China Gateway
Publication date: 01-08-2008
China Gateway is massive industrial development proposal near Manston, on the Isle of the Thanet.
The Kent Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) strongly objects to the application. Senior Planner, Brian Lloyd, said “although the application itself is for land identified for employment development in the Local Plan, it is being promoted as phase 1 of a much larger development that has not been previously considered, and which would take a further 40ha of quality farmland.”
He continued, “the prospect of phases 2 and 3 makes the proposal entirely different to that proposed in the Local Plan. It raises some very serious planning issues of principle that demand proper justification and examination as part of the review of the Local Plan. In particular, with land for over 3 million sq.ft of employment development already planned for in Thanet, which will meet requirements for the next 13 years, the need for this additional huge site has not been justified. Also, the site is right on top of a protected groundwater source and everyone in Thanet needs to be sure that their drinking water is not put at risk.”
CPRE has also raised concerns about the type of employment that might be provided and the potential traffic impact on the local roads and villages. Mr Lloyd said “this is a highly speculative proposal, with a real danger that the focus will be on storage and distribution uses rather than the high-tech manufacturing promised by the applicant. If this were the case, the local road network would have to cope with an extra 3,000 HGV trips every day.”
Planning permission for Phase 1 was granted at a shambolic council meeting on 9th October 2008. We are considering our next moves but will strongly oppose any proposals for Phases 2 and 3.