UK Rail Distribution Park Proposals Unveiled

Plans for a massive rail distribution park in Kent, UK have been announced.

Kent International Gateway said on Monday that it wants to build the 382,000 sq m park beside Junction 8 of the M20 with road to rail transfer facilities and associated business development at the site near Bearsted.

It said the scheme will take thousands of lorries off the roads and create up to 3,000 jobs. It is sending news letters to villagers in Bearsted and organising an exhibition at the Tudor Park Hotel, Ashford Road, Bearsted on Friday and Saturday.

Hugh Robertson, Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, condemned the proposals. He said: "This proposal will horrify anyone living in Bearsted, Hollingbourne, Leeds, Langley and Otham and across the wider area of east Maidstone.

"A huge industrial park is wholly inappropriate for rural mid Kent and would change forever the essential character of the area.

"If such a park would shift freight off the motorways and onto the railways, it should be situated close to a port of entry and in an area of existing industrial development."