Objectors to the Kent International Gateway project think they may have found a silver bullet to delay the proposal to concrete over 285 acres of countryside at Bearsted.

A group of parish councils believe that last-minute changes to the complex plans for a road-rail freight depot could be in breach of European law.

The Joint Parishes Group, representing 14 parishes, has made the claim in the build-up to a planning inquiry into the KIG plans, due to begin in October.

On July 10, KIG submitted new documents to Maidstone council, altering the number and size of warehouses proposed for the site and a new report into its environmental impact.

In a letter to the Planning Inspectorate, the Joint Parishes Group claim the late additions risk turning the inquiry into a "paper chase".

Richard Jacques, chairman of the group, said: "The late submission appears to break the simple rule that the environmental statement should be submitted at the very start of the process."

And he claimed the report was "still incomplete" because it "lacks detail relating to archaeology even at this late stage".

The letter cites a case in 2000 when Lord Justice Hoffman ruled that an environmental statement should be "a single and accessible compilation, produced by the applicant at the very start of the application process".

The group wants more time to analyse the new details and says the inquiry, due to start on October 13, should be delayed.

The inspector has also been asked to consider why the consultation period for the latest evidence will only last four weeks, when the consultation for the initial plans lasted 12 weeks.

The parishes group says EU law requires that supplementary information "should be subject to the same full public consultation process as the statement itself".

Cllr Peter Waite, of Thurnham Parish Council, said: "It now appears that in submitting such extensive changes so late in the process AXA are in breach on UK and EU rules and we have asked the inspector to investigate."