The fight to stop a huge rail freight depot being built on 270 acres of countryside at Bearsted will receive a boost next week when Kent County Council reaffirms its opposition to the scheme.

The council’s cabinet will meet on Monday to discuss a report setting out the authority’s continuing opposition to the controversial Kent International Gateway project.

But the report reveals that KCC’s involvement and opposition is coming at a price. The authority has to date spent close to £117,000 in fees to expert planning consultants who have helped analyse the potential impact of the depot.

The final bill is likely to be significantly more as KCC has agreed that it will be formally legally represented at the public inquiry.

In the report, planning chiefs say that having considered new information about the scheme, its objections remain.

Among them are that the applicant has failed to show how the depot would take significant number of lorries off the roads; that the proposed site off Junction 8 of the M20 is not the right place for a depot and that it would fail to create high quality jobs in line with policies aimed at improving Maidstone’s economy.

It also cites the “major impact on the landscape” and the fact it would be visible from nearby countryside designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

A second consultation on the depot was triggered after Maidstone council, KCC and the Highways Agency asked for more detailed information from the applicant’s plan.

The application for the depot will be determined at a public inquiry with local government minister Hazel Blears having the final say.