A call for even more houses to be built in Kent and the south east over the next two decades has been greeted with dismay by council chiefs and environmental groups.

Government advisers have told ministers as many as 50,000 new homes should be built each year in the south east if more people are to be able to get on the property ladder.

That represents a huge rise in the target for the number of new homes outlined in the South East Plan, which is due to be determined by the Government this year. It has recommended that 28,900 homes should be built each year.

But now the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit, an independent body set up by the Government, says housing stock should be increased by between 18 and 55 per cent to between 37,800 and 49,700 homes a year.

That would represent 37,800 homes a year in the south east at the bottom end of these targets, but 49,700 homes a year for the region at the higher end. Specific targets for Kent are not suggested.

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The NHPAU said increasing supply was the only way to make homes more affordable in a letter to housing minister Caroline Flint.

Dr Hilary Newport, of the Kent branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, was dismissive. "The South East Plan has been gone through in minute detail," she said.

"Planners are pretty much agreed that we are already packing in about as much as we can and if we go beyond these targets, we will be in serious trouble.

While she was sympathetic to the plight of those unable to get on the housing ladder, the "pile them high and sell them cheap" solution had not worked before, she added.

Kent County Council was also critical. Cllr Roger Gough (Con), cabinet member for regeneration, said: "We have a set of numbers that have already been through a lengthy and rigorous process in public as part of the South East Plan and we should stick to them.

"It would be wrong to add to the pressure on Kent and other parts of the south east at this stage."

The advice will be considered by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which will then issue guidance to regional planning authorities as they review housing strategies.