Continued from page one


Solutions, said: “The service is almost identical to BT Infinity, but, because of our improved technology, we have the advan- tage of being able to offer faster speeds to a much wider range of properties.” Mr Conibere believes more


than 96% of properties will have access to the faster speeds. The first box, atYalding Post Office, is due to go live this month (Febru- ary),with all others on stream be-


Businesses broadband boost


fore the end of March. Call Flow is working on an al-


most identical scheme in West Peckham, where exasperated businesses have clubbed together to privately fund faster broad- band.


Elaine Collins, chairman of the Network of Rural Business Fo- rums, which has more than 70 registered businesses in theYald- ing area, said: “In this day and


age, good internet and broadband connections are not an ‘advan- tage’ - they are essential if busi- ness communities in rural areas are to survive. “Many of our members have struggled because of the internet ‘dropping out’ or taking an eter- nity to upload and download, so changing this one thing will make a big difference.” KCC’s community broadband


scheme has given £717,000 to 16 parishes since 2006 to help in- stall new broadband. Just lastmonth, the government agreed a £10m package of fund- ing to help improve broadband speeds county-wide, which has been match-funded by KCC, and residents are now being asked to ‘vote’ online for faster broadband. KCC’s ambition is for 90% of homes and businesses to have su- perfast broadband access by 2015, and for everyone to have access to a service of at least 2MB.


Flood prevention to move forward


THE 36 Engineer Regiment is to provide the manpower for a new flood prevention scheme in Boughton Monchelsea. The homes at the eastern end of Quarry Road are liable to flood regularly, and the parish council has agreed to fund the remainder of an improvement project following a £69,000 DEFRA grant. Theregimentwillcompleteataskthatwillinvolve thecon- struction of a new sluice gate and the development of a floodplain. Council chairman Cllr Stephen Munford said “The height of the


floodwater has been increasing year on year and if thiswere to con- tinue, over 100 homes in the valley would be threatened. “After securing the grantmonies we had to satisfy some very de- manding requests from the environmental agencies but finally plan- ning permission for the project was granted this month. “I would like to thank Sean Charlton, the farmer of the land, for


his cooperation and the army for their offer of assistance; without either, this project would not have been viable. We intend to start work at the end of February.”


Purchase on the cards YALDING Parish Council is looking to buy the lease of the local post of- fice – and local residents’ views are being sought. The council already holds the head


lease of the building for a 15-year term, but the landlord has agreed to sell a 99-year lease to the council for £100,000. The council believes this is a par- ticularly good offer not just finan- cially as, if the post office or mail delivery office were to close, the council could use the building as a parish office.


Gypsies win on appeal Continued from page one


prevent unauthorised occupations becoming legal. She added: “The outcome of the council’s attempt to deliver a further socially provided site is uncertain. Fur- ther sites are likely to be allocated in a Development Plan Document, which is expected to be completed in 2015, but the scale of that allocation is uncertain and the provision of sites on the ground will take longer. “It has not been shown that any realistically available alternative sites would be available if the appellants were required to leave the appeal sites. “I am satisfied that the sites are sufficiently separated


from Boughton Monchelsea Place to avoid harm to it or its setting. “Mydecisions will not deprive the appellants of their homes or prevent them from pursuing a traditional gypsy way of life. They will not result in a violation of their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.” Stephen Munford, chairman of the parish council,


said: “It is right that an adequate number of appropriate sites bemade available. However, those sites should not be in open countryside in our villages. “It is high time that Maidstone Borough Council ad- dressed this and produced an effective policy, as, with- out one,weare entirely powerless to prevent this sort of development. The parish council could not have done more to oppose it. I have been saying for some time now that theurban part of Maidstone shoulddomore tohelp; the problem is being shouldered entirely by the rural area within the borough and this needs to change.”


6 South


The Quarries flood prevention scheme at Boughton Monchelsea should mean flooding is a thing of the past


Churches gain from calendar THREE Staplehurst churches have benefited from village artist Ken Collins’ popular calendar sales. Ken, who has been producing the village calendars for the


past eight years, achieved the best sales ever with his 2012 ver- sion, netting £1,626 from the 370 calendars sold. Proceedswere shared between the parish church of AllSaints,


the United Reformed Church andStaplehurst Free Church,who each received £542. Ken presented cheques to the churches following the “ChurchesTogether in Staplehurst” evensong service for Chris- tian unity.Thirteen village businesses helped cover production costs, sponsoring the cover and a page each, while the local newsagent and post office assisted with sales – although some calendars winged their way as far as China and USA.


Planning laws change plea IRATE residents are demanding a change in planning laws to stop travellers setting up il- legal camps in Kent’s rural communities. Angered by the influx of gypsies at three


sites in Wagon Lane, near Paddock Wood, residents have written to MP and planning minister Greg Clark, seeking a revision in planning law. Oneresident,whohas seen the problem es-


calate since 2006, said:“Whenany green belt land is sold, the purchaser should bemadeto sign a document that informs them the land is designated as such and that there is no right to occupy the land prior to the granting of an official application for change of use.” The first travellers moved onto a site known asWind in theWillows in 2005,with others subsequently arriving at the neigh- bouringStables andnowGreenAcres,where they have been accused of digging up the roads to connect to mains water and in- stalling two septic tanks on site. Despite local objections, the council granted the owners of Wind in the Willows seasonal rights to occupy fromApril to Octo- ber.However, residents have complained that the occupants are living there all year round and continuing to build on the site. Follow- ing the intervention of MP Helen Grant late last year, the council issued an enforcement notice for this site.


Visit Downs Mail’s website — downsmail.co.uk


Locals needed to


help traffic scheme VOLUNTEERS are needed if Yalding is to continue with its Speedwatch scheme. An original plan to have four


or five teams monitoring speed- ing vehicles through the village had all but collapsed, the parish council heard, and with- out the work of parish Cllr Michael Stewart, would have folded.


However, the council was caught in a “Catch 22” situation as volunteers had to be trained to take part – but now the po- lice-run training programmes had ceased. Cllr Stewart said the cam-


paign had been effective in making motorists slow down, if only because of the high visi- bility of the volunteers. However, Speedwatch was


not allowed to operate after dark – and there had been com- plaints of speeding in Vicarage Road in the evenings after 7pm – so it did have its limitations. Borough Cllr Paulina Stockell enabled the scheme to get un- derway four years ago with a grant of £1,800 so Cllr Stewart said he did not want to see it fold. But he said: “Anew influx of people would be welcome.” Parish council chairman Geraldine Brown suggested the village hall could be used for a borough-wide training course and would report back.


Auction stations AN acre of grazing land off Stilebridge Lane, Linton, is set to go under the auctioneer’s hammer with a guide price of £10-15,000. The auction takes place at the


Clive Emson Conference Cen- tre, Kent County Showground, Maidstone, on Monday, Febru- ary 20, from 11am.


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