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STOPKIG
- Frequently Asked Questions |
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What is KIG? |
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Who are KIG? |
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Has the planning application yet been made? |
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We hear a new local development plan is
being prepared. How will that affect
things? |
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more |
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With so many Councillors and others clearly
against it, why worry? |
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more |
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I don’t live in the area – why should I be
concerned? |
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What can I do, will it make a difference? |
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Is STOPKIG.org a registered Charity? |
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What is KIG?
Kent International Gateway is a proposal to obliterate a
massive area of mid-Kent countryside immediately north
of Bearsted from Thurnham to Hollingbourne in order to
build a road/rail freight interchange and distribution
park, with warehouses and associated offices covering
over 4 million square feet - an area equal to nearly 100
football pitches!
The freight interchange will also require huge gantry
cranes to move the containers, which will be stacked 3
high while awaiting transfer.
There will be at least an additional 12 freight trains a
day, each about 1/2 mile long, on the existing commuter
line, NOT the high speed line. The site will operate
24hrs a day |
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Who are KIG?
Kent International Gateway Ltd is a front for AXA Real
Estate Investment Managers (AXA REIM), part of the
French AXA Group which includes AXA Insurance. Another
small development company, DMI Properties, is also
involved with them. |
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Has the planning application yet been
made?
No. It has been expected that AXA will submit a planning
application to Maidstone Borough Council by September
2007. If they do so it will be considered on the basis
of the current local development plan and a decision
will be taken within 13 to 15 weeks. The public will
have four weeks within which to lodge objections. We
will alert all our registered supporters by e-mail when
this happens. |
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We hear a new local development plan is
being prepared. How will that affect things?
AXA have asked Maidstone Borough Council to allocate
land for KIG in the new local development plan now being
prepared to replace the current one. This request by AXA
was one of many hundreds of responses received by the
Council to the public consultation on its proposed Core
Strategy for the new plan.
Under the current plan, much of the land in question is
locally designated as North Downs Special Landscape Area
and protected from development. Maidstone Borough
Council had itself proposed to remove that protection by
designating some of it in the Core Strategy of the new
plan as an area of search for business development
sites, but it has been pretty clear that nothing
remotely on the scale of KIG was what it had in mind,
and the proposal is thought to command little if any
support among Maidstone Borough Councillors. Kent County
Council, local MPs and many others have expressed strong
opposition.
As the planning authority, Maidstone Borough Council has
to be careful not to be seen to be pre-judging the issue
before it has received and assessed all the facts. It
has hired consultants to advise whether its Core
Strategy should be amended as requested by AXA. Once
they have reported, there will be another round of
public consultations about any proposed revisions to the
Core Strategy before it is submitted to central
government for approval in autumn 2008. If it does not
include AXA’s requested land allocation, AXA may at that
stage lobby the Secretary of State to declare the Core
Strategy ‘unsound’.
It is not yet clear whether AXA plan to delay submitting
their planning application until the outcome of all this
is known, or whether they will go ahead with an
application in September 2007 on the basis of the
current local plan, and pursue this Core Strategy
amendment tactic in parallel to give them a second
chance if the application is refused and any appeal
fails. |
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With so many Councillors and others
clearly against it, why worry?
Even if Maidstone Borough Council decides not to
allocate the land, and/or if it refuses any eventual
planning application, AXA can appeal and it could end up
being decided at a public enquiry or being called in for
decision by the Secretary of State, who may feel this is
a required development! |
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I don't live in the area - why should I
be concerned?
This is not just a local issue. KIG will do huge visual,
sound and light pollution damage to the Kent Downs, one
of Kent’s greatest assets beloved of tourists, ramblers
and riders not just throughout Kent but nationwide, and
rightly nationally designated as an Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty, The sheer scale of the proposed
development affects a large area. The increased rail
movements will affect everyone living in the vicinity of
the railway line along its length. Although KIG claim
they are trying to take freight off the roads and on to
rail, they admitted themselves at the consultation that
lorry movements in the area would INCREASE. This will
obviously impact on the surrounding roads and daily
traffic movements, and become even worse on the
occasions when the M20 is closed, and traffic needs to
find alternative routes. There would also be the
additional car traffic for the 3000 staff KIG claims it
will employ, who will probably travel in from outside
the area. |
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What can I do and will it make a
difference?
You CAN make a difference!
Make sure that not just you personally have registered
as a supporter on our website, but urge every concerned
member of your household over the age of 16 and every
concerned relative, friend or neighbour you can think of
to do the same.
Click here to register
Look on the ‘How you can help’ page on the website (click
here) for all the things we can do as
individuals. Don’t leave it for ‘someone else’ to do –
for example, if every registered supporter sends a
letter of objection when required, at the moment that
would be over 1300 objections – hard to ignore!
Please make a donation – we have many people generously
giving their time and/or services either free of charge
or at a reduced rate, but we still need to raise money
for the inevitable costs, and to hire professional help
and advice when required, to mount an effective
campaign. All donations of any size would be most
welcome.
Click here for details
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Is STOPKIG.org a registered charity?
We have investigated charitable status but our judgement
at present is that the administrative burdens do not
justify the benefits and would impede rather than
strengthen our fight to save this very special area.
We therefore remain an unregistered voluntary
organisation with a treasurer and accountant. Full
records are being kept. |
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