Homes and offices plan may create 2,000 jobs

A MULTI-MILLION pound plan to build offices and homes on a cold storage site in West Kent could create around 2,000 new jobs.

Complaints about lorry noise in a residential area have hastened a review of the long-term future of the West Kent Cold Store at Dunton Green, near Sevenoaks. The owner wants to transform the 20-acre industrial site into a “mixed use development” with a business park and 45 homes.

The £100 million development would include three-storey, brick-clad buildings on three-sides of a central boulevard, with a café and rest area.

West Kent Cold Storage says the scheme would create 2,000 jobs and include parking spaces for 1,300 cars.

Bosses insist that the scheme would not cost any existing jobs, saying they are looking to move site activities and some 500 jobs to a more suitable location. They are talking to various agencies, including Locate in Kent, about alternative sites.

If the plan goes ahead, construction could start in 2004 and take about 18 months.