GROUPS in Bearsted and Hollingbourne, the two villages closest to the site, mobilised quickly to fight the plan. Conservation groups and local politicians have also spoken out against the depot.

Hugh Robertson (Con), MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, described the proposals as wholly inappropriate, saying the proposals would have a devastating environmental effect on a large area of Maidstone.

“This proposal will, quite rightly, horrify anyone living in Bearsted, Hollingbourne, Leeds, Langley and Otham and across the east Maidstone," he said. “A huge industrial park is wholly inappropriate for rural mid Kent.

“If such a park would, indeed, shift freight off the motorways and on to the railways, it should be close to a port of entry and in an area of existing industrial development.” He said that once the proposal was announced “my telephone hasn’t stopped ringing with people furious about this scheme”.

MAIDSTONE Council leader Cllr Eric Hotson (Con) said: “The proposal is inappropriate and not at all what we would want for this area.” Cllr Hotson said the depot would have a significant adverse impact on the local area because of its scale.

“It would create huge volumes of industrial traffic on our already busy roads and wouldn’t create the good quality well paid jobs that we need to improve the prosperity of our borough,” he said.

Brian Clifford, chairman of the Bearsted and Thurnham Society, said the proposals "would have a devastating environmental effect on a large area of Maidstone".

Mr Clifford described the proposals as "a black cloud over Bearsted and Thurnham". He said: "It would be difficult to conceive a proposal more threatening to the environment with mammoth-size warehouses, road and rail escalated traffic and staff clearly envisaged to arrive by train at Bearsted Station.

"This site is a Special Landscape Area, overlooked by the North Downs an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty."

In an area that already feels itself under threat, the society's membership has grown from 115 three years ago to 1,270.

THURNHAM Parish Council chairman Cllr Richard Jacques said: “We have already written to the borough expressing our total opposition. It is an horrendous prospect.

"We have already suffered a lot of infilling, with new homes being built in back gardens. This is infilling on grand scale – infilling the Garden of England.”

About 40 villagers attended a meeting to have their say on the issue, which Cllr Jacques described as a “big, big issue for the whole of Maidstone”.

BILL Stead, the chairman of Boxley Parish Council, described the depot as “colossal” and “absolutely mind-boggling”.

He said: “They want to take hundreds of thousands of square metres of countryside adjacent to an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty, to build what is in effect an industrial village. People should not kid themselves that traffic to this site will only use junction 8. You can bet there will plenty of vehicles trundling through the villages to junction 7.”

BEARSTED Parish Council found itself unable to respond because of the elections. Parish clerk Clive Palferman said: “The parish council is really stymied until after the elections on May 3. You might think it was very clever of the developers to release the plans at this point.” But villagers expressed their indignation.

Glenn Springett, who lives in Roundwell, Bearsted, has launched a petition against the scheme on the Downing Street website. “What a tragedy for Bearsted,” he said.

Mary Richards of Aldington Lane, Thurnham, is the secretary of the Thurnham Parish Plan group, which has just completed its survey of residents' views on the area. She said: "This is a bolt from the blue. We are deeply shocked.

"There is just not the infrastructure in terms of roads, schools, public transport, dentists, doctors and so on, to cope, and it will be extremely detrimental for the environment."

Leroy Bradley, a solicitor from Fremlins Road, Bearsted, said: "The proposals are vastly over-blown. One of the proposed buildings is bigger than Bearsted Green."

David Cockerham, of Manor Rise, Bearsted, blamed Maidstone Borough Council's Core Strategy, a document which identified the site as possibly suitable for development, for opening the door to the developers. He said: "What at the moment is a picturesque entry into the county town is going to be turned into an industrial wasteland."