Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council opened a public consultation on its Local Plan, which sets out where roughly 19,746 homes could be built across the borough over the next two decades.

Residents across Tonbridge & Malling had a limited window to shape where thousands of new homes, jobs and roads get built — or push back on plans they think go too far. The council’s proposed Local Plan covers the period from 2024 to 2042 and is built around a government-set target of 1,097 new homes every year. That’s the equivalent of a small village appearing somewhere in the borough each year for nearly two decades.

The plan doesn’t just identify land. It tries to coordinate housing with employment sites, transport and other infrastructure — so that new streets don’t arrive without the schools and GP surgeries to serve them. Council documents show that allocated sites would provide about 12,664 homes against a calculated residual land requirement of around 12,592, leaving a buffer of just 72 dwellings. The remaining homes in the overall target are accounted for by existing planning permissions, completed builds and an allowance for small “windfall” sites — meaning plots that come forward without being formally allocated in the plan.

The case for the plan is straightforward, according to the council. A structured set of allocations gives communities more certainty about where development will and won’t go, rather than leaving decisions to speculative applications decided site by site. The council also says the plan identifies a need for about 647 affordable homes per year — a figure that matters most to renters, first-time buyers and lower-income households who can’t compete at open-market prices.

But the scale of growth worries many. Nearly 20,000 homes means pressure on roads, school places, GP lists, drains and water supplies across communities throughout the borough. Residents have raised concerns about the loss of countryside and open space at proposed development sites, and whether infrastructure can realistically keep pace with housebuilding. Those are exactly the kinds of objections this consultation was designed to capture.

This was a Regulation 18 consultation — the early-stage process in which the public, businesses and other bodies get to comment before the plan is formally submitted for independent examination. It is not the final word. The plan will go through further stages, including a later public examination, before it carries legal weight.

Key information

  • Residents should check the council’s official Local Plan page at tmbc.gov.uk for the current consultation deadline and submission details
  • Comments can cover the amount and location of development, affordable housing, transport, environmental effects and infrastructure capacity
  • The consultation was a Regulation 18 stage, meaning further opportunities to comment will follow at later plan stages
  • Search for “Tonbridge & Malling Local Plan” on the council’s website at tmbc.gov.uk to access the full documents and the submission form