a big hike in the housing target for Maidstone was announced earlier this month. This came just days after I had written to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid asking him to look into Maidstone’s Local Plan.

I spoke to his department immediately afterwards to find out what this means for our area and to share the serious concerns of local people. The changes will not apply immediately if Maidstone’s Local Plan is submitted for examination by 31 March, however they will apply when the plan is reviewed in 2021. I’m now working with MBC and pressing the government to make sure we can meet next year’s deadline.

As I said to the Secretary of State in Parliament, Maidstone’s housing target is already extremely high and local roads are inadequate.

Congestion is the norm and the biggest fear is more houses will mean more cars on the roads and more hours wasted sitting in jams. We badly need more investment in local transport infrastructure.

As a starting point, we need to know the potential benefits of a Leeds-Langley relief road. Kent County Council is working on the options, costs and benefits, to be followed by a public consultation. I want to see that work move forwards as quickly as possible.

The reason the target for Maidstone is so high is that the proposed calculation method looks at affordability. If prices are more than four times average (median) earnings, that indicates housing is unaffordable for local people.

Many people can’t afford to buy and increasingly I’m hearing from people who can’t afford to rent either. We have a difficult balance to strike between meeting the need for housing and looking after the countryside, which is precious. New housing must be in the right places and accompanied by proper infrastructure investment.