The Inquiry opened with introductory statements from most parties, with powerful cases against KIG presented by MBC, STOPKIG, the Joint Parishes Group and CPRE ( Campaign to Protect Rural England) The Inspector then gave his summary of the issue: “ The issue in short is whether policy support for and benefits of the proposed SRFI amount to material considerations of sufficient weight to overcome the conflict with the Development Plan and any other harm to matters of acknowledged importance which would result”. He then went on to assure us that he would not be influenced by political pressure to approve the application. He explained that he had visited the area on Sunday, listing the route he had followed.
Hugh Robertson, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent then addressed the Inquiry, explaining that this was an unusual move for an MP to make, and went on to make a very impressive speech.
The afternoon session commenced with evidence from MBC concerning reasons for refusal, the first subject being the landscape and visual impact of the development.

14th Oct - Day 2 The MBC witness for Landscape and Visual matters, Rupert Lovell was the first to come under attack from KitKat - Christopher Katkowski QC, who is acting for KIG. He tried to un-nerve Mr Lovell, who was a very robust witness and stuck firmly to his view that KIG would be very visually intrusive. Mr Lovell was on the witness stand all day. Much of the content involved questioning about how much of the buildings would be seen from various vantage points. The Inspector asked for a definitive map showing which points of the North Downs Way had a view of the site.

STOPKIG is not involved in questioning witnesses at this stage, but we are making notes of matters to be brought up during our evidence and for cross examination of the KIG witnesses.

15th Oct - Day 3 commenced with the impact of KIG on historic buildings. Mike Parkinson, MBC Conservation Officer, gave evidence that in his view there would be an adverse impact on the settings of several historic buildings and sites: Barty Farm Barn and Woodcut Farmhouse, Bearsted Conservation Area, Holy Cross Conservation Area and Thurnham Castle. He was then cross examined by John Litton, the number 2 barrister for KIG, and defended his case very well.

A major concern today was that Maidstone Borough Council withdrew their noise witness – having agreed with the appellant that KIG will not produce unacceptable noise either during construction or operation. Richard Ashness from STOPKIG objected strongly to this and STOPKIG are taking this up with MBC. KIG will still give noise evidence and STOPKIG will cross examine at this stage.

ECOLOGY – most of the Council’s concerns about loss of habitat have been overcome by the appellant.

16th Oct – Day 4 Mr Edward Hughes, the MBC witness on Security took the witness stand today. An early part of the discussion centred on whether or not KIG should be considered as an inland port, as this would require it to have additional facilities such as the UK Border Agency. The discussion went on to deal with the threat of terrorism from an inbound HGV and what measures would be needed to mitigate this potential problem. Mr Hughes stood up well to cross examination from John Litton of KIG’s legal team. Mr Hughes was followed by PC Jerry Duncan, also speaking on Security for MBC, and much of the discussion was regarding crime and the known issue of theft from HGVs when parked awaiting entrance to the site. There was some cross examination of Mr Duncan’s evidence, although John Litton tried to argue that the Highways Agency did not feel that there would be a problem with Junction 8 of the M20 and queuing lorries, therefore this would not be an issue.

The day finished early at 1.30, as the next witness to be called was Mr Bates, MBC Logistics expert, and this topic required a significant amount of time for discussion and cross examination.

20th Oct – Day 5 The Inspector opened the second week of the Inquiry with a reminder that although Conditions, in the form of Section 106 Agreements were frequently being discussed with a view to resolving some of the contested issues, that this was a normal part of the Inquiry process, and that they were discussed without prejudice to the final decision. Mr Philip Bates of Jacobs then took the stand and read his opening statement on the main logistics issues. He outlined at length his reasons for believing that KIG would not operate as AXA suggests, and would not achieve a switch from road to rail. Proceedings were led by Mr Corner, QC for MBC, and then Mr Katkowski commenced cross examination for KIG, using statements from two of KIG’s logistics experts, Professor Braithwaite and Mr Garrett to counter Mr Bates’ arguments.

21st Oct – Day 6 Cross examination of Mr Bates continued for most of the afternoon, but towards the end of the day Mr Bates was clearly tiring after two full days on the witness stand, and clever questioning by Mr Katkowski did undermine him to some degree.

22nd Oct – Day 7 Mr Brian Morgan of MBC Planning took the stand, and gave a very robust explanation of the reasons for refusal of planning permission and a thorough explanation of the conflicts with planning policy. He was followed by Tim Martin of KCC who was equally robust in arguing against the proposal on policy grounds. John Litton for KIG tried unsuccessfully to get Mr Martin to say that he, as a witness for KCC, agreed with MBC on Noise and Light issues, but Mr Martin was not going to be led down this path and stated several times that he retained a personal view that there was an issue regarding cumulative harm to residential amenity in Bearsted including noise and that this should be looked at carefully. The day ended at 5.15

23rd Oct – Day 8 Mr David Tyldesley of Natural England took the stand on Friday to argue against the development from the perspective of the Kent Downs AONB and the North Downs Way National Trail. Finally KCC's archaeology consultant, Mr Simon Mason, outlined the view that the possibility of significant archaeological discoveries had been inadequately researched.

Next week the Inquiry sits only on Thursday from 10am and Friday from 9.30am.