A 35-year-old industrial unit will be turned into a new recycling centre after the proposal was given the go ahead.

Watermans' proposal to redevelop a building on Aylesham Industrial Estate into a waste disposal site was approved by Kent County Council at Maidstone's County Hall, which will lead to the creation of five new jobs.

Around 45,000 tonnes of waste will be managed at the site each year, revised down from 75,000.

A total of 80 HGVs are expected to visit the site each day.

More than 30 letters of objection were sent to Kent County Council while several parish councils also opposed the plans over concerns of a "significant" traffic increase and congestion near the A257 and near the entrance access on Cooting Road.

One objector, who spoke on behalf of Sharpak Aylesham, said it will have a significant impact on their food packaging business, which is located opposite the site and employs over 200 people.

A spokesman for Watermans, who submitted the application on behalf of East Kent Recycling, defended the application and said with population growth in Kent expected to increase significantly over the next two years, the centre would be needed to cope with greater waste production in the area.

A spokesman for Watermans said: "Kent's population continues to increase. It's expected to reach more than 1.7 million by 2021, which is a 20% increase from 2011.

"In Dover, it will be about 16% and Aylesham lies within that administration."

Submitted last year, the application site forms an existing industrial unit, approximately 0.1 hectares in size, at the south-eastern end of the industrial estate, based near Canterbury.

The existing ageing vehicle workshop building will be demolished if the plans are approved, and this would be replaced with a new larger waste management building, which would be used for sorting and dispatch of waste material for recycling.

The recycling centre will operate for 24-hours on weekdays.

It would be open to the public from 6am to 6.30pm on Mondays to Fridays, while the sorting of waste will take place between 6.30pm to 6am each weekday.

The site will be open to the public on Saturdays from 6am to 2pm but will be shut on Sundays and bank holidays.

Four parish councils in east Kent objected to the proposal over concerns of the increase in traffic - with HGV visits six days a week - as well as pollution and noise impacts.

No objections were raised by Dover District Council's environmental health department, Kent County Council's highways team, Canterbury City Council or the Environment Agency.

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