News Release

Maidstone rejects amended plans for KIG

Maidstone Borough Council has considered and rejected supplementary information and amended plans for the Kent International Gateway on land west of junction 8 of the M20 at Bearsted.

The application for a road and rail interchange on the 112 hectare site will be decided by the Secretary of State following a public inquiry starting on Tuesday October 13, which is due to last eight weeks.

In May this year the borough council decided that it would have refused the application if KIG had not appealed to the Secretary of State.

The amended plans and the additional supplementary environmental statement, received in July, were considered by the planning committee last night (Thursday September 10).  The amendments to the scheme include a reduction in warehouse and office floor space from 373,746 sq m to 300,592 sq m, landscaping changes and changes to watercourses and balancing ponds.

The planning committee considered the effect of the amendments, and changes in planning policy, on its previous decision that it would have refused the application.  In May the committee agreed 18 grounds for refusal, to form the basis of the evidence that the council will present at the inquiry.

Despite the changes and the additional information the grounds for rejecting the proposal remain that the appellant has not proved the need for KIG or why it should be built in the countryside, plus the effects on traffic, pollution, damage to wildlife, loss of archaeological heritage, and damage to the council's own plans and ambitions for the future development of the county town.  The council does not believe the proposals would result in a modal shift of freight from road to rail, with the project instead acting mainly as road based warehousing.

Last night’s planning committee decided by a unanimous vote, that the proposal should still be refused subject to some amendments to the reasons for refusal.

Council Leader, Cllr Chris Garland, who moved the vote, says: "Despite the amendments and the additional information this scheme remains totally unacceptable.  We have led the fight against KIG and will continue to do so at the local inquiry.  We have identified significant and compelling planning policy grounds for refusal.  There is no evidence or justification to support KIG on this site or anywhere else in Maidstone.”

Date:

September 11, 2009

Ref:

RJA/090908