More than 200 people attended a consultation to find out about a brick manufacturer’s plans to move its extraction works from Teynham to Hartlip.

Wienerberger’s Smeed Dean, which has a factory in Castle Road, Sittingbourne, currently uses brick earth from a site in Claxfield Farm to make its products. But this is almost fully extracted and as a result, the company wants to move its operations to Paradise Farm, off Lower Hartlip Road.

The site previously supplied raw materials to the former Newington brickworks.

Residents were invited to attend an exhibition at Hartlip village hall where a team of representatives was also available to answer queries people had about the proposal.

A spokesman for the firm said: “Questions asked varied from general ones about the proposals and timings to anticipated traffic flow.

“The planning application is currently being finalised and Wienerberger intends to modify the application on the basis of some of the comments and feedback received.

“It is anticipated the planning application will be submitted to Kent County Council by the end of February.

“Although it [the work] will be over the summer holiday period, the timings and number of lorries has not yet been finalised. The proposal is the lorries will travel through Newington and head to the brick works at Eurolink Industrial Estate.

“Wienerberger currently propose that lorries will exit the site onto Lower Hartlip Road at the north west boundary of the site; they will then turn right onto the A2.”