Another town centre property site is to be purchased by a council as part of its bid to provide its residents with 1,000 new affordable homes.

The exact location and the purchase price is being kept secret, but Maidstone borough council’s lead member for housing and health, Cllr Simon Webb, inadvertantly let slip that it was in Granville Road, off Boxley Road, close to Brtannia House.

He had to be quickly hushed by council officers as details are supposed to be secret until the deal is done.

It will be the second site the council is developing in that street for affordable housing, and also the second site it is purchasing this month.

Back in December last year, the council appointed three consultancy firms to help it design and build its own affordable housing, rather than waitng for the market to provide it.

It was a pledge made by council leader David Burton to provide the 1,000 homes last May.

To date the council’s largest purchase has been of the former KCC Springfield Library site, which is expected to yield several hundred homes, although no plans have yet been released.

Cllr Burton said previously: "The private sales and private rental market is simply beyond the reach of many, so the council needs to increase its own stock.”

"We all know the financial pressure that we are all under at the moment so being able to provide affordable housing for local people is vital."