Well over 300 people attended two meetings this weekend to fight plans for a massive lorry park at Aldington, near Ashford.

About 200 people crammed into Sellindge Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon for a meeting chaired by Folkestone and Hythe MP Michael Howard.

Susan Carey, Kent County Council ward member for Elham Valley, told the audience she was against her own authority's plan for the lorry park to deal with Operation Stack.

The proposal is for a site just off the M20 near Aldington capable of holding 3,000 lorries when bad weather or industrial action impedes cross-Channel transport links.

At Aldington village hall that evening parish council chairman Peter Wood urged an audience of about 150 to take action by pouring in letters to groups such as KCC, Ashford Borough Council and Ashford MP Damian Green.

Villager Louise Jessup reminded protesters that Aldington had already successfully fought off other controversial plans such as an immigartion detention centre. "This village has a lot of power," she said.

The meeting was organised by the Lorry Park Alliance protest group.

The next meeting will be held at the Mersham Mountbatten Hall on April 12 at 6pm.

For full details of the Sellindge and Aldington meetings see Thursday's Kentish Express.