A new garden town in Kent is being railroaded through against community wishes and will not serve local people's needs, opponents say.

The chairman of the Shepway Liberal Democrats, Ross Clark, spoke out about the plans for the 12,000 home Otterpool Park this week.

Party members have held a meeting earlier where they agreed to oppose the plans put forward by Shepway District Council.

The idea has government backing with housing minister Gavin Barwell already giving £750,000 towards developing plans for the new town which would be built over the next 30 years.

Mr Clark said: "We believe that the development is far too large, is being railroaded through against the wishes of the local community, is environmentally unsustainable, seems to contain insufficient social or actually affordable housing and will not serve the housing needs of local people.

"Shepway Liberal Democrats are firmly opposed to the proposed development at Otterpool as currently outlined.

"Despite efforts to present it as a 'garden town', the proposed development will effectively be a 'commuter town' that will suck wealth away from the area to the detriment of existing local towns such as Folkestone and Hythe."

The plans have been met with a wave of controversy with hundreds of residents protesting through the streets of Hythe, near the proposed site by Folkestone Racecourse and at the Civic Centre in Folkestone.

The racecourse, which closed in 2012, is part of the development site around Westenhanger, Lympne, Sellindge and Newingreen.

SDC is working in partnership with the owners of the racecourse land, Cozumel Estates. The company is owned by billionaire property developers and Tory party donors Simon and David Reuben.

Records from the Electoral Commission show David Reuben's son, James, has also donated £35,000 to the Conservatives since 2012.

In January, KentOnline's sister paper the Folkestone & Hythe Express reported that council bosses were hoping planning rules could be relaxed to help secure the plans for the town.

Planning consultants Arcadis have already been appointed to carry out the masterplan for the huge 1,279 acre site, which could be twice the size of Hythe and be home to 29,000 people.

Bosses planning the site say up to 40% of the site could be green space and moved to allay fears from residents the green fields would be replaced by a swathe of concrete.

In December, Rebecca Kearney, of Arcadis, which is leading the project and design teams, said the 40% was an early figure and did not include “green infrastructure” like gardens and school playing fields.

She said the 40% figure had been mentioned but added “there is not a particular target” for green space.

Former county councillor for the Lib Dems, Tim Prater, said: "It feels like the prime motivation for this development is to generate millions of pounds for Shepway District Council rather than to meet the genuine housing needs of Shepway people thereby making this a case of 'profit before people'.

"These housing needs could be better met by a series of smaller and more sensitively handled developments across the area."

A series of public consultations are planned for next month, SDC leader Cllr David Monk revealed at a meeting last night.

He said: "A Frequently Asked Questions leaflet should answer most of the questions we are asked. We should be in a position, this year, whether or not to proceed with it."

Cllr Monk added the leaflet should be distributed to "most homes" in the district.