One-way system plan declared 'recipe for disaster'

Permission for a one-way system in Higham looks set to be approved despite fears it will turn the village into a "racetrack for heavy industrial lorries".

Residents say plans to "systematically redevelop" the Nuralite industrial estate on Canal Road are a "recipe for disaster", resulting in a "constant stream" of HGVs along narrow country lanes.

Planning approval for the overhaul of the centuries-old asbestos landfill in Kent was initially granted back in 2021.

Site manager Simon Hughes acknowledged the inconvenience to locals but said the move was a "necessary evil" to contain any contamination risk.

Last year, developers amended their previous application by asking for a whole stretch of road, covering both Lower Rochester Road and Gore Green Road - both of which carry the national speed limit - to become one-way.

Their proposal stated this should include all vehicles concerned with the "capping, demolition and construction" of the development - work which will take place over a period of years.

"I'm concerned the roads around our village will be turned into a 60mph racetrack for heavy industrial lorries," one resident told Gravesham Borough Council's planning department, which has received 129 letters of objection.

"The size and speed of the lorries already using the road make my house shake, so goodness knows what damage a constant stream would do."

Another resident said: "What we're going to have is big tipper lorries rolling through here all day.

"It's a recipe for disaster, I think there will be fatality unless there's some way of controlling the behaviour of people driving."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, council papers state there will be 88 daily HGV journeys, the same number as in the original approved application.

The vehicles would also not be used to remove asbestos from the site.

"No one wants lots of lorries going past their door, but there is a greater good here," said Hughes.

"There are 40 acres of highly contaminated land and those lorries are bringing soil to get it to the point where it won't offer any danger in the future.

"It's a necessary evil and only temporary, as once the soil is down there the lorries will stop and it will just be normal traffic to the industrial estate."

Planning officers are recommending councillors approve the amendments at a meeting in Gravesham on 4 February.

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