A council is to purchase a development with outline permission for 23 homes - even though as planned four of them would not meet today’s minimum space standards.

Planning permission was granted for 65 units to be built on the site off Tonbridge Road in Maidstone back in 2015, in three phases.

Cabinet members of Maidstone council met last Wednesday to consider the purchase of one of those phases - for 19 houses and four one-bedroom maisonettes - which is yet to be constructed.

The move would be part of the target set by the previous Conservative administration to provide the borough with 1,000 new affordable homes.

The cabinet member for housing and homelessness, Cllr Simon Wales, told his colleagues: “It is a town centre brownfield site which delivers easy access to transport links and facilities.”

Officers were proposing the acquistion in order to deliver the 19 houses as affordable rent, and the four maisonettes as market rent.

He explained: “The four maisonettes are currently slightly under the size to qualify for grant-funding for affordable homes.

“However, post-acquisition, officers will look to increase their size - if possible - to deliver all units as affordable rent.”

He advised that backbench councillors were very much of the opinion that the council should not be building properties that were below the Nationally Described Space Standard (NDSS), so “within the scope, bearing in mind this could make the project unviable, we need to make sure we are building properties of the correct size”.

He added: “There’s also an ambition to deliver as much green space as possible within the development, to make sure it’s as pleasant a place to live.

“There is an excess of parking spaces (in the current plans) that could make way for more green space.”

The council will apply for grant funding from Homes England for the affordable units.

Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) said: “It would be unfortunate to say the least if the council were to build the units to the original specification because we are currently refusing many applications at planning committee that do not meet the national space standards.”

He recommended an amendment that the council “ensure” the homes were built to the correct standard, rather than “endeavor to.”

There was some pushback on that from Philip Morris, the council’s head of new business and housing development, who said that it was outside his control, since it would require a new planning application to be passed, but he said he would “make every endeavour” to do so.

Cllr Tony Harwood (Lib Dem) said: “Our housing policy should not just be about the numbers, but also about the quality.

“More green space to soften the landscape is also important.”

“We need to deliver communities and not just houses.”

The council’s chief executive, Alison Broom warned that it was a question of whether there was the scope to provide alternative uses for some of the space around the buildings.

Cllr Harwood said complying with space standards and giving extra green space should be the bottom line.

But Mr Morris warned that the developer had given the council only a short window to acquire the site before it was put on the market and he reiterated: “I can’t guarantee at the moment that we can provide more green space or deliver the maisonettes to the space standards.”

Cllr Harwood said that perhaps the council would need to build one maisonette less to increase the size of the others, but there were always ways around the problem.

The cabinet agreed the purchase, but the price and exact location of the homes is not being revealed.

Council leader Stuart Jeffery (Green) said: “We did pass a resolution at the end to require the officers to increase the maisonettes’ plans so that they met minimum space requirements.”