TENSIONS ran high during a meeting over controversial plans to build seven homes on green belt land in Speldhurst.

Residents living near the Langton Road site raised concerns during a two-hour meeting of Speldhurst Parish Council on Monday.

Many are worried about the development "ruining the gateway to the village".

Resident Graham Smith-Tilley said: "A petition we sent out showed 80 per cent were against it."

English Rural Housing Association has put forward the plan to build the homes. A statement from its deputy chief executive James Taylor tried to persuade the council to back it.

No decision was reached but parish councillor Tony Hemming believed approving the plan would set a precedent for further developments.

He said: "Once they've got the land, they've got it forever.

"I personally think there will be 50 extra houses in Speldhurst in the not too distant future."

But Julia Soyke said: "I am thinking if we support this development, we may well be protecting the village."

This was greeted by laughs and cries of "rubbish" from the public.