‘Let us build at junction 8’
MAIDSTONE Council’s draft Core Strategy raises the prospect of converting three pieces of greenfield land near M20 junction 8 into a mixture of light industrial and distribution units. The controversial idea, which is yet to be finalised by full coun-
cil, has sparked criticism from campaigners, who two years ago fought off the 117-hectare KIG proposal on land that is partly in- cluded in one of the council’s options. The largest piece of land earmarked for industrial use is 17 hectares south of junction 8; south of Ashford Road, east of Old Mill Road, north of the River Len and west of the Mercure Great Danes hotel. This land did not form part of the KIG proposal. Landowner Rochester Bridge Trust has granted a 25-year option
to property company Gallagher Group, who is pushing for it to be earmarked for 46,500 sq m of warehouses and 9,300 sq m of of- fices.
Gallagher chief executive Nick Yandle (right) argues the case for his company’s scheme to STEPHEN EIGHTEEN.
Visual protection ACCORDING to Mr Yandle, there will be a de- tailed landscaping scheme to prevent the appear- ance of the manufacturing buildings. This includes:
Reducing the land level within the site to en- able a bank to the west to be 12m higher than the ground.
Retaining trees in the south, east and west to retain visual protection.
Ensuring the only buildings that can be seen are offices, rather than warehouses.
KIG comparisons ONE of the biggest fears among those campaign- ing to prevent warehousing at junction 8 is that a modest schemewould be the passport for a much larger proposal in the KIG mould. But because the Gallagher scheme is on land
that was not part of the original scheme, Mr Yan- dle believes this concern would not be realised. He said: “One of the worries with the KIG site is that ‘son of KIG’ will, over time, creep to the scale of the original proposal, but our site cannot creep. We have the hotel to the east, themillpond to the south, Old Mill Road to the west and the A20 to the north. We are well contained and would not be able to expand any further.” Mr Yandle revealed that five years ago he re-
jected overtures from DMI Properties, acting on behalf of AXA, to be part of the ill-fated KIG scheme. “It always felt as if the KIG scheme was too big for this part of the county,” he said. “The principle of KIGwas correct, but the scale was too large.”
Contamination a ‘red herring’ SOME borough councillors, including Lib Dem member Clive English, believe the proposal is a non-starter, due to potential water contamination in the River Len. “This is a red herring,” claimed Mr Yandle. “There is a risk of contamination with any devel- opment where there is a lack of water manage- ment. “By using drains, membranes and petrol inter-
A £100,000 project has been undertaken to remove great crested newts from land ear- marked for a distribution centre near the Cobtree roundabout, offM20 J6. In February, Gallagher Properties was granted planning permission for a 1.9- hectare distribution centre in Brooklyn Yard, Chatham Road, Sandling. But before any construction could take
place, a site licence was required, which involved transferring the great crested newts – one of only four amphibians pro- tected by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan – into a specially created pond in the grounds of Allington Castle.
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ceptors, which are commonly used to ensure oil remains clear of water, there will be no issue with contamination.”
Decline of offices THE credit crunch and subsequent double-dip re- cession, which began almost five years ago, have meant Gallagher’s is pursuing a different type of development for junction 8. Mr Yandle said: “Four or five years ago we thought we would be promoting a business park full of offices, but themarket has changed. This is where AXA had the right idea. It recognised that Maidstone lacked land for distribution and man- ufacturing and waswell enough connected to the motorway system to have this type of develop- ment.”
‘Demand is there’ MR Yandle claims that, unlike at junction 7, where Gallagher’s owns 4.8 hectares of empty land because demand for offices is so low, the proposed warehousing units at J8 would be occu- pied swiftly. He said: “One of the major retailers wants to
open up a logistics distribution depot and has most of its staff in the Maidstone area so is keen to move to this area. It would not look at anything that is not close to a motorway because of cost of transportation. “Parkwood has traditionally been Maidstone’s industrial site, but how would people get to it?”
Compromise argument THOSE in favour of warehousing at J8, including council leader Chris Garland, believe earmarking a designated area would keep at bay developers prepared to push for something larger. Unsurprisingly,Mr Yandle agrees. “There is an argument that if you do not make any provision then people will consider it as a free-for-all in terms of applying for things,” he said. “By allowing some kind of development it still
keeps Maidstone Council in control of the plan- ning process and enables them to prevent devel- opment considered inappropriate. Most development involves some sort of compromise.”
£100K scheme to transfer newts This required a licence from Natural Eng-
land and translocation work by Canter- bury-based Dr Lee Brady, of Calumma Ecological Services. Reptile fencing was installed to stop the
newts escaping, and buckets and bottle traps were checked every morning for 60 days. The site could only be signed off if there were no great crested newts discov- eries for five consecutive days. An adult population of over 500 was caught, to- gether with more than 1,000 juveniles. No distribution companies have yet signed up to move to the new site. Gal- lagher chief executive Nick Yandle said:
Eclipse Park, near junction 7 Owner’s dream
of premier park Continued from page one “Pat Gallagher [company owner] has always had a dream that Eclipse would be a premier business park.” The vacant land has plan-
ning consent for four large of- fice buildings and a 150-bedroom business hotel, which was given permission in June 2010. But there is a lack of takers. Mr Yandle added: “The budget part of the hotel mar- ket seems busy – the Trav- elodge has been opened in recent years in the middle of town and a Premier Inn was given permission for London Road – but there is not much interest in the type of hotel we want at Eclipse.” The construction company
has an option on a 17-hectare greenfield site south of the A20 Ashford Road, near M20 J8, and is pressing Maidstone Council to include it for ware- housing as part of its emerg- ing Core Strategy. When asked whether it wouldmakemore sense to in- stead use vacant land at the Eclipse Park for warehousing, Mr Yandle said: “Mixing lo- gistics with offices does not work, and there are also lots of houses around junction 7, which we don’t have around junction 8, so lorries can get from the site to the motorway in seconds, and can do it 24 hours a day.”
Dr Lee Brady
monitors the newts at their new pond in
Allington
“We are going to start preparing the site so people can picture it as a development site. “Wewill not build speculatively, because distribution companies tend to have their own requirements, so when we build on thelandtheywillhaveaninputintothe design.”
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