IKEA has confirmed it will be moving to Kent – but the news may come as a disappointment to shoppers hoping for the county's first store.

The Swedish chain was rumoured to be the "well-known retailer" taking up a site at the former Littlebrook Power Station redevelopment in Dartford.

But KentOnline can now reveal the plans for the site near the Dartford Crossing and M25 will be a distribution centre and will not be open to the public.

The home furnishings giants will be moving into the 450,000sq ft warehouse on thepowerhouse redevelopment in the coming months.

An opening date has not been announced and it has not been confirmed how many new jobs will be created.

Developers Bericote Properties and Tritax, which own the IKEA site and the £205m Amazon 'mega shed' next door, announced on Wednesday it had signed a pre-let agreement for 15 years with "a well-known high quality retailer".

An IKEA spokesman said: “We’re delighted to confirm that IKEA UK has pre-let a unit at thepowerhouse development project in Dartford.

“This exciting investment forms part of our ongoing transformation to become even more affordable, accessible and sustainable, accelerating our omnichannel approach to meet our customers wherever and whenever they need us, irrespective of where they live or whether they visit us in-store or online.

“As we continue to step up our sustainability commitments, guided by our established strategy to become People & Planet Positive by 2030, we were also attracted by the site’s significant biodiversity enhancement and habitat creation plans, which have informed the UK Green Building Council’s Nature Based Solutions best practice guidance for the industry.”

Kent's closest IKEA is at Lakeside in Essex, which is on the other side of the QEII Bridge, six miles away.

The distribution centre in Dartford is set to serve IKEA's stores across the UK and south east – including Lakeside, Greenwich and Croydon.

Thepowerhouse development on the old power station site by the River Thames on the western side of the Dartford Crossing is a major redevelopment with the IKEA and Amazon units on the second phase of the project.

Plans were submitted in June for further units as part of the third phase with developers saying the site has the potential to become one of "London's largest logistics parks" with key links to ports via the Thames and transport routes on the M25.

Jonathan Maher, development director at Bericote, said: “This letting underpins Bericote’s ongoing commitment to creating highly specified, modern and adaptable industrial and logistics solutions in strategic locations across the UK.

"The pre-letting during construction of this speculative development underlines the strength of the market and the very attractive attributes of the site and we look forward to repeating the same success for the next phase of the development.”

Developers of the park say it has allocated 30% of the overall Littlebrook site for permanent open space and habitat creation for wildlife.

It has also funded off-site bee habitats through Dartford-based animal sanctuary Spirits Rest.

Subject to planning permission, a 300,000sq ft unit in phase three is due to open in 2022.

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