More than 40 MPs who have signalled their backing for the controversial Kent International Gateway depot plan are being urged to reconsider their support by the leader of Kent County Council.

Cllr Paul Carter has written to 43 MPs who have signed an Early Day Motion that calls on ministers to back the KIG proposal and others like it, saying they are essential if pressure is to be eased on the M20 and M25 caused by increasing numbers of lorries.

The 43 MPs are mainly Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs from London but Dover MP Gywn Prosser is among the signatories.

In his letter Cllr Carter urges the MPs to consider the “true impacts” of the KIG plan and says it “fails completely” to meet planning regulations.

He says the backers had provided “no clear evidence” that such a freight depot was needed or commercially viable.

For full story see Friday's Kent Messenger