Residents express their ‘congestion frustration’ at open meeting


Plea to dovetail school bus links enough for cyclists! Town is not flat


“Pent-up frustration”. That is how Cllr David Burton, chairman of Maidstone Council’s regenera- tion scrutiny committee, summed up members’ feelings at the end of a 60-minute Q&A session about congestion. PETER ERLAM reports.


LACK of integration of bus and school timetables is making Maidstone’s traffic congestion even worse. Parents are being forced to


ferry their children to and from school because of poor bus serv- ice scheduling. Bearsted councillor Val Springett, who has a son at Maidstone Grammar School, made the point forcibly. By the time he gets to the bus station in The Mall after school, his bus home would have left five min- utes previously and he has a half-hour wait. In the morning, he leaves


home at 7.25am for a 7.35am bus, the only one that can get him to school on time, albeit 25


minutes early. She asked: “Is there any dis- cussion to make sure that buses line up with schools to re- duce the number of parent jour- neys that are made?” Referring to Valley Park School, Cllr Springett had been informed by a mum that a sin- gle-decker bus often drives past full at end-of-school time, with pupils left waiting 33 minutes, but that for the rest of the day it is served by a double-decker. The mother had told her: “There’s a whole crowd of us having to fly out in our cars to pick up our kids because the bus has gone past them again, and it’s a half-hour wait in the dark.”


TRANSPORT planners have been accused of “dodging the issue” of providing Maidstone with a ring road. “This needs to be brought to the fore and ad- dressed,” said Cllr Gordon Newton (Downs- wood & Otham). “How long has this being going on - 20 years


or more? This needs to be sorted out,” he added. Cllr Newton cited Peterborough where ring


roads keep the majority of traffic out of the town centre. “This is where KCC are strongly missing the point. Themessage needs to go back to your highways people: ‘Let’s have a serious look at this whole area of town with respect to ring roads’.


KCC transport officer Graham


Tanner said these issues could be looked at. “It’s in the opera- tors vested interest to do that as they are paid per passenger. Where possible, operators will line up their services with schools.” Cllr Springett added


that school finishing times – 3.30pm at MGS – had a major impact on congestion. Her son just misses the 3.35pm service so waits 33minutes for the next No 9, which gets him home at 4.45pm. That compares to 15 minutes


by car to Bearsted. “That’s why a lot of parents


pick children up,” added Cllr Springett.


Highways planners told: ‘Don’t dodge ring road’


“Thiswould relieve a considerable amount of congestion. “This ought to be flagged up – nobody’s lis- tening to what’s said,” he argued. But KCC’s Graham Tanner said a Maid-


stone ring road was “a considerably long way from fruition” in light of government fi- nances and Department for Transport priorities. Cllr Mike Cuming (Bearsted) said that 40


years ago Maidstone used to have a bypass – be- tween what is now M20 junctions 5 and 8 – but now it is “part of the problem”. When the mo- torway is obstructed, there is no alternative route. “This highlights the need for a southern ring road,” he added.


Rotary honour for Edith


THE remarkable life story of a Jewish lady from Allington, Maidstone, was told to the Rotary Club of Maidstone when it awarded her its highest honour, a Paul Harris Fellow- ship.


Edith Brown (pic-


ture) was 14 in 1938 when she endured interrogations by Nazi Gestapo before being permitted on to a train to London Liverpool Street with her small brother and a bag. The pair, among 10,000 Jews to benefit from the Kinder- transport movement, never saw their parents again. Edith was in a group of 50


sent to a Northern Ireland hostel – a collection of wet tents. She did not go to school but was put to work as a dairymaid and in farming. In 1942, at 18, Edith turned


to nursing and moved to Liv- erpool Hospital for Tropical Diseases where she helped troops returning from the Far East.


Edith, of Nursery Avenue, 24 Town


Allington, moved in to midwifery and health visiting and came to Maidstone in 1957, working at Preston Hall and Maidstone Hospital for 24 years before retiring for health reasons. She developed leukaemia due to exposure to X-rays and volunteered


successfully for new treat- ments.


Rotary Club president Jim Boswell, of Marden, said: “Our club is proud to ac- knowledge her service to the community.”


 A fellowship was also awarded to Rotarian for 32 years, retired bank manager WilliamMather, of Priory Close, East Farleigh. He was a long-serving club treasurer, chairman of two committees and is a trustee of the club`s Charity Trust Fund. He was also treasurer of Kent County Show, is a member of the Redhill Trust and was a local voluntary tax commissioner for many years.


THE lay of the land in Maid- stone does not lend itself to cy- cling. That is the view of Graham Tanner, KCC’s sustain- able transport team leader, as he answered questions about solving the town’s congestion problems. Mr Tanner, who rides to work


from Bearsted along a section of off-road cycleway in Ashford Road, said Maidstone’s topog- raphy was not pedal-friendly, unlike places such as Cam- bridge and Peterborough, which heavily promote cy- cling, and are flat. Also, in comparison with Ashford, where cycleways are being built around new devel- opments, “everything needs retrofitting around what’s there” in Maidstone. Mr Tanner said Maidstone’s “skeletal” cycling scheme was not up to the standard of other parts of the county. But he added: “Perhapsmore


could be done to publicise and promote it.” Meanwhile, Cllr Gordon Newton called for more realism in sustainable transport plan- ning. In terms of cycling to work, he wondered if anything had changed in the past 10 years. He does not like ped- alling a bike up the Loose Road, for example. “I jump in the car and drive to East Farleigh [to his stonemason’s business].” He said he would not cycle


there or go by public transport as it would take too long.


Sex offender given four-year prison term A SERIAL child abuser previ- ously living in Tonbridge Road was sentenced to four years in prison, plus an extended public protection licence of two years. Jason Richard


Trask (63), pic- tured, pleaded guilty to attempt- ing to meet a child following sexual grooming. Maidstone Crown Court heard how while living in Maidstone, he had sent mes- sages of a sexual nature to a 15- year-old boy and then had arranged to meet up with him. However, officers from Kent Police’s public protection unit arrested Trask and any further offences were prevented from taking place. Trask has numerous convic-


tions for serious child sexual abuse committed over a period


of 44 years, in both the UK and Holland, commencing in 1964. Judge Statman, presiding at


court, said: “You have a horren- dous record of criminality… and you have not learned any lesson from previous terms of imprisonment.” Detective Inspector Matthew


Long, of Kent Police’s Public Protection Unit, said: “Trask is a very dangerous individual and the custodial sentence is entirely fitting.” In addition to the jail sen-


tence, Trask was given a sexual offences prevention order for an indefinite period, restricting his access to the internet and chil- dren. He is disqualified from work-


ing with children and has an order banning any foreign travel for five years. He will remain on the sex offenders’ register for life.


‘Wall of shame’ council workers sacked TWO KCC workers have been sacked and two others disciplined following allegations that disabled children were mocked. The allegations centred on the school transport office at Kings


Hill, where staff pinned up pictures of children on an alleged “wall of shame”. Following an investigation into the allegations, KCC concluded there were no children with special needs involved but there was a case to answer. It is thought the pictures were sent to the council by parentswho had visited the office when applying for school bus passes.


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