KIG 3 - Return of the Developers

The area around Junction 8 of the M20 is beautiful, just south of the North Downs, it has rolling farm land, woods and streams. It is only blighted by the M20 itself and the High Speed 1 rail link.

A few year's ago the Kent International Gateway was proposed - a huge interchange for rail and road freight that many feared would become a glorified warehousing operation. The Tories had identified the area for housing in their draft Core Strategy prompting developers to be interested in the land. Fortunately it was defeated.

Then last year the local Tories thought it would be a good idea to identify the spot for 'economic development' - an industrial park. It was defeated.

Then yesterday Maidstone learned that a planning application has gone in for an industrial park. Who is to blame - clearly the Tories who continually identify the countryside as needing to be concreted over.