Claims a controversial lorry park should be built at a motorway junction near a major Kent tourist attraction has sparked a spat.

Service station giant Moto Hospitality wants to place a 200-bay facility on fields near Wrotham but has already been turned down twice.

However, a local county councillor says the proposed lorry park would be better sited at the M20 services (J8), near Leeds Castle, Maidstone.

Moto’s proposals have been in the pipeline for around three years and are due to go before a planning appeal heard by a government inspector later this week.

Member for the area on Kent County Council, Cllr Harry Rayner, said that the proposal would be in the wrong location in relation to where the demand is going to be in future.

A government announcement on the Lower Thames Crossing proposal, between Gravesend and Essex, is expected later this year. If it is given the go-ahead, Cllr Rayner said more freight will end up using the M20 via Blue Bell Hill.

Cllr Rayner added: “The logical place to put it is at the junction eight service station at Maidstone on the M20, where there are existing facilities.”

But fellow Conservative KCC member for south east Maidstone Gary Cooke said: “I’m sure Harry Rayner would like to see those spaces anywhere but his own (KCC) division.

“Plus we have got this thing at junction eight called Leeds Castle which is a huge and important tourist attraction across the county and beyond but I’m wondering what Wrotham has got.

“Wrotham is in a unique position because it serves the M20, M26 and the M25.”

Cllr Robin Betts, Conservative Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council member, said: “We're trying to preserve our green belt as much as possible, so we're doing all we can to protect it. And would it bring any benefits to the local area, this lorry park, if it went ahead?”

Green Party leader of Maidstone Borough Council Cllr Stuart Jeffery said putting 200 spaces at Maidstone J8 was “futile”.

He added: “It’s clearly a company wanting to make profits out of selling tea to lorry drivers.”

In a statement, Moto Hospitality suggested the park would help to alleviate a national shortage of overnight spaces for HGVs and their drivers.

It added: “Moto Hospitality are keen to point out that the application was submitted after consultation with both Kent County Council and National Highways and that no objections to the proposals were received, nor were issues relating to noise, congestion and pollution deemed grounds for refusal.

“Moto remains committed to transparency within the submitted planning application and would like to clarify that the relevant traffic model reports, validation inputs, outputs, and results are readily available on the council's planning portal within the associated transport assessment.”

Leeds Castle declined to comment.