Additional reporting by Gabriel Morris, Local Democracy Reporter

A blueprint for tens of thousands of new homes in Kent’s fastest-growing town has been approved despite fears it “doesn’t go far enough to fight the housing crisis”.

Dartford has seen its population swell by 20% since 2011 from around 97,400 to 116,800 in 2021.

Expansion has been driven in part by one of the biggest regeneration and housing projects in the UK at Ebbsfleet - the country’s first garden city in 100 years where there are plans for 15,000 homes.

Earlier this week Dartford approved its ambitious plan for housebuilding - covering the period from 2024 to 2037 — with a total of 12,640 homes planned in that period.

Long-time council leader Jeremy Kite (Con) insisted they would be “building the right number of houses for our infrastructure”.

But others claim the plans “aren’t doing enough to fight the housing crisis” amid growing concerns over “matching” housing growth with the schools and health facilities needed to support it.

Local councils must have local plans which allocate sites for development over long periods of time.

If authorities do not have local plans they enter a “state of presumption in favour of sustainable development” - meaning they must approve developments they would otherwise rather refuse.

Cllr Kite had introduced the plan as “the mother and father of all of our planning policies” at a full council meeting held on Monday (April 22).

It was backed by opposition Labour group leader Cllr Jonathon Hawkes and his fellow councillors despite some concerns.

“The plan talks about Dartford’s status as the second fastest growing borough in England, and that’s a testament to our community’s vibrancy and potential,” cllr Hawkes told the meeting.

The local plan document itself explains that since 2011, “the number of residents in Dartford proportionately increased by the second fastest rate in the country” with a 20% growth in population from 2011-2021.

But he also identifies issues with the plan - including in his ward of Ebbsfleet.

Cllr Hawkes added: “The plan envisages that the majority of the housing requirement will be delivered in Ebbsfleet, and there are already real issues at Ebbsfleet in matching housing growth with the infrastructure needed to support it.

“Parents can’t get their children into local primary schools because they’re oversubscribed, forcing them to travel by car outside of the garden city creating exactly the type of situation that Ebbsfleet and this plan is designed to avoid.

“We are concerned that the plan before us doesn’t go far enough to fight the housing crisis in our borough.”

In 2014, the government announced plans to create a new locally-led garden city at Ebbsfleet, capable of providing up to 15,000 new homes based for the most part on brownfield land, or former quarries.

The original masterplan for the new settlement in the Ebbsfleet Valley planned for 10,964 homes by April 2026.

However, as of February 2024, 4,000 have been built and under Dartford council’s local plan, there will be only 8,200 there by 2037.

Cllr Hawkes, who represents the area, says this shows “we’re not building fast enough”.

However, the boss of Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC), a separate planning authority tasked with delivering the first garden city in 100 years, told the meeting such a “complex” project takes time.

Ian Piper, chief executive at EDC, explained a portion of those housing figures fall outside of Dartford’s local plan and won’t be included in their figures.

He said: “We continue to deliver significant housing numbers across the regeneration scheme, having recently celebrated the 4,000th home and delivered a record breaking year for housing delivery in the 22-23 financial year.

“If we maintain the completion rate of around 600 homes per year, by 2037 there should be nearly12,000 homes completed.

“It is the case that the delivery of a complex brownfield regeneration project does take significant time, but that is not always the result of a slow planning process.”

Freddie Poser, director of pro-housing and planning reform campaign PricedOut, argues Dartford is exactly the sort of place more houses need to be built.

“The only way we’re going to solve the housing crisis is to make sure we build more homes of all types across the country – but especially in places where they’re really needed like the southeast and major cities,” he said.

“Dartford is just a quick train ride into central London and that’s one of the places where we’re seeing the most pressure on new homes.”

The council’s local plan sets a target of 35% of homes on new developments to be affordable, but the EDC has its own target of 30%.

At the meeting, Cllr Laura Edie (Green) said the 35% borough-wide target was “a start” although she was concerned over affordability.

“Over the last ten years developers have effectively got away with not providing housing that people can afford round here, we’ve been locked out of living in our own borough,” she said.

The local plan was adopted by the council by general assent.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Kite told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “In the debate tonight you’ve heard a lot of people talking about ‘we need more homes’, but I don’t actually agree, what we need is more community.

“This isn’t about housing numbers though the government may want it to be that way and others may want it to be that way, for me it isn’t about building more homes it’s about building communities, and actually being brave enough to stop development when infrastructure isn’t there.”

On the speed of housebuilding at Ebbsfleet, he added: “The truth is it needs to go at the pace the local community can stand and that infrastructure follows it.”