TWO councils are at loggerheads over plans to build a giant rail freight depot on green belt land.

Dartford Council opposes the plans put forward by one of the world's largest logistics companies, ProLogis, which would use 155 acres of land in Slade Green, on the border of Dartford and Bexley.

It has refused a planning application from the company for an access road into the site from Bob Dunne Way, Dartford, and for a lifting bridge to take traffic over the River Cray.

But Kent County Council (KCC) supports the project, saying it would help reduce congestion on Kent's roads and meet the strategic aims of the Government and the EU.

The development, called Howbury Park, is currently the subject of a public inquiry being held at the Marriott Hotel, Bexleyheath Broadway.

Bexley Council and a variety of community and environmental groups oppose the project.

KCC and London Mayor Ken Livingstone support the plans.

ProLogis claims the £80m development could save 35,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year, by using trains instead of numbers of lorries, and create 2,500 jobs.

Six trains a day - eventually rising to 12 - would enter the site, each carrying 30 containers of goods which will then transfer to lorries.

Dartford Council senior planner Graham Parkinson told the inquiry the proposed access road and bridge could make the remaining stretch of green belt vulnerable to further development.

Mr Parkinson said he considered the road and the lifting bridge to be "unjustified and inappropriate development within the green belt" which would affect its openness and character.

He added street lights and heavy lorries would make the road even more visible to the surrounding area.

Dartford also considers the depot would make roads in the area even more congested, especially if, as suggested, it cannot get sufficient goods into the 2.1 million sq ft of warehousing by rail, and reverts to using lorries.

KCC transportation engineer Colin Martin told the inquiry he considered Howbury Park had good connections to the strategic road network and he was satisfied the roads could cope.

And KCC projects manager Timothy Martin said the project would be the first step in creating a network of strategic rail freight interchanges.

  • Consultations are currently under way on proposals by Kent International Gateway to build a similar depot on non-green belt land at Bearsted, near Maidstone.