LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Pushing the sensible option Dear Sir – After reading the letters by Ms Jung (East, January) and John Critchell (East, February), Iwould like to addmy own com- ments to the discussion on Tudor Avenue. As a driver, resident, pedestrian and a highway engineer, I use the route daily. Double yellow lines are not a suitable idea for this stretch of busy road. However, I do not believe that cutting a


vital link in the town’s road infrastructure is a healthy solution, as the parked cars are presenting a vision impairment hazard and increasing the risk of accidents. I have seen many near misses with cars


being unable to see pedestrians crossing the road, and drivers who have little regard for the speed limit or oncoming vehicles. My other grievance with the number of parked cars is that they are sometimes dan- gerously left with minimal space for cars to use the road. This is again a dangerous ob- stacle to vision and travel. The most practical suggestionwould be to enforce a 20mph limit on the road and cre- ate chicanes at safe locations, with the marking of suitable bays for cars to park in. Cars will be legally restricted to 20mph as well as physically restricted by chicanes. With a more regulated parking structure (either with the introduction of marked bays or defined stretches of road between signs), I believe this will both help keep the speed of the road down and increase safety for both users and residents. Let’s stop going for the extremes and push forward an option thatwill genuinely make life better.


Mike Frazer, Sittingbourne Road, Maidstone


Worried about Ware Street Dear Sir – I totally agree with Jean Bearton (East, March), about wanting nomore traffic inWare Street. What was once a lovely country road is


now a race track, and to think of building more houses is out of the question. The Newnham Court development will


also bring more traffic, as Tesco did. I now live at the Weavering end of Ware Street, and we have to take our life in our hands trying to get out of our drive, owing to a bend which blocks our view of traffic from Bearsted. Our only safe option is to drive along the footpath. I have had the council and police out, but nothing is done. I suppose it is the old tale that someone


will have to be killed before something is done.


Some time ago, Weavering Street was closed at both ends. The plan was to open up Averenches Road. It would have eased the flow of traffic along the Weavering end ofWare Street, but this fell through owing to a council blunder. I have lived in Ware Street all my life. I


am now 84 years old. I amthe oldest inhab- itant, and my father and grandfather lived here before me, so you can see my concern. J Jones,Ware Street,Weavering


It’s not just cricket Dear Sir – Regarding the cricket controversy raging at Bearsted Green and for the record: This is by no means a new problem. For years, the football club erected nets,


at their expense (nowhere near the £75,000 quoted by the cricket club, incidentally) and at the instigation of the then parish council, to protect surrounding properties from per- sistent damage and danger from balls. At that time, some 20 years ago, damage and distress caused by cricket balls led to


36 East


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


legal advice and challenges by a resident. More recently, as is common knowledge, previous owners of the Bell House had a running battle with the cricket club, which ended in a deal being done. So this latest episode is nothing new. The


reality is that many a village green across the country grapples with this same issue. I know of several, including Boughton Aluph (in Kent) andWisborough Green inWest Sussex where, for years, cricketers have been obliged to put up safety nets prior to play. So history is merely repeating itself. Precedents are there for sensible precau- tions being put in place to mitigate the nui- sance.


Cricket is played on the green not “by right”, but “with permission”, as it always has been. That permission lies with the parish council,who must ensure that public and property are not put at risk as a result. All hope that itmay continue, along with


a return to “fair play” and gentlemanly be- haviour for which the sport was long renowned. A. J. Preece, Bearsted resident for 27 years


Cricket colts wanted Dear Sir – Bearsted Cricket Club is looking to recruit new colts for the coming season. We run four different age groups – U9, U11, U13 and U15 and welcome all abili- ties. If interested, please contact me on bearstedcc@talktalk.net. David Vant, Bearsted CC Colts chairman


Parking charge puts me off Dear Sir – Shame on me, I rarely go to Maid- stone to shop or do anything really (could not remember why I stopped), but had to go to the bank with my husband. As this is a rare occurrence for us both, we thought we would make a day of it. Visiting the bank took quite a while, then


some shopping, and then we decided to stop for a late lunch. This is all good business for our county


town, onewould have thought. Then we got back to the car park, having parked for roughly five and a half hours, and put our ticket in…£8 payment required. Tried again…£8 payment required. Must be amis- take; try again…£8 payment required. No, that iswhat they wanted.We paid the money, but needless to say we will not be going into Maidstone to shop any more (just remembered why I stopped before). Park and ride is great if you are not carry-


ing anything heavy or going shopping. The town is full of pubs and eating places,


but what about proper retail businesses? In- stead of wasting ratepayers’ money disrupt- ing the town (for the High Street scheme), how about using the money to give the shops a rates break and stop charging for parking to encourage people to shop in Maidstone? If the excuse is that people use the park-


ing places so they can go on the train, set up a park and ride to the stations, and charge £1 so people will use it. Come on councillors; start living in the


real world. Startworking to make this a real county town to be proud of. Barbara Skinner, Maidstone


Cameras won’t be staying! Dear Sir – I laughed at the full-page cover- age in your February edition (Borough Up- date supplement) for CCTV that said “All the cameras are staying”. The CCTV camera was removed from Acorn Place the day before your Downs Mail was delivered to my house, which


backs on to Acorn Place and the site of the camera. Presumably the issue was pub- lished before this was removed? Also, I wonder at the wisdom of the four


posts that have been installed near Mor- risons in Sutton Road. They would serve a better purpose at the entrance to the new housing estate as a reminder to pedestrians. J. Akhlaq,Wallis Avenue, Maidstone


Aldi traffic will be chaos Dear Sir – I assume they are going to moni- tor the traffic at the junction of Holland Road and Wells Road when the new Aldi storeopens?Whatwilltheydoifitturns out to be a traffic nightmare, which it will? Tell Aldi to close? Ian Charles McLean, Marsham Street, Maidstone


We care for our customers Dear Sir - In response to your letter “Trolleyed off by Sainsbury’s” from Audrey Garner (East, March), I would like to stress that customer and colleague safety is our top priority at Sainsbury’s. We decided to close the entrance by the


busstationanumberofyears agotohelp curb theft in the store. Recently we also adopted the £1 refundable trolley fee after suggestions from customers in favour of the system. This was to ensure availability of trolleys


for customers and to prevent trolleys from being abandoned in the community or thrown into the river, something that was happening on rare occasions. Feedback from the majority of customers


has been positive. However, after listening to concerns from those approaching from the bus station we have now introduced a barrier for trolleys along the front of the store, which we hope is helping to make it easier for these customers. Additionally, our aim is tomake shopping


at Sainsbury’s as convenient as possible so we introduced self-service checkouts as a speedy alternative for our customers to pay for purchases. They have been very well re- ceived by customers, with more than 50% using them regularly. We appreciate that self-service checkouts are not for everyone, so to continue offering a choice we aim to ensure that there are enough manned check- outs open in the store.


Sarah Dunne, spokesperson for Sainsbury’s


Safety must come first Dear Sir - I read with interest the letters re- garding the incident in Murrain Drive, Downswood, just before Christmas. My husband was the first person on the


scene, and called the emergency servces. He lay on the ground next to the injured party until she was rescued. We can’t believe that anyone would complain about delays in getting out of their drives. If my husband hadn’t found her, I dread


to think what would have happened.We are so grateful that she is recovering.


Christine Shade, Murrain Drive,Downswood


Mr Pastry memories Dear Sir - I am an author working on a book about Richard Hearne who was fa- mous for beingMr Pastry on TV. Richard lived at Platt Farm, LongMill Lane, Bearsted, and he died in 1979. I would like to know if any of your read-


ers have any memories of Richard, and if they would care to share them with me on info@michaelrossfilmandtv.co.uk. Michael Chandler, Norwich, Norfolk


To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64