BIG (also called ‘KRAFT’) is a proposed major rail freight and aggregates interchange, proposed for a quarry site in West Kent. The 260 acre site is in the London Green Belt and threatens the tranquillity and rural landscape around Borough Green, Platt and Wrotham.

Protect Kent believes this BIG freight depot will NOT take a significant number of lorries of the road but it WILL destroy the beauty and character of this wonderful area of West Kent, in the Metropolitan Green Belt and close to the North Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

To fight the proposal, we have formed the ‘Stop BIG’ group!

Kent has always been a county on the front line, but there is a new threat that comes from policies, tucked away in the South East Plan, that have an admirable goal: get freight off the roads onto rail. The plan calls for 3-4 rail-freight interchanges around London and this has led to several huge planning battles. The Kent International Gateway (KIG) has reached public inquiry, but right behind it is another one, dubbed BIG.

Rather than restore a quarry to farmland, the landowners are proposing a rail and aggregates terminal that will cover the 265 acres of Green Belt land between Wrotham, Platt and Borough Green in vast warehouses and rail yards.

A BIG disaster looms…

Kent is the Garden of England and like any garden it can fall victim to fads and fashions, like decking and pergolas in nineties TV makeover shows. Today the craze is for rail-freight depots – big ones – in our open countryside.

While the much-publicised Kent International Gateway (KIG) at Bearsted is entering the third month of its public inquiry, lurking in its shadow is another one: BIG.

If built, the BIG freight depot will sprawl across more than 250 acres (that’s over 150 football pitches) of Green Belt land between the villages of Borough Green, Wrotham and Platt. Part of the site is within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which was recently voted runner-up global destination in the 2009 Responsible Travel Awards, only beaten by Cape Town.

The BIG backers think they can get away with building in the Green Belt because of the government policy for encouraging more freight onto rail. A laudable goal as we need to reduce transport carbon emissions and all the problems that lorry traffic bring to Kent. However, the evidence coming out at the KIG inquiry shows that neither KIG, nor BIG, would make any appreciable reduction in the number of lorries on the M20 – if anything either depot will generate much more traffic. Quite simply, Kent is the wrong place for a strategic rail freight depot.


View BIG in a larger map

Depending on the outcome at KIG, the BIG planning application is due in next year and we will do everything we can to oppose it. That is why we started the StopBIG campaign in partnership with the local communities.

As a charity, CPRE Protect Kent has been campaigning for 80 years to protect the quality, diversity and character of Kent’s countryside for everyone’s benefit. Whether you live in town, country or are just passing through, we want our county to be somewhere that we can be proud of – not a nesting place for vast warehouses.

At two packed public meetings, residents of Borough Green, Wrotham, Platt and further afield, have unanimously voiced their opposition to this scheme. Hundreds of people have already joined the cause, either by becoming members, or joining the debate online at our Facebook page (by clicking the logo below). We have won many campaigns before and with your help we can win this one too.