Parish picks fight with fruit grower
Packing firm’s expansion plans hit local resistance
Neighbours are being urged to put the squeeze on a fruit-packing firm’s expansion plans.
Cllr Jerry Whitmarsh, chairman of Linton Parish Council, asked villagers to oppose the application – even though the original deadline for responses to Maidstone Borough Council has passed.
Speaking at the annual parish meeting, Cllr Whitmarsh said: “We are talking here about a building the size of three football pitches.
“It will house far more staff than the entire population of Linton, working for a company that has so far doubled in size every five years and now has a turnover approaching £300 million per year. For them that is very impressive – for us it’s a disaster.”
The joint application comes from Alan Firmin Ltd and Berry Gardens Ltd.
Berry Gardens wants to move its operation from Wares Farm industrial park in Redwall Lane across the road to a new enlarged greenfield site.
The company said it would enable it to expand its employment from 434 staff to 938.
They would be housed in a complex covering 3,233sqm of office space and 13,610sqm of warehousing, with 219 car parking places and 20 spaces for HGVs.
It is the potential rise in traffic that is worrying both Linton and Hunton parish councils.
Cllr Whitmarsh said: “The infrastructure of lanes in the area won’t be able to cope. Linton is a rural community and if this proposal goes ahead, it’s going to change the character of our village forever.”
Hunton lies at the other end of Redwall Lane, and its parish council has also objected, warning that if Berry Fruits shifted over the road, the existing industrial buildings would be re-let, so the actual increase in traffic movements would be far greater.
DHA, acting for the applicants, said traffic modelling had been carried out and included the re-occupation of the existing premises.
It predicted 762 extra car trips per day, 92 more HGV movements and an additional 244 van or light goods vehicle movements per day.