Writing in response to a letter from Dr Stoate to the ODPM asking for the application to be called in ODPM Minister, Baroness Andrews said, “the first secretary of state has decided that this application should be called in and a public enquiry will now be arranged.”

Dr Stoate commented, “this is one of the most contentious planning applications in Dartford’s history, and the Government has done absolutely the right thing by calling it in. I have always said that a development of this scale, which will have such a profound impact on the character and appearance of our park and town centre as a whole, should be subject to a full, independent public enquiry.”

“Moreover it shows that the Government has listened to the concerns of the Save our Park campaign about the proposed road through the park and to the thousands of local people who have written to me, to the Council and to the Government itself to call for the plan to be scrapped.”

“I quite sure that the thousands of Dartford residents who signed the Save our Park petition and opposed the road through the park in the referendum that I have been running will be delighted by this news.”