TV presenter Chris Packham is urging people to join a march against a huge new housing development this weekend - describing it as “another threat to nature”.

Land in Blean next to the University of Kent’s Canterbury Campus has been earmarked for 2,000 homes in the city council’s new draft Local Plan, sparking a fierce backlash.

The cash-strapped university’s new vice-chancellor has this week thrown her support behind the controversial plans, arguing the site is “one of the best options locally to provide the housing stock needed”.

But today Packham has called on people to attend the rally organised by the local Save the Blean group on Saturday against the proposals.

In a video posted on social media site X, he says: “We need new houses, there’s no doubt about that. But we’ve got to put them in the right place.

“From what I understand, this is not the right place.

“That’s why, on Saturday, residents of Canterbury and the surrounding area will be marching peacefully and democratically to the university with a letter to deliver to the managers there to say, ‘Please, think again.’

“This is a time where we have to restore nature now, not further denude it.”

The Springwatch presenter also highlights concerns about the potential impact on the local environment, branding the development “another threat to nature”. It is not clear whether he will join the march himself.

Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield shared his post on X and said: “Thank you @ChrisGPackham. This will mean an awful lot to my constituents in Canterbury and others across east Kent. If universities had proper support, then perhaps the pressure to sell land would be less enticing!”

The Kent Wildlife Trust says the project “threatens” three local villages - Tyler Hill, Blean and Rough Common - as well as “quality agricultural land, multiple heritage sites and an important nature corridor between East Blean Woods National Nature Reserve and RSPB Blean Woods”.

But Professor Georgina Randsley de Moura, who only became vice-chancellor on Monday, believes the under-utilised land is one of the most suitable sites in the area for such a development.

In a letter shared with KentOnline ahead of a heated public meeting which took place on Tuesday, she said: “We are confident this is one of the best options locally to provide the housing stock needed. Put simply, we would not have put our land forward if we were not certain that any future development could be done in a sustainable, respectful and responsible way.

“More widely, our activity as a university has a wide-ranging social and economic impact in the area.

“We want to maintain this as best we can at a time when sector finances are severely stretched – making better use of our estate is a vital part of this, supporting reinvestment in our core educational activity for generations to come.

“We want to make this work to provide a welcome boost to the regional economy and meet housing needs while showing that new housing can - and must be - delivered with the highest sustainability standards in mind.”

Prof Randsley de Moura shared her thoughts hours before hundreds of people attended a fiery meeting on the Local Plan at Canterbury’s Westgate Hall.

Canterbury City Council planning officers faced a storm of questions largely centred on where the 9,346 homes in the document have been earmarked.

Tempers were raised when the 2,000 homes planned for more than 100 hectares of University of Kent land were questioned, with many asking how the site has now been deemed viable just two years after being rejected in the first draft of the Local Plan.

One resident was dismayed at the lack of reasoning behind the change, taking issue with a suggestion by council officers that the site is now suitable because an issue with access has been addressed.

He stressed: “I'm very concerned the messaging this evening has been similar to the messaging of the previous meeting, which suggested the primary reason for the non-allocation of the land was access.

“That was one of many reasons, that included impacts on heritage, hydrology impacts, flood risks, light pollution, geology, historic environment, and impact on an SSSI, to name but a few.

“None of the evidence has been provided; I was told it would be; well, we haven’t been given anything; how can we consult on something without it?

“The only evidence that we have for the new allocation of this land is not about mitigation, it's not about compensation, it's not about biodiversity, it's about the university finances.”

The UoK is facing a deficit of £31 million and has been mired in controversy of late, confirming in March plans to axe six courses despite student protests and a 15,000-strong petition to rethink the move.

Saturday’s march has been organised by Save the Blean, Kent Wildlife Trust and CPRE Kent.

A previous protest was held last month, with campaigners from Save the Blean taking aim at university bosses.

"We urge the University of Kent management team to think again and do something different and better with this land - something that is in line with their values as an educational institution,” said one of the organisers, Julia Kirby-Smith.

“We sympathise with the university's need to pay off debts, but not at the cost of everyone else around them.

“Building houses and offices would be a short-term fix with permanent consequences for everyone except the university - they would be destroying farmland, woodland, biodiversity, heritage sites, and three local communities of Rough Common, Tyler Hill and Blean."

In CCC documents, the university’s planning agents Avison Young mention the “significant economic pressures” the institution is facing.

“There is an unignorable economic need for the sites to be delivered, to ensure the future success of the university and to ensure that its significant contribution to Canterbury’s economy is sustained,” it wrote.

A university spokesman previously said the plans are driven by its "objective of delivering long-term economic, social and environmental benefit to future students and the wider community”.

“Through the breadth of what we do the university makes a significant economic impact across the county, with the total footprint of staff, student and wider activity in the region of approximately £800 million per annum,” they added.

“As well as supporting the new homes Canterbury needs for current and future generations, the proposed plans will raise necessary capital to bolster our role as an education institution and maintain inward investment in the region in the face of significant sector financial challenge.

“This in turn puts money in the pockets of local businesses, partners and communities.”

Saturday’s rally will start at Dane John Gardens in Canterbury at 2pm, with those taking part walking through the city to the Westgate, up Whitstable Hill, and across to the university's registry on Darwin Road.

A letter will be delivered to UoK management, urging them not to continue with the plans for Blean.