Progress for £180m mill redevelopment

A planning application for a £180million redevelopment of the former Aylesford Newsprint site has now been submitted.

The plans, if approved, could create 3,000 new jobs.

The proposals are being put forward by Panattoni, Europe’s largest privatelyowned industrial developer.

It plans to rename the site Panattoni Park Aylesford if it gets the green light.

The 90-acre brownfield site has been vacant since 2015 when 290 jobs were lost.

The proposal is to invest £180m in the design and build of seven industrial buildings offering in the region of 177,000sq metres of new commercial floorspace, a new link road and landscaping.

Tony Watkins, development director at Panattoni, said: “When fully occupied in 2024 the site will deliver more than £162m per annum of economic value to the borough of Tonbridge & Malling, and Kent as a whole, by supporting 3,000 industrial, logistics, distribution and manufacturing jobs, and a further 2,560 indirect jobs.”

After local consultation, it has finalised its plans which include investing in a £6m new link road connecting Bellingham Way and Station

Road.

The proposed link road, to be completed before the industrial units, is designed to ease congestion at junctions 4 and 5 of the M20.

Gavin Cleary, CEO at Locate in Kent, said:

“This project could make a significant impact in the region in terms of job creation and economic growth alongside travel and infrastructure enhancements.”

If the planning application is approved, it is hoped that construction will begin in 2021, with first occupation expected by the spring of 2022.

The former Aylesford Newsprint site could generate more than 3,000 jobs if planning permission is granted by councillors