FOUR business connected to the motor trade could be forced to close if their premises are demolished to make room for housing.

Plaistow Broadway Filling Station, of Woolwich, south-east London, is asking Swale planners for permission to develop land occupied by the Faversham Garage, the Faversham MOT Centre and car and motorcycle repair businesses in the town's East Street.

If approved, 13 semi-detached and terrace houses would be built on the site opposite Faversham Recreation Ground.

Keith Cooper, owner of the Faversham Garage, said he and his neighbours would have nowhere to go if the scheme was approved.

"I have built this business up over the past five years and it is well established. I do not know what I will do if I have to leave," he said.

MOT centre owner Gary Reardon said Faversham would lose a valuable facility if his business had to quit the site.

More and more vehicles needed certificates at a time the Department of Transport was cutting the number of available testing stations with the introduction of computerisation. If he was forced out of business, and other stations in the Faversham area were closed by the DoT, motorists would face serious problems.