Rising export sales and a takeover by an international player should have been good news for staff at Ferdinand Bilstein UK, the car parts company formerly known as ADL.

After being acquired by Germany-based Bilstein Group in 2011, the company began selling its flagship Blue Print vehicle components into 135 countries.

Bigger sales meant the firm needed more space for stock in its warehouses dotted across Wheelbarrow Park industrial estate in Marden, where it was working at almost maximum capacity.

When Maidstone developer Gallagher Group revealed its plans to build commercial premises near junction 8 of the M20, management rubbed their hands together and announced plans to create jobs.

Fast-forward a few years and the company is taking its warehouse operations out of Kent and up to the Midlands, which will cost 100 staff their livelihoods in its distribution centre.

“It’s sad for Maidstone because we’re taking away 100 jobs and not creating the 250 we were going to create,” said operations director Paul Dodgson.

“What makes it worse is we told Maidstone council the situation. They have been useless. Absolutely useless. It is not like the local authority has been doing everything they can and falling over themselves to help us out. There has been nothing.”Waterside Park has twice been refused planning permission by Maidstone council since 2013 on the grounds it is on greenfield land and could damage tourism at nearby Leeds Castle.

A planning inquiry into the decisions ended this week, with a decision on the appeal not expected for months.

Villagers, the council and environmental group the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) have each objected to the 42-acre development, saying the case against it is stronger since Ferdinand Bilstein UK decided to pull out shortly before the inquiry began.

The company said it had found no other suitable locations in Kent and, with its current lease due to run out in January 2017, said it had been forced to look beyond the county for new premises – although its 135 office staff will remain in Marden.

Chief executive Mark Northeast said: “We hear a lot about new houses being built, but where is everyone going to work? There seems to be a real lack of drive and desire to build offices, warehouses and factories. Not everyone can commute up to London.

“Maidstone is a significant town and they should have a proper plan for commercial development. I got the impression there is no plan. We felt we were pleading with them to help us.

“Waterside Park was a good option for us. We saw it as an opportunity to have a new state-of-the-art office and warehouse facility in a good location. Once that didn’t move forward we started to look further afield.”

Workers at the company have been told they will be guaranteed work until 2017 and offered training and access to employment agencies ahead of the company’s move to the Midlands.

Were bosses honest with the council about the prospect of having to make people redundant in Marden if Waterside Park did not go ahead?“It was implied, of course,” said Mr Dodgson. “Junction 8 was the only site in the borough, so if we couldn’t get that we were at least going to move jobs out of Maidstone.

“It was their responsibility to find us something here. They are short-sighted. For businesses like ours they are essentially closed.

“If you are a growing business there is nowhere to go and no plans for anywhere. Businesses either don’t grow or they disappear. I don’t know what else the council was expecting.”

Roadsweeper manufacturer Scarab Sweepers has also committed to move its 220 staff from its premises in Marden to junction 8 and awaits the result of the planning inquiry.

“We are sticking with it because it presents the only real opportunity for our business to meet our needs,” said managing director David Cassingham.

“It gives us the ability to retain our staff, at a location near to the motorway network with the ability to expand. I have spent three years working on this. There aren’t any other sites in Maidstone which will suit the development we require.

“We work in a niche market and have to do a lot of training to get the skills we require. I don’t want to lose any of my staff through relocation. To look outside this area would be exceptionally difficult for us.”

Maidstone council spokesman Roger Adley said: “The planning committee rejected the application because, in its view, the overall scale and the mass and design of the proposed buildings, together with the changes to the topography and landform of the site, would harm the character of the countryside in general.

“It would affect nearby heritage assets to the south of the site. There was no overriding quantitative need for employment in this location to justify overruling local and national polices protecting the countryside.

“We have offered support to Ferdinand Bilstein to help its employees that could be facing redundancy.”