Kent News - MP pledges to give community a say on depot plan

How to advertise
Contact us
Friday, September 3 2010, 6:56

Search local news and sport:

The latest news, sport, business, entertainment and local information where you live...

MP pledges to give community a say on depot plan

<< Back to home

Nick Herbert addressing meeting

A leading Tory MP has vowed to scrap a controversial law which denies people a say on whether a giant freight depot goes ahead in their community.

Shadow Environment Minister Nick Herbert was the guest speaker at a public meeting called to galvanise opposition to plans for a 270-acre road to rail interchange on Green Belt land in Borough Green.

More than 100 people attended the meeting about the proposed Kent Rail and Freight Terminal (KRAFT) at Wrotham School.

They heard Mr Herbert, who is also the Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs in East Sussex, talk about his desire to protect the Kent countryside if his party wins the general election next year.

He spoke of his opposition to the unnecessary loss of green land and highlighted the Green Belt for protection.

He said a Conservative government would look to reduce current housing targets for the south east, when he sees as “unsustainable” due to a lack of brownfield sites and the scarcity of natural resources like water.

Mr Herbert also pledged to scrap the new Independent Planning Commission (IPC), which came into effect on October 1.

The IPC will take decisions on far-reaching schemes like nuclear power stations, freight depots and waste disposal sites out of the hands of local people and Government ministers.

Instead a panel of industry experts will be used to give them the green or red light in a controversial move to speed up the process for big developments affecting the infrastructure of the country.

But Mr Herbert sees not allowing the community affected by such schemes to be a part of the planning process as undermining democracy at every level and promised to immediately press for repeal of the act if elected to power next year.

Sir John Stanley, the Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling, backed the move to scrap the IPC and vowed to throw his weight behind Mr Herbert.

The landowners wanting to build KRAFT earlier this month announced that they will not submit a planning application until a final decision is made on a rival freight depot, Kent International Gateway (KIG), near Maidstone.

A public inquiry into the 259-acre depot on open countryside between Hollingbourne and Bearsted started two weeks ago and is due to last nine weeks.

Communities Minister John Denham will then make the final decision on KIG, expected to be in April next year. If this is turned down then the team behind KRAFT will submit their plans.

But to avoid helping the developers of the latest scheme for a strategic road to rail interchange, a much-needed A25 by-pass for Borough Green could be delayed.

The KRAFT plan includes funding for a bypass if the depot gets the go-ahead.

Kent County Council, which is opposed to both depot plans, has been working on a planning application for the bypass since 2007, which is nearly ready to be submitted.

But county council leader Paul Carter told the meeting that he would need to look “very closely” at the bypass proposal before taking it further, to ensure it would not help the KRAFT proposal in any way.

Richard Knox-Johnston, chairman of Protect Kent, the Kent branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “I am very pleased that there was a general view that the scheme proposed was not acceptable in the Green Belt and in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

“I am also pleased that all the speakers condemned the IPC, which greatly reduces the opportunity for local people to have a say in applications such as this.”

POSTED: 31/10/2009 10:00:00

See all the latest video clips from your village, town or city on our new Your Kent TV service. Simply log on to YourKentTV.co.uk.

ADD YOUR COMMENT

Comments:

Added: Saturday 31/10/2009 23:41:53 UK

The traffic problem is caused by the lack of a J5 slip road, forcing traffic from the M20 to go through the villages.
What is needed is the J5 slip road - not a Borough Green bypass. A bypass will only encourage developer "vultures" to flock in to the area.
The KRAFTy developers have said they would "contribute" to a bypass - not pay for it but as it is not needed they needn't bother.
KRAFTy would INCREASE FREIGHT TRAFFIC TO AND THROUGH KENT - not reduce it.

Jo Richards, Borough Green, Kent

Added: Saturday 31/10/2009 13:56:47 UK

Will the mp still want to give locals a say if he is given a post in government?
My guess is that it is easy to say these things in opposition but easy to forget if in power.

mike knoth, langton, kent