News release
Maidstone's KIG team
Maidstone Borough Council has geared up to deal with the
KIG planning application.
Principal Planning Officer Rob Jarman is heading an in house
team of 15 planning, environmental health, landscape, transport and
legal experts. He will also be receiving expert advice from
other agencies including KCC and Kent Highways, the Environment
Agency, The Highways Agency, English Heritage, Natural England and
external consultants employed by the council. The council has
instructed Leading Counsel to advise on the legal issues.
Kent International Gateway Ltd has applied for outline planning
permission for a rail/road freight interchange including
warehousing, offices and light industrial units on a 112 hectares
site close to junction 8 of the M20 at Bearsted. The planning
application includes more than 20 documents including a large two
volume environmental impact assessment.
Maidstone will need every member of the expert in-house and
external teams to deal with the application. Director of
Operations, Alison Broom, explains: "This is a huge application in
every way, because of the size of the proposal, the volume of
information submitted, extent of public interest and the resources
that we are putting into it. We've assembled a powerful team
of internal and external experts to deal with it including
Nathaniel Litchfield and Partners one of the UK’s leading town
planning consultancies and Jacobs one of the world’s largest
technical services consultancy companies. At any one time we
could have up to 50 people working on the application and some of
them will be working near full time on the application until we
make our recommendation on the proposal."
The borough council has already allocated more than £100,000 for
external consultants to consider and advise on the
application. The total costs including the in-house team
could amount to £350,000.
Maidstone Borough Council, which has 16 weeks until 13 February
2008 to consider the application, has embarked on a massive
consultation with local people and other consultees. The
council has written to 3,000 people who live near to the site, put
up about 40 public notices, advertised the application in the local
press, and sent details to libraries and parish councils. It
has consulted 60 statutory and other consultees including the South
East England Regional Assembly, South East England Development
Agency, Network South East and the Government Office for the South
East.
It is also meeting with representatives of parish councils and
interest groups. It is briefing borough and local KCC
councillors and MPs. It has worked with newspapers, radio and
TV to publicise the application.
Local people have until 27 November to comment on the
application, although the council will consider comments received
after the close of the official consultation period.
The council has put all the planning application documents on
its website. The application is also available for inspection
at the Town Hall, at the council's London Road and Tonbridge Road
offices, libraries and from parish councils in the areas affected
by the proposal.
Everyone can comment on the application in writing to Rob
Jarman, 13 Tonbridge Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 8HG or by email
to
.
Maidstone's Planning Committee will determine the planning
application unless the applicant appeals because the council hasn’t
decided the application within 16 weeks or it is ‘called in’ by the
Secretary of State for the Department of Communities and Local
Government. If the Planning Committee refuses the application
the applicant can appeal to the Secretary of State.
Date:
7 October 2007
Reference:
RJA/071110