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Maidstone Borough Council are
seeking comments on the KIG
planning application, the
following points may assist you
in writing your own letter.
(Please copy it to your Ward
Councillor(s) and the Leader of
the Council).
Please remember that KIG has
applied to develop the area not
only for a road/rail freight
interchange but also for
commercial development.
The principal issues the Borough
Council will consider are the
following:-
1. Non-compliance with national
and local government policies
2. Loss of light
3. Overshadowing
4. Overlooking another property
and loss of privacy
5. Visual appearance
6. Parking facilities
7. Traffic volume and the
effects on highway safety
8. Noise/smells and disturbance
9. Loss of trees or other
important landscape features
10. Design/appearance and
materials proposed
11. Effect on listed buildings
and character of a conservation
area
12. Layout and density of
proposed buildings
There is no point in commenting
on the following matters as MBC
cannot take them into account –
structural stability/building
regulations, fire precautions
etc, loss of value of property,
loss of view – a full list is
available from MBC.
StopKIG has not suggested a form
of letter because it is
important that each letter is
seen as an individual’s comment.
Letters in the same form carry
less weight.
StopKIG advises you to visit
Maidstone Borough Council and
personally look at the plans,
but you may wish to use the
following information from our
research group in response to
the numbered points.
1. Policies – a complex area
· KIG does not meet the aims of
the government’s support for
moving freight from roads to
rail. Actually KIG will increase
lorry traffic on the M20 west of
Maidstone by 24% (KIG’s own
figures).
· The existing railway tracks
through Maidstone are
sub-standard for the carriage of
large freight. There is no
government proposal or funding
to improve the track.
· KIG has not proved that this
is the best location for a
road/rail freight interchange
and has not raised an argument
why commercial development
should be permitted.
· Maidstone Borough Council’s
current planning policy
designates the site as a Special
Landscape Area (SLA) to protect
the North Downs Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty –
which means the site should not
be developed.
· The proposed Local Development
Framework is currently under
review and is not relevant to
this application as it is not
adopted policy.
· KIG will impact on the
strategic gap between Medway and
Maidstone, contravening local
planning policy.
· KIG states only 21% of jobs
will be local (Maidstone), only
49% from within Kent, meaning
51% of its workers will have to
come from outside the county
which makes it unsustainable and
in the wrong place.
2/3/4. Loss of
light/Overshadowing/Overlooking
· The main impact is on
dwellings in the immediate
vicinity. However, the sheer
size of the warehouses, cranes
and gantries (25 metres) will be
seen from a wide area. The
warehouse nearest to Bearsted
Green will alone be six times
the surface area of the Green.
5. Visual Appearance
· The development would be a
monstrosity, and totally out of
keeping in a Special Landscape
Area at the foot of the North
Downs Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty.
· The landscaping offered by KIG
cannot possibly obscure or
mitigate against the appearance
of an industrial warehousing
depot, including containers
stacked five high, in operation
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
· The floodlights will be
particularly polluting – one of
the main grounds that resulted
in a refusal of a previous
planning application for a
football ground on part of this
site.
· The height of the security
fencing (2.4 metres) and
‘acoustic covering’ ie. a roof,
will be a completely unnatural
and an eyesore.
6. Parking facilities
· KIG has not designated enough
parking given the 3,500
employees and the lack of public
transport, particularly at
night.
· KIG has not given any
indication of how much lorry
parking will be provided and
there is concern there will not
be enough, given European
restrictions on driving hours,
or any blockages on the Motorway
or at the Channel crossings.
7. Traffic/Highway Safety
· The traffic assessment report
is woefully inadequate and is
based on out of date data, and
covers too small an area of
Maidstone.
· There are numerous errors eg.
o the accident data and traffic
survey is three and a half years
out of date
o during construction they have
ignored the fact workers will
drive to and from the site
o workers are shown using buses
and trains between 10pm and 6am
which do not exist
o they have assumed KCC will
improve the A20 Willington
Street junction in 2008 at the
start of the construction
programme. This cannot happen as
KCC has sold the land needed for
the junction improvement.
· It takes no account of any
other major developments that
will be built in Maidstone.
· KIG has underestimated the
amount of traffic it will
generate in and around the town
of Maidstone.
· It is inevitable unsuitable
roads like Ware Street, Spot
Lane, will be used by KIG
traffic ‘rat running’ as they
try to avoid congestion on the
A20 Ashford Road.
8. Noise/Smells/Disturbance
· 24 hours a day operation of
this massive industrial site
will give rise to noise from
trains, lorries, refrigeration
units, air conditioning units,
gantry and crane loading and
unloading, particularly at night
when the railway has spare
capacity for freight use.
· Currently train disturbances
are fleeting, usually in the day
and quite different in nature as
they merely pass through.
· Diesel trains and lorries and
the industrial processes will
cause smells as well as
pollution in the air.
9. Loss of Trees and other
Important Landscape Features
· KIG plans to level the ground
for the construction of more
railway lines, warehousing and
parking. It is hugely
significant and physically
changes the structure of the
landscape, demanding the removal
of every living creature and the
replanting and relocating of
whatever is in the way. This
will mean moving millions of
tonnes of soil.
10. Design/Appearance/Materials
· These are massive industrial
warehouses which are impossible
to adequately set in the
landscape or screen because of
their size.
· Look at the plans.
· Make your own comments.
11. Effect on Listed
Buildings/Character of the Area
· The Bearsted Green
Conservation Area is unchanged
in 100 years. KIG will be
visible from the Green. Do
comment if this affects you.
12. Layout/Density of Proposals
· In a sensitive rural area,
next to an Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty, this proposal is
too dense, out of keeping and
inappropriate.
· There is insufficient access
in an appropriate form to serve
an industrial and commercial
distribution centre as large as
this.
There are many other points you
may want to make including
aspects such as safety, nature
of employment being created,
ecology, right to a certain
quality of life, impact on Leeds
Castle, technical points on many
aspects of the design and impact
of the proposal. StopKIG will be
giving further guidance over the
coming weeks.
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