 More than 100,000 homes could be built in Kent by 2021 |
Plans for hundreds of thousands of new homes in the south east of England will cost tax payers billions of pounds, it has been claimed. Kent County Council said money for new schools, hospitals and other services would cost the county's residents more than �7bn.
The scheme for affordable housing, outlined by the government in February, would see 116,000 new homes built in Kent by 2021.
The council's leader described coping with the burden as "one of the biggest challenges to ever face Kent".
�500m investment announced
The Kent town of Ashford and part of the Thames Gateway, also in Kent, were among the areas earmarked as centres for new homes by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
Others were Milton Keynes and the London-Cambridge-Stansted corridor.
About �500m has been earmarked to attract extra private investment but the new report by Kent County Council suggests more public money will be needed to pay for roads and to supply water to homes.
It says Kent would need:
120 new schools at a cost of �700m a huge new reservoir to cope with additional water demand of 18 million litres a day improvements to the road network to cope with an estimated one million more vehicle movements each day. The report also says the development would need to be made "hand-in-hand" with job creation to avoid "dormitory" estates of residents, forced to commute long distances because there are no jobs nearby.
Leader of the Conservative-led council Sir Sandy Bruce Lockhart said: "It is not an exaggeration to say that this is one of the biggest challenges to ever face Kent.
"If the government gets it wrong, the consequences will be seriously felt by future generations."
The report will be put before the council's cabinet on Monday.
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