Rural residents fight traders' plans for masts as high as the Shard

Vigilant Global and New Line Networks (NLN) want to build communications towers to shave milliseconds off the time it takes trade the markets

When Roman invaders made landfall on the British coast in AD43, it was at the present-day settlement of Richborough where they probably set up camp.

Now this sleepy corner of rural Kent has become an unlikely battleground once again - as the potential site for telecoms masts as high as London's Shard skyscraper that will enable high-speed trading firms to make millions.