Just hours after Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council voted against taking forward a Local Plan based on Labour’s new housing targets, the council were overruled by the government.

The housing minister sent a letter to council leader, ordering the local council to put the plan forward for public consultation anyway. Council leader Matt Boughton said: “We don’t think that’s right”.

One site vulnerable to house building is the picturesque Medway Valley shown above.

Matt Boughton said: “It flies in the face of the devolution agenda, aimed at empowering communities, that the Government should use its powers to overrule democratically elected Councillors and insist we proceed with the Local Plan, despite there being no guarantee of water supply for around 13,000 homes.”

Read the full background here:
https://southborough-news.com/2026/09/04/kents-rebellion-over-mass-housebuilding/