A nine-year-old has added her voice to mounting pressure on Maidstone council to refuse the Kent International Gateway application.

Mae Jones, of Malling Drive, Bearsted, has sent a letter pleading with the council to stop the depot being built.

Mae, a pupil at Roseacre Primary School, Bearsted, said: “I do not want the KIG building to happen. I usually go for walks where it is going to be built.

“It will be very loud. The countryside will be ruined and I will have to live with it all my life.”

She is one of a growing number of opponents to the scheme. The proposal for a road/rail freight interchange at Bearsted would extend over 254 acres of open countryside and generate an estimated 1,100 HGV movements every day.

Hundreds of objections have been submitted to the council since it began a four-week public consultation on the revised details submitted by AXA in support of the planning application.

Among those urging the council to “Stop KIG” are Hugh Roberston (Con), the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent.

Mr Robertson, whose constituency includes the KIG site, declared his “total” opposition to the scheme.

He said: “Despite the fact that this is a re-consultation, it is vital that everyone opposed to the application should write again – and so should everyone who didn’t write before.

“The Kent International Gateway proposal is completely inappropriate for this area and makes no sense in transport terms.

“Maidstone council will take account of the weight of objections so it is vital everybody affected writes formally to protest in the strongest terms.”