A council has revealed it plans to spend £86 million tackling a problem roundabout in a bid to gain backing for more than 12,000 homes over the next 24 years.

Medway Council wants to invest the money into new roads on the Hoo Peninsula to attempt to alleviate pressure on the Four Elms Roundabout.

The proposal was revealed as its cabinet discussed a report yesterday about its bid for £170 million of infrastructure funding from central government.

The council also wants to spend £67 million on a train station and railway improvements, with the remaining £17 million allocated to “additional essential development infrastructure”.

It is hoped a successful bid will give housing developers and the local population the confidence to back plans for 12,100 new homes on the Hoo Peninsula by 2043.

Cabinet member Cllr Phil Filmer, who represents the Peninsula, said: “I don’t think it’s any secret that I’ve spent most of my political life fighting to keep the Peninsula green.

“But that said, I’m a realist and a lot of people will be surprised why I’m backing this bid but this (housebulding) could happen even without the infrastructure.

“We have predatory developers and no local plan in place to fight what they’ve been putting in, so we might end up with housing we’re unable to cope with without the infrastructure. On that basis, I will support.”

Portfolio holders formally agreed at the meeting to send the business case to central government cash from the Housing Infrastructure Fund by the March 1 deadline.

The preparations for the bid were allocated more than £1 million of council money.

The outcome is expected to be announced in May or June, and members once again made the case for what is believed to be the fifth biggest application in the process.

Deputy leader Cllr Howard Doe (Con) added: “If we’re told (by central government) we still have to make sure 30,000 homes are built in Medway without the proper infrastructure, that will be a disaster of epic proportions.

“This is why we’ve attached so much importance to this bid... it costs a lot of money to do the business case and therefore we are having to risk this money in bringing this bid home.

“Having said that, I think there is absolutely irrefutable logic in our bid – I think it makes sense.”