Plans for thousands of new homes in Kent will not work unless cash is given to create jobs and improve facilities, council leaders warn.

Two areas of Kent - Ashford and the Thames Gateway - were among sites earmarked for new affordable housing by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on Wednesday.

A share of �164m would be provided to pay for new roads and drains for the Ashford project - but Kent County Council says it is not enough.

It wants about �4bn for the two schemes.

Four areas in the south east of England have been chosen as sites for a total of up to 800,000 homes - Ashford, the Thames Gateway, Milton Keynes and Stansted.

Where are we going to find the money? Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Kent County Council

In Kent, the Thames Gateway would have about 40,000 new houses and Ashford about 30,000.

The county council says the share of �164m, to come over three years, will not be enough to fund the new communities.

Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, leader of Kent County Council, said: "We've done the sums for the Kent Thames gateway and that's somewhere round about �3bn and in Ashford it's about �1bn.

"Where are we going to find the money? The county council certainly can't find the money."

The South East England Development Agency says it would be wrong to build new homes without providing new jobs and facilities.

The chief executive Anthony Dunnett said: "I think that Ashford is going to be a challenge for all of us.

"We are focused very strongly on providing top-class development there but what we've got to start with is new jobs.

"You can't put houses in the middle of north Kent and create commuting ghettos.

"There is a huge skill shortage and a huge job shortage and that is the place of highest unemployment in the region and it's also one of the places with highest deprivation."