Commuters could have a French lifestyle, 55 minutes from London

Kent County Council and Eurotunnel are working on plans to encourage at least 10,000 families to move to the Calais area, according to the Financial Times.

They would commute to work in England through the Channel Tunnel.

The plans follow a government decision announced in February to build hundreds of thousands of new homes in the South East - including 116,000 in Kent by 2021.

Kent county councillor Alex King told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "People of Kent have a right to expect that we look at every option to see how we mitigate the effect on the Garden of England."

He said good links already existed between northern France and Kent, with a 20-minute journey through the Tunnel that had built a "natural affinity" between the two regions.

Greenfield pressure

"We have much better links with the north part of Calais than we do, for example, with Oxfordshire," he said.

"We've already got a thriving colony of businesses that moved to Kent from France, around Ashford.

"There are certainly people who commute both ways on a weekly basis at the moment.

NEW HOUSING IN KENT 116,000 new homes could be built by 2021 Council says this will cost residents �7bn It could also use 2,000 acres of greenfield sites The France plans could absorb 10,000 new homes A high-speed rail link in 2007 could cut Calais-London journey times to 55 minutes

"It's not beyond the leap of imagination to see ways and means, provided there is sufficient capacity in the tunnel, for a much greater number of people to move across and consequent reduction in fare costs."

Eurotunnel told the FT the plans, which were at an early stage, would need at least 10,000 households to move.

When the new high-speed link opens fully in 2007, train journeys from Calais to London would take about 55 minutes.

The demand would reportedly be largely absorbed by existing housing in the French region, with some new developments.

Arrangements for cross-border taxation, social services and education - similar to other cross-border arrangements in mainland Europe - would have to be drawn up.

The money for new schools, hospitals and other services to go with the housing would cost Kent residents more than �7bn, and 2,000 acres of greenfield land would be needed, he calculated.

But the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans to encourage anyone to live in northern France.

A spokesman said: "We do think there is space for development in Kent and that is why we have included the north of Kent and Ashford as growth areas in our (housing) plans.

"We will therefore be concentrating on those areas rather than encouraging people to move to France."