“It is disappointing that so many affected by these plans will sit on their hands and allow the few to fight the proposals. It is time that the people of Kent realised that these proposals impact on everyone; we will suffer pollution, financial loss through the drop in value of our homes (already happening) and the loss of our heritage. The Councils at every level must fight these plans - are they? There are too many underused brown field sites for anyone to contemplate using a green field site and particularly one which was to be returned to the community as a park! Politicians do your job, your electorate want this stopped.”

“PS : I think we should all refer to the access road that the developers are calling "our new Bypass" as "The Spine Road"”

“I totally agree with the sentiments of the other writers, but to add a point from the perspective of someone who spent 30 years in road haulage, largely in intermodal freight: this "hub" , and Bearsted, are in the wrong place. A freight transfer facility needs to be either at the incoming port, or at the centre of the market it serves. Even the Dartford hub is a little too far out of London. But crucially, London is littered with freight hubs: Barking, Dagenham, Kings Cross, E Croydon, Willesden. etc etc, that are dying from lack of use and investment. But then the developers strategy is to use these urban sites for housing, creating a reason to gobble up Greenbelt. These proposals are just an excuse to build sheds on Greenbelt land, to get round the protection. And finally, the thriving Daventry Freight terminal only handles 3% of its traffic via its rusty rail lines. Bring Back Beeching.”

“Yet again we see another large developer attempt to use Government loopholes to build on green belt land. It is indicative of the state of this country that this developer is confident that it¿s grossly oversized plans will be granted permission. It claims the ¿freight hub¿ or should that be ¿fright hub¿, will bring great benefits to the area through employment for hundreds of local people and reduced traffic. Is that statement a joke? What basis is there to suggest that local people will be employed when historically such large developments attract employees from far afield including Europe. Moreover, how does a how does a freight hub the size of 500 football pitches with associated buildings and parking for thousands of cars and lorries actually reduce local traffic? The promise of a bypass is simply to service the freight hub and cannot possibly be taken seriously as a benefit for the local communities. It clearly does not offset the shear scale of the disruption that will be caused and the blight on our beautiful countryside that will scare it forever. Furthermore, the unbelievable noise made by the freight trains cannot be overlooked. These beasts weigh many thousands of tonnes and literally shake buildings to their foundations as they go by, and I should know as I live near the rail line at Wrotham Heath. I moved to this delightful part of Kent 2yrs ago to raise a young family what a BIG mistake they could turn out to be. I can¿t sell now because every solicitors search will show up this freight monstrosity and who in their right mind would want to live near that! I¿ll fight to vehemently oppose this outrageous development.”

“Borough Green residents already have to put up with pollution most other Kent villages do not have to suffer in the shape of the Celcon factory and high HGV road use. Would you move to a village that is faced with the possibility of an international freight hub that is going to pollute your family's life? We should not be tricked into being sold this scheme on the back of a bypass - more traffic will be coming our way in the shape of even more HGVs. The area will be carved up in a way that will not be for the benefit of us locals, but for the benefit of fat cats that will not be living in an industrial zone! I am strongly against this scheme and it feels like we as residents are not being consulted. Why have we only discovered this through the efforts of the Chronicle?”

“Residents of Bearsted are currently fighting the proposed Kent International Gateway, of which the proposed development at Borough Green would appear to be a carbon copy. I can only hope that residents of Borough Green will similarly oppose this latest proposal. At this rate Kent, currently known as The Garden of England, stands a good chance of being renamed The Concrete Patio of England. The so called road/rail interchange would appear to be a blind for, if one is to believe the latest information on the Kent International Gateway, the real intention is to build a large warehouse complex where goods would be unloaded from Continental HGV's and reloaded onto smaller vehicles each of which will go to a dedicated destination. How can unloading from one vehicle and reloading onto a number of others reduce the amount of traffic on our roads? Rubbish!

Residents of Borough Green - please do not be fooled by the claims of the developers.”

“The roads in this formerly quiet area of Kent, where we have lived for 30 years, are already swamped with traffic, particularly heavy lorries. The proposal would make this problem significantly worse, and would seriously degrade the quality of life for residents. Noise pollution would increase, air quality would become even poorer, and the roads in the area would become a nightmare, - particularly Seven Mile Lane, which already carries large volumes of completely inappropriate traffic for a country B road.
We strongly oppose this proposal.”

“Wake up people of Kent!!! This is yet another attempt by a developer to force through planning permission on rural land by using a Government initiative for Road/Rail interchanges as the tool. If this application fails, it will no doubt be followed by a string of smaller ones, until the developers get their way and cover our countryside with warehouses.. There needs to be a proper strategic plan for the correct placing of these interchanges to make them work effectively, but this Government are trying to avoid this and the subsequent compensation payouts that this would incur. This sneaky back-door method of obtaining planning permission for industrial uses on rural land must not be allowed to succeed. Please visit www.stopkig.org for more information, and please become a supporter to help us stop these massive, developments from happening.”