A full planning application was submitted in October 2007, when the scale of the plan was finally laid bare. It would cover 250 acres, with more than 360,000 sq ft of warehouses.
As the official plans were released, campaigner Steve Smith released his own impression of what the KIG site would look like
How we broke the KIG plans a year ago
Hundreds of people attended a KCC meeting about the KIG plans at the Ramada Hotel, in Hollingbourne, in November
In May, Cllr Tony Harwood (Lib Dem) warned that a council plan, known as the Core Strategy, contained policies that could lead to KIG being given the green light. Work on the plan was delayed by a year.
It was the biggest planning application ever dealt with by the council and officers were swamped by plans, maps and environmental assessments. External consultants and legal experts were drafted in.
Jenny Jones displays a KM campaign sticker in her window. 26,000 of the stickers were given away with the KM on Friday, May 25, 2007
The campaign quickly became more sophisticated, when StopKIG.org launched a website and distributed posters
The council received 2,500 letters and emails by the time a consultation ended in November. A decision was due on February 13 - but was delayed at the last minute by the Highways Agency. A new date has yet to be set.
The Kent Messenger broke with tradition to launch its campaign. On April 20, the editor's comment - normally a written piece - was this photo, with the headline "Right idea, wrong place..."
Two thousand people attended an exhibition of the KIG proposals at the Tudor Park Hotel, in Bearsted, on April 20 and 21
Within days of the announcement, protests began in Bearsted
KIG is a year old. It will be hard for the thousands of campaigners against the road-rail depot to believe that the words "Kent International Gateway" meant nothing 366 days ago.
But on April 20, 2007, the Kent Messenger's front page turned KIG into a household name for people who live near the scenic North Downs that would, under the plans, be turned into a 250 acre industrial park.
We look back on some of the key events in that year.
For more in depth coverage see our special report.
And don't miss the current edition of the Kent Messenger for more on the anniversary.