 Following a public exhibition, the Kent International Gateway proposal attempted to mitigate the environmental concerns by adjusting its design to reduce the impact of the buildings and allocating one-third of the total site area to landscaping, woodland retention and new wildlife habitats.In May 2008, the then leader of Kent County Council, Paul Carter, wrote to the Members of Parliament who had supported the proposal to ask them to reconsider their support on the basis Kent International Gateway had not provided sufficient evidence that the distribution hub was needed or viable.At the same time, the government's decision in late 2007 to approve the Prologis Howbury Park rail–freight interchange at Slade Green, Bexley was cited by campaigners as evidence that demand for a similar such scheme at Bearsted no longer existed.