Tonbridge and Malling council chief challenges Government over forced housing plan

Residents across Tonbridge and Malling are facing the prospect of a housing plan their own council says risks worsening water shortages and pushing the drainage network past its limits. Councillors voted on 3 September 2026 to pause the borough’s Local Plan — the document setting out where homes and infrastructure will be built over the coming decades — because they don’t believe South East Water’s network can support the level of new housing the Government requires. Less than 24 hours later, Matthew Pennycook wrote to council leader Matt Boughton directing him to press ahead anyway.

Boughton has since written back, urging the Minister to withdraw the direction. Push the plan through, he argues, and the likely result is wasted public money, a blow to the Government’s own house-building ambitions — and a plan that fails the legal “soundness” test and gets thrown out at examination before it ever takes effect.

Water supply at the centre of the row

The nub of it is South East Water’s infrastructure. The company’s current capacity, councillors say, simply cannot support the housing numbers the Government’s targets demand. More frequent and prolonged water shortages — not just locally, but across other authorities also served by South East Water — are the likely consequence, according to Boughton.

And that’s before you get to the foul drainage. The council also flags doubts about whether a “vision-led transport approach” — a national planning policy requirement that means mapping out a sustainable travel network before development begins — can realistically be delivered in the borough in its current form.

Consultation under protest

The Government direction is legally binding, so the council has launched the Regulation 19 consultation — the formal public consultation on the draft plan before it goes to independent examination. Boughton isn’t dressing it up as anything other than what it is. He’s said publicly this is not a good use of taxpayers’ money or time. Compliance under duress, essentially.

In his letter, Boughton said he hopes the Minister will “see sense” and allow local decision-makers who “know and live in the local area” to make the right choices for the borough. The council’s position is that it doesn’t believe the Government intends to make water supply worse in the south east — but that is, it argues, exactly what proceeding with this plan risks doing.

The council’s statement and Boughton’s letter were published on 11 September 2026.

Key information

• The Regulation 19 consultation on Tonbridge and Malling’s Draft Local Plan is now open — residents can search for it on the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council website.
• Responses to the consultation will be considered as part of the plan’s examination by an independent inspector.
• The council has stated it is proceeding because it is legally required to do so under the Government’s direction.