A YEAR'S delay and up to £400,000 in consultants' fees – that is the cost to Maidstone of the Kent International Gateway (KIG) project.

The private scheme to build a road/rail freight interchange on 250-acres of countryside at Bearsted has thrown a spanner in the works of the council's efforts to develop a new planning policy framework for the borough.

When the responses to Maidstone council's policy proposals were received, the council was given legal advice it had not properly addressed the issue of whether or not there should be a freight terminal.

Now the council's cabinet has made an urgent decision, in secret session, to provide £400,000 to engage consultants to investigate the case for or against the scheme.

The fear was that if it did not, KIG could mount a legal challenge when the policies went to a Government inspector for approval.

Assistant director of development Michael Thornton told councillors: "We are looking at a delay in excess of a year."

Cllr Malcolm Robertson (Lib Dem), chairman of the committee that is guiding the council's new policy framework, admitted: "Maybe we had a bit of a blind spot."

* SEE FRIDAY'S KENT MESSENGER FOR THE FULL STORY.