A formal groundbreaking ceremony has taken place on the site where a truckstop is being doubled in size.

MP Damian Green joined the chairman of site owners GSE Group, Darrell Healey, at the Ashford International Truckstop site.

It is being expanded to provide 600 spaces for HGV drivers as the first stage of the development of the wider 140 acre Waterbrook site, which will include 400 new homes, new commercial property creating nearly 1,000 jobs, shops, restaurants and parkland.

The lorry park is set to open in a year's time.

Mr Healey said: "The Waterbrook development has been many years in the planning.

“We have worked closely with the borough council throughout to ensure what is built here will make a significant and positive contribution to the future of the town as a place where people want to live and work.

"When it opens next year, the truckstop will have double the capacity of the existing site and will help tackle the long-standing issue of illegally parked HGVs on the roads, many of them residential, around the borough."

The Conservative local MP, Mr Green, added: "Not only does this development provide much-needed extra lorry parking, which residents will welcome, but signals the continued improvement in opportunities for business in the area. It is a big step forward.”

Ashford Borough Council’s planning committee unanimously voted to approve the detailed plans for the new truckstop and outline plans for the rest of the site in August.

Council leader Cllr Gerry Clarkson said: “By providing improved facilities for lorry drivers this will mean they can have somewhere pleasant to stop and hopefully will ensure our roads, lay-bys and business parks are kept clear, clean and lorry free in the future.

“This is an issue which won’t go away overnight however. Ashford is doing our bit, but we need a concerted effort from other stakeholders and we hope other local authorities will follow suit to tackle this regional issue.”