PLANS to quarry brickearth from farm land at Bapchild near Sittingbourne have been given approval despite protests from residents.

Redland Bricks applied to Kent County Council to extract 17,500 cubic metres of brickearth from land south of the A2 and adjacent to Panteny Lane at Bapchild.

County councillors agreed to the application after being told the applicants had come up with plans to access the site, overlooked by the Hempstead House Hotel, from the A2 rather than Panteny Lane.

Work on the site will see 100 lorries coming and going over a two to four weeks each summer for about eight years.

Contractors will be restricted to working the site from 7am to 6pm between Monday and Friday and from 7am to 1pm on Saturdays.

Residents had called for the plans to be rejected, saying the number of lorries was excessive and the working hours proposed would disturb their lives.