700 people queued to get into the Maidstone Studios on Thursday night for the planning meeting where Maidstone Borough Council made its decision on the Kent International Gateway proposal. It was also the first opportunity in 2 years for people to hear from a representative of the developers behind the KIG proposal, as, since the poorly advertised public exhibition on the 20th and 21st April 2007 at the Marriott Tudor Park Hotel, the developers have not appeared at any of the public meetings held to discuss this development. Mr Neil Henderson from Gerald Eve, the consultants working for AXA/KIG, only spoke for about 10 minutes in support of this proposal, and confined his justification of this appalling application entirely on the Government’s strategy of moving goods from Road to Rail through building SRFIs (Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges), and of the reduction of pollution by doing this. He also said that KIG would save the world from its biggest threat – climate change. Considering the latest estimates of approximately 6000 HGVs a day visiting this site, most likely on a road to road basis, we find that a somewhat weak argument!

Before Mr Henderson spoke, the audience had heard almost 3 hours of expert evidence about the KIG proposal, universally in opposition. Maidstone Borough Council had employed consultants in many fields to explore every aspect of the proposal, and could find no local, regional or national strategy that supported it. Interestingly on the employment aspect, Council consultants revealed that 75% of the thousands of jobs promised would be low skilled, and there is little demand for this type of employment in Maidstone. There was also no proven interest in using a rail freight depot in Maidstone, and it was found that KIG would become a regional road to road distribution centre operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Dr Felicity Simpson, of the Maidstone CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) told the meeting that the site would be built on Gault Clay. Hundreds of tonnes of clay would have to be moved to flatten the site for railway sidings, and moving this clay could undermine the M20 and the High Speed Rail link, potentially causing either or both to substantially subside. In addition she mentioned that lorries would be turning across the busy A20 every few seconds to access the site.

Other speakers against this proposal included Alan Thomas and Richard Ashness speaking for STOPKIG, Brian Clifford speaking for the Bearsted and Thurnham Society, representatives from local residents, and the Joint Parishes Group and Parish councillors. The meeting started at 6pm and ended at 10.15, when all 13 members of the planning committee voted to refuse planning permission.

Maidstone Borough Council is now free to openly oppose this application at the Public Inquiry being held in October.

STOPKIG’s job is now to persuade the Planning Inspector and the Secretary of State for Communities, currently Hazel Blears MP, to reject this proposal.