K.I.G. Kent International Gateway

Publication date: 04-12-2007

LATEST NEWS: WE WON! After an exhausting public inquiry, the Secretary of State agreed with the inspector and threw the plans out. Well done to everyone involved.

Kent International Gateway Ltd, a Brighton-based company owned by AXA Real Estate and DMI Partnerships, applied in November 2007 to build an enormous eight-warehouse freight interchange and associated infrastructure on a greenfield site next to the village of Bearsted, near Maidstone.

The project would cover 112 hectares (277 acres) of green land in a Special Landscape Area (SLA), designated because it lies on the edge of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

It is impossible to exaggerate the impact the scheme would have, totally destroying high-quality countryside and seriously degrading the wonderful views west from the Downs.

The developer claims that the interchange has the potential to remove a large volume of lorry traffic from our road network, and that the site represents the best possible location for a depot of this kind. It is hard to find anyone who agrees with them. Eric Hotson, the leader of Maidstone Borough Council at the time the plan emerged, said: “KIG would create huge volumes of industrial traffic on our already busy roads and wouldn’t create the good-quality, well-paid jobs that we need to improve the prosperity of our borough”. The council’s assistant director of development, Brian Morgan, echoed the Strategic Rail Authority’s view that a road-rail interchange would need to be next to the M25, not sprawled over green land by the M20.

Local councillors and MPs have been deluged with complaints from residents, and a good website has been set up as a focus for opponents.

Dr Felicity Simpson, chairman of CPRE Maidstone, described KIG as a “horrendous proposal”. “If sustainability means anything,” she said, “it means retaining the rural countryside, not just for its own sake but also because of the contribution it can make to the quality of life of people living nearby. The proposed development is an abomination. CPRE Kent urges Maidstone Borough Council to impress upon the developers that their scheme is utterly unacceptable.”

See below to download a copy of our response to the KIG application.

Attachments:

Associated Districts

• Maidstone

Associated Campaigns

• Transport
• Protected Landscapes
• Tranquillity
• Light Pollution