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IN the current financial cri-


sis I have no strong objection to the continued charge for using the tunnel/bridge on theM25 to cross the Thames – but I amfu- rious about delays of up to two hours on either side to pay my £1.50. The plan is to raise the charge


Motorway queues take a heavy toll MailMarks


DENNIS FOWLE - President Kent Campaigning Journalist of the Year 2001 email: dfowle2011@aol.com


to £2.50 for cars and to lift the toll barriers if queues stretch back further than about 10 miles in either direction. That’s no way to operate this


vital national road artery. The cost in wasted time, wasted fuel, fumes and additional lo- calised congestion is immense. Then there is the great frus- tration and anger of road users. What impression of our nation will this give to Olympic Games visitors?


Complaints grow from both business and private users – and I hear many sad stories. The M25 opened up the rest of Britain to Kent – this debacle is tending to close the north for some. My personal problem will be typical. We have a family link with two little granddaughters


just north of the tunnel – a jour- ney of about an hour. On really bad days that can be three hours – and the same for the return. That’s not an enticing day out. The toll now is nothingmore


than another form of taxation. The Government has many ways of extracting tax from us – and it needs to take a new look at what is happening at Dart- ford. There has got to be a bet- ter way.  I sent this comment to the


Prime Minister, RoadsMinister, our two Maidstone MPs, KCC leader and Dartford Council leader. So far I have support or sym-


pathy fromHugh RobertsonMP, Paul Carter (KCC) and Jeremy Kite (Dartford leader). Cllr Kite says: “Queues in excess of 10


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Sadness of culled trees Dear Sir - Please take a look at the trees in the High Street before they are felled in the revamp which starts in September, particu- larly the ones outside the Town Hall and Muggletons. These two are splendid, ad- mired by many, giving shade and character. The borough economic development offi-


cer, John Foster, managing the scheme on behalf of Maidstone Council and the ruling political administration, state that these two trees are too large, obscure views of fine ar- chitecture and are a heath and safety risk. Most would argue conversely. These ma-


ture trees are not too large, they enhance surroundings and are no more a trip hazard than many pavements and streets in and around the Maidstone area. These are deri- sive statements by an administration and council, that has been determined to push through this scheme despite clear opposi- tion, only to resort to the hackneyed excuse of health and safety. The scorched earth policy being demon- strated, as shown in building sites of old, emanates from the architect’s drawing. What possible confidence can residents have in a regime that will not listen to the public at large, and produces inexplicable decisions, such as the design of the Trav- elodge Hotel and the museum frontage? I am desperately sorry that we are to lose


these two fine trees, and others. Perhapswe should all regret that we live in an agewhen so many in some sort of authority merely give lip service, then do as they wish any- way, and congratulate themselves in their own publications. John Turner, Trevor Drive, Maidstone


Drain cleaning is needed Dear Sir-Iamwriting to you because I can- not believe KCC. They are saying that areas in the county could be vulnerable to flood- ing.


But KCC and surrounding councils are to blame for a lot of flooding problems as they


34 Town


miles are plainly ludicrous.” Cllr Carter wants electronic charging provided the income goes just to a third Thames crossing.





Maternity madness THE sad date for the death of


the maternity unit and chil- dren’s ward in Maidstone Hos- pital has been set – Thursday, September 22. Then they trans- fer 17 miles away to the new hospital at Pembury. At Maidstone we shall be left


with just a midwife-led birthing unit opening on that same day (taking volunteers expecting a straightforward birth) and a children’s day-care unit operat- ing 8am-8pm Mondays to Fri- day.


Maidstone fought a magnifi-


cent battle to keep these serv- ices – and Secretary of State An- drew Lansley’s final decision was devastating and perverse – overturning views of local GPs he originally saw as key. Now many Maidstone resi-


dents are about to pay the heavy price in all sorts of ways. The worst is the danger to women in advanced labour on a journey which can take an hour or more when the going is bad. I feel too for husbands/partners facing nightmare journeys to Pembury. Then there is the end-of-day transfer of in-patient children from Maidstone daycare to Pembury. Hospital patients generally


need much support from family and friends. This will be much more difficult to give and comes at a greatly increased cost. The horror stories are about to


start. Maidstone is furious – and will vent its anger from September 22. When things go wrong


please tell the Downs Mail and MASH (Maidstone Action for Services in Hospital). Just write, email or phone theDowns Mail.


You can write to us at: Downs Mail, 2 Forge House, Bearsted Green Business Park, Bearsted, Maidstone, ME14 4DT or e-mail: info@downsmail.co.uk


do not go round the streets and clean out the drains with the sump lorries like they did years ago. They seem to only do it when the public report a drain blocked, which sometimes has to be reported again and again. And a lot of the public do not bother to report flooding because they presume it is the jobs of councils to check the roads and drains. My friend and I drove down Willington


Street in heavy rain and found eleven drains where thewater was flooding around them, with some blocked solid with grass and weeds growing out of them while oth- ers had debris from the trees blocking the drains. The one at the bottom of the Northumber-


land Road and Willington Street junction was blocked solid. It doesn’t help when the workers cut grass verges and then blow the grass off footpaths into the roads. Surely with all the EU laws that have


come into practice over the last few years there must be a health and safety issue here. They seem to blame everything on cut- backs. But years ago there was no council tax, and yet the councils used to do the drains on a regular basis. It was the high- light of kids’ days when the sump lorry turned up on the estate to do the drains and sprinkle the pink disinfectant down the drains. Sadly people have lost plain common A. Goodwin,


sense over the years. Maidstone


Truly scandalous bus fares Dear Sir - On Saturday, my two children and I travelled from Bearsted to the bottom of the Ashford Road near Maidstone, on the number 19 bus. The return cost of our 15- minute journey was £7.80. The driver ex- plained that this was an off-peak price and that the same journey would cost more at peak times. What a joke. With petrol prices so high, it is still much cheaper to drive. It depresses me that those


making the decisions in this country have absolutely no interest in encouraging peo- ple to use their cars less. Forget broader environmental issues, the amount of cars on the road justmakes walk- ing anywhere a miserable experience. Is it just me? Wouldn’t life be more pleasant if there were fewer cars everywhere we go? Jenny Jones, Bearsted


Old people should fight cuts Dear Sir - I recently attended a KCC meet- ing at which young people had been asked to put questions before councillors slashed their services a few hours later. Amazing though itmay seem, the council


had postponed the young people’s meeting many times until, surprise, surprise they were notified during their school holidays! As detailed cuts to young people’s services had only been made public a few days ear- lier, this gave the youngsters little time to prepare their response before putting their case to the council. To say they were treated with utter con-


tempt shows just how this Tory council are determined to target our young. Why? Because the young have lost all


faith in politicians so don’t vote, whereas “golden oldies” like myself (I am 80) do. It really is as simple as that. However, I firmly believe that now is the time the older gen- eration should stand besides its youngsters and say not only are these cuts outrageous, they are unnecessary. Formanyofushavememoriesofhow,


after a very long and expensive war, we were much more in debt than we are now, yet proceeded to build thousands of houses, factories and schools. We started the NHS and our first motorway. We hosted the Olympics, for a fraction of the cost of our present fiasco and, much, much more. All this without cuts, for we continually promoted growth while repaying our debt at a much slower rate. Let’s refuse to play the “divide and rule game” and see how


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