Throughout my time as a Member of Parliament here in the Garden of England, overdevelopment has been one of the most persistent concerns raised by constituents.
I have consistently worked to protect our precious green spaces from inappropriate development, from fighting to save Fant Farm in Maidstone in my earlier years in office, to supporting the Bunyards Farm Village Green application in Allington, and more recently opposing the Bradbourne proposals for 1,300 additional homes between Hermitage Lane and Ditton.
As an MP, I have no statutory role in the local planning process. However, it is a critical part of my job to ensure the government is held to account on the top-down targets they impose on local authorities, and to scrutinise any changes they seek to make to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Since the 2024 general election, mandatory housing targets have been reintroduced and increased disproportionately. In Tonbridge and Malling, they are up by 34%. In Maidstone, the Labour government now requires 1,358 new homes a year, compared with 928, which was the average annual number built between 2022 and 2025.
Meanwhile, astonishingly, housing targets in London, an urban capital city with far greater capacity for density, have been reduced. This is simply illogical. Yes, we need more homes. But development must prioritise brownfield land and be infrastructure‑led. We cannot continue building across Kent’s beautiful countryside and expect local quality of life to remain intact.
Losing farmland undermines our ability to produce the outstanding food and drink Kent is known for. It also weakens our food security, and therefore our national security, in an increasingly uncertain world.
At present, planning applications are being treated as isolated proposals, meaning cumulative impact is not being properly assessed. Nowhere is this more evident than around Hermitage Lane. Infrastructure has not kept pace with housebuilding. This remains the number‑one concern raised with me by residents.
My constituency is plagued by potholes and congestion, and people frequently tell me they struggle to secure timely GP appointments or find suitable school places for their children. This is not fair on local taxpayers.
Water supply is another major worry. Recent outages by South East Water show clearly that this vital utility cannot withstand further pressure. In their response to the draft Tunbridge and Malling Borough Council Local Plan, South East Water themselves confirmed that “our current plan does not identify sufficient water supply headroom to accommodate the level of growth now proposed”.
This was a key reason the Bradbourne application was deferred. Our planning system is in a bizarre position where water companies are statutory consultees on Local Plans, but not on individual planning applications. This is absurd.
We urgently need a review of housing targets in the South East, and water companies must be made statutory consultees on planning applications. On March 12, I wrote to the government to request both of these changes. While a response is still awaited, if implemented, these measures would make an immediate difference to our locality and way of life.
But we must also adopt a better long‑term approach to housebuilding.
The next Conservative government is committed to building homes in the right places and removing stamp duty to improve mobility.
We will restrict social housing to British nationals, saving £3.9 billion and reducing demand, and we have a plan to cut legal and illegal immigration to ease pressure on infrastructure, including housing.
We also continue to oppose the government attempts to remove legal protections for the green belt, choosing to potentially concrete it over instead of exploring the swifter redevelopment of brownfield sites.
I want to assure my constituents that I will continue to do everything I can to protect our green spaces in Maidstone & Malling and ensure our infrastructure is fit for purpose for our future generations.
This article was published on the 8th April 2026 in Kent Online, and can be found here: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/over-development-is-the-num…
