A musical blessing
ACONCERT to remember a fund- raiser raised over £800. More than 120 people at- tended the event at Holy Cross Church in Bearsted in memory of Sheila Humphrey, who raised funds for the NSPCC Bearsted and District Branch. Choral group Mixed Blessing sang a variety of songs.
Bluebell Walk to boost hospice funds THE annual Bluebell Walk will be held on Sunday, May 1, beginning and ending at Harrietsham Community Centre. The event, now in its 24th year, raises money for Heart of
Kent Hospice, with last year’s walk yielding more than £36,000. The eight-and-a-half mile route includes paths not normally open to the public. Registration costs £8 for adults, £3 for children and £20 for
a family of two adults and two children. Register at
www.hokh.org or call 01622 790195.
Breakfast Fry-up
DOWNS MAIL President Den- nis Fowle was guest speaker when Rev Nigel Fry and wife Jan hosted a benefice men’s breakfast at Hollingbourne Vic- arage.
Dennis spoke on the subject
of his book ‘So I Started a Newspaper’, and highlighted three of his press campaigns.
Memorial vandalism cash reward
A SANDWAY mother has made a re- newed appeal to find whoever is re- sponsible for persistently targeting her son’s grave and memorial. In November, Angela Wickens,
who lives on Headcorn Road, near Lenham, offered a £5,000 reward for information leading to a successful prosecution for the continued crimes at sites dedicated to her son Christo- pher Sim, who died aged 20 in October 2006. The former Swadelands student, pictured above, was killed when his motorbike collided with a car on the A20 near Charing. Since autumn 2007, a roadside memorial
has been targeted 16 times and his grave in Lenham Cemetery on six occasions. Boxes have been smashed, plaques and flowers stolen and poems have been destroyed. Angela believes the attacks have deliber-
ately coincided with poignant occasions, such as the anniver- sary of Christopher’s death (November), Mother’s Day (March or April) and her son’s birthday (June). Although there have been no attacks
since she made the public appeal in the local area, Angela still wants to find out the identity of whoever is responsible. She said: “Nothing has happened
since November but I am expecting it to happen again. The guilty per- son might not live in this area – they might have been put in prison for something else. Even if they
have been put away, I still want to know who has been doing this. “I feel like I can’t move on until I find out.
Thiswondering about whether anybody has caused any damage hangs over me every time I go to the cemetery or memorial. It is always there in the back of my mind. “£5,000 is a lot of money. The people that
LESLIE Coombes, the driver of the car involved in the fatal collision with Christopher Sim, was a test driver without insurance, but he was never charged with any offence. In August 2007, vehicle dealer Gary Stevens (then 41), of Keycol Hill, Sit- tingbourne, was fined £500 for letting him drive the vehicle.
Leeds Castle siege proposal withdrawn
LEEDS Castle haswithdrawn its application to set up a medieval siege experience after receiving negative feedback from Maid- stone Council planning officers. In December, the castle un-
veiled plans to install a minia- ture replica castle in the grounds, containing a siege area to include a battering ram swing, knight’s joust, seated spectator pavilion and other movable equipment. Leeds Castle operations direc-
tor Bill Lash said: “Because the castle has been owned and modernised by so many people over the years, internally it is notamedievalcastle–itis more like a country house – and it is not possible to demonstrate
the historical elements of me- dieval warfare. “So we wanted to develop an educational experience that would show this, but it did not get Maidstone Council’s agree- ment so we withdrew the appli- cation.We have not given up on the idea, andwemay try to do it for next year, but we have to make sure that the council is happy.” The plan would have referred
to historic castle sieges, battles, duals and re-enacted methods of historic punishment. The equipment was to have been lo- cated on a 2,500 sq m site that was previously occupied by a large balloon used to give rides to the public visiting the castle.
A PROPOSAL to build nine new homes on greenfield land in Grove Green was praised by members of the planning committee. Monro Homes’ application to demolish
the side extension of a home in Franklin Drive and erect four semi-detached and five detached houses in its garden was met with approval from nine of the 11 voting com- mittee members. Despite an objection from Boxley Parish Council, who felt that the proposal’s high density (at 36 dwellings per hectare) would constitute over-development and create traffic problems, Cllr Clive English said: “I
do things like this don’t normally keep quiet. There is someone out there who knows who it is. All they have to do is drop a name. Then it is down to the police.” If you have any in- formation that could help Angela’s appeal, call 07761 349 183. The police investi-
gation has so far been unable to identify the guilty party.
AngelaWickens at the memorial near where her son died on the A20.
New life for former dumping ground
ANOTHER planning applica- tion is due to be submitted to develop an industrial estate in the North Downs. In August last year, Maid-
stone Council’s planning de- partment decided it was inappropriate in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to allow a plan to increase the footprint of Purple HillWorks in White Hill Road, between Bredhurst and Yelsted, from 643sqmto 1,440sq m. The ap- plicants wanted to redevelop the site as 12 small industrial units. Weldrite UK recently gave a presentation to Detling Parish Council where it revealed it
see absolutely no harm being caused by this proposal. In fact, it would be quite the re- verse.
“This is exactly the type of site that should be developed. “The existing landscape is low value and
it is possible the development will lead to a substantial improvement in the bio-diver- sity of the area.” Fellow committee member Cllr Tony Har-
wood, who also sits on Boxley Parish Coun- cil, suggested that there was enough “slack” in the existing road network to cope with the existing vehicle movements.
would submit two new pro- posals; for either three housing plots or a light industrial site. Residents of White Hill Road
have complained in the past of trees being damaged by HGVs going to and from Purple Hill. The developers said they use smaller lorries that would visit the site less frequently than during its previous use as a dumping ground. The presentation also re- vealed 90% of the oak trees bordering the rear of the de- velopment had died. It was reported that the rea-
son for this was the dumping of concrete near the base of the oak trees.
Grove Green greenfield development is given resounding support
A proposal was originally withdrawn in August last year after Maidstone Council planners expressed concern over issues such as overlooking of neighbours, too much hardstanding, insufficient landscap- ing, over-supply of car parking and exces- sive ridge heights. The applicant’s amended plan ensured
that the main overlooking rooms are bath- rooms with obscured windows. Reduced hardstanding has led to a decrease from 21 to 16 car parking spaces and a 3m-wide tree and hedge belt aims to address the land- scaping issue.
Visit Downs Mail’s website —
downsmail.co.uk East 21
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