‘We do not need a new 8,400 “garden town” however we concern Angela Rayner will approve it anyway’: Furious villagers slam Deputy PM after she took destiny of controversial improvement out of locals’ palms

Furious villagers fear Angela Rayner will approve plans for a new 8,400-home ‘garden town’ on their doorstep despite strong objections from locals.

Many who have lived in the rural villages on the outskirts of Sittingbourne, Kent, have watched the character of the area change irreparably thanks to new housing developments.

But they say this latest one will turn the small villages into a ‘garden town’ – the key plank of Labour’s new housing policy.

Housing Secretary Rayner stepped in just as Swale Borough Council was making its decision on whether to allow the divisive plans.

Planning officers had recommended that councillors vote against Quinn Estates’ proposal. Then with just three hours before the crucial vote they received a letter telling them Ms Rayner was taking over.

Locals think the idea is as ‘mad as a box of frogs’ and worry the Labour Government will ‘override’ their objections.

Retired consultancy business owner Nic Spicer, 64, said: ‘It should be Swale Borough Council – it has nothing to do with central government.

He added: ‘The whole situation is mad as a box of frogs, it really is.

‘We need houses, but what should happen is the local council should be given the funding – either private funding or buy-back.

‘They should build up the council housing stock again, but private housing isn’t going to sell.’

‘To summarise it, Swale Borough Council should have their say – they’ve been turning down everything they can but we know the Labour Government will override it and say ‘no this is the plan, you’ve got to go with it’ which is totally undemocratic.

The father-of-one is considering leaving the area if the homes are built, despite having lived in and around Sittingbourne his whole life.

He said: ‘For me, this is going to blight Sittingboure because we are going to lose all the countryside.

He added: ‘I said to the wife if they get an agreement for any of these houses I’m gone – it will be absolutely horrible.’

Rose Sladden-Brown, 61, shares Mr Spicer’s concern about the loss of precious rural areas. She said: ‘They are going to ruin the countryside.

‘There are no schools, no doctors, it’s just the same old thing really.

‘But, I just don’t want any houses built along that way because it’s just going to ruin everything.

‘I just don’t like any of the things they’re going to do, it’s upsetting really.

‘Because it is just ruining the countryside, it’s just not nice, it’s just not nice at all.

She added: ‘The councillors are not happy about it, they do try to fight these things but it seems to go over their head.

‘I don’t like Angela Rayner’s building policies, I just think if they’re going to build why don’t they build on their doorstep – see how they like it.’

‘It’s just such a shame, how can they just take away all the land?’

The full-time carer is also concerned about flooding, she said: ‘They don’t seem to have thought about drainage – look at the way the weather is now.’

Michael Larkin, 72, who sits on the local parish council and lives in the suburb of Bapchild – next to where the planned estate could be built – is concerned about the effect such a huge number of houses will have on the area.

He said: ‘As a parish council we haven’t been told anything, but we think it’s very suspicious.

‘In the last 10 years not many developments have been stopped – definitely not the discussions of them, so we think it’s a political thing.

‘1.5 million houses are supposed to be built this year under the new government – they have never got anywhere close to that.

He added: ‘People are absolutely furious about the whole thing.

‘The experiences we’ve had with other local developments have not been good.

Sittingbourne and the villages surrounding it have seen a lot of development over the years, but nothing of this scale.

Mr Larkin, who has lived in the area for over 50 years, has seen it change hugely and not for the better, he said: ‘The whole infrastructure is a mess.

‘You’re promised everything and then not delivered very much – but the houses are there.

‘People are living in them and they’re quite happy. Infrastructure is terrible around here – you used to be able to get a doctor’s appointment the next day, not anymore.

‘Infrastructure is a massive problem and no one has promised to build a hospital.

‘They promise things like rugby clubs and sporting things that will get a few people on board but on the whole I think most people can see that it’s going to make a bad situation worse.’

The fact that the decision has now been taken out of the hands of the local council is also a cause for concern, he said: ‘I think the developer was going to get both barrels from the council saying this development cannot be built – otherwise why would they have pulled it three hours before?

‘Councillors from Swale Borough Council are also in the dark, I think they got an email just three hours before the meeting.

He added: ‘If it is a political decision that’s disappointing because it is not great for the area.’

Christine Savill, 66, is another lover of the outdoors who is very worried about the impact so many homes will have on the area, she said: ‘I have lived here for 30 years and I have seen so many developments.

‘I know people need houses, but we do like the countryside as well.

The semi-retired cleaner added: ‘When my children were little our house backed onto green, which was absolutely lovely.

‘Now, I can’t go out for a walk – I love walking – but if you go out there you’ve just got all that main road and new builds.

‘I know there are homeless people, but the scale of building now in Kent is mind blowing.

‘We do need homes, I can get my head around that, but how do people afford them?

‘You need a massive great big deposit – my granddaughter can’t get on the property ladder because of that. I just think it’s too much.’

The grandmother is also concerned about local amenities, she said: ‘It’s absolutely horrendous – there are no doctors, no dentists, and we’ve got no schools here.

‘These are family homes that they’re building – I am so against it. I think it should all be left alone and left where it is.’

The threat of development has even forced some people to sell up.

Ray East, 66, said: ‘It is criminal, Angela Rayner is just going to rubber stamp it isn’t she?

‘She’s not even going to look at it, she won’t think about it more than ‘we need the houses’.

‘We are moving up to the country – we’ve lived here for 24 years, we came here when this house had just been built.

‘Schools, GPs, developers always promise these things but they never do it, they have to be forced into doing it, they always find a way to get out of it.

‘These are all ancient, ancient villages and they are just going to join them up – the local area does not need that amount of housing, not for local people.

‘This is for people moving out of south London.’

‘The traffic can be awful – the road between Sittingbourne and Faversham is an accident blackspot and when the road gets closed it is nose to tail.

‘I have a 90-year-old mother who lives on the other side of town, when it’s like that it can take 30 minutes to go three miles.

‘And when it’s the school run just forget it – even now. It’s just terrible.’

Anthony Nolan, 67, a semi-retired handyman is mainly concerned about the impact on the local environment, he said: ‘Where is the countryside?

He added: ‘At the moment there’s a lovely river that runs down there, down to Tonge pond.

‘They have not said anything about taking care of that – it’s a spring fed, freshwater, chalk bed stream.

‘My mum and her sisters used to boat up and down it. The river now is absolutely clogged up.

‘When they developed these houses they said they would put some sculptures in place, but what about the wildlife?

The lifelong Sittingbourne resident said: ‘I am just disappointed with the way they’ve built all these houses but they haven’t thought about the infrastructure around here.’

Graham Bishop, 68, a retired architect said: ‘It’s quite a huge development.

‘They keep showing you all these nice pictures, which don’t mean anything, they’re just renderings.

‘It is a huge development and they are relying on the connection to the motorway and completing the northern link road.

‘It’s not going to do anything for the community – it shouldn’t be. It’s also being built on agricultural land.’

He added: ‘It only got taken away from the council a few days ago, and if you read the local papers they are all up in arms about it.’

A spokesman for Quinn said previously that Swale Council was putting politics ahead of its residents, and that such schemes should not be decided by local councils.

They said: ‘We are incredibly disappointed that our infrastructure-led proposals for Highsted Park have been recommended for refusal despite being supported by the current local plan and receiving wide support across Swale and Kent.

‘This is a prime example of local politics standing in the way of national infrastructure.’