Villagers planning a party fit for a queen


PLANS for a weekend of festiv- ities to celebrate the Queen’s Di- amond Jubilee are being prepared in Yalding, where street parties, fun and games will herald the firing up of a beacon on the historic church tower. The parish council hopes to present everyone in the village aged under 16 with a commem- orative coin, while adults will be able to take part in a wide range of wacky activities to mark the royal occasion. Ideas under consideration in-


clude a pram race from The Chequers at Laddingford to The Lees, a tug-of-war contest and a 1950s-style fancy dress dance to


Trees can be felled STAPLEHURST Parish Council has been given consent to fell two field maple trees close to homes on the southern bound- ary ofAll Saints’ Church, in the High Street. Maidstone Council granted planning permission on condi- tion that care is taken not to disturb birds and bats that nest or roost in the trees.


take place in the village hall. A grand party for everyone in


the village is proposed for The Lees, with stalls, a hog roast, children’s tea, sideshows and entertainment, to avoid closing the road to traffic. However, the council would


want to close the road on the Monday evening so that a can- dlelight procession and tradi- tional sing-song could take place prior to the lighting of a beacon at the top of the church tower around 10.30pm, with a firework display to follow. The village hopes that it will


have its new village sign in place in time for the Jubilee weekend of June 3 and 4.


Pupils dress up to help heroes


PUPILS at Sutton Valence Preparatory School in Chart Sutton raised £350 for Help for Heroes when they came to school dressed up as real- lifeheroes.All the children–andsomeof thestaff–turnedupin costume and therewas no shortage of nurses, soldiers, policemen, vets and fire- men. Therewas even an appearance by the Queen and one of her corgis!


Fruit farm’s storage request AN organic fruit farm in Chart Sutton has applied retrospectively for permission for an agricultural storage building. The storewas built at Mole End, Forsham Lane, in November last


year without planning permission. Applicant Mole End Farms wants to validate the development, which includes a solar photo- voltaic array on its southern elevation. Its supporting statement said: “The company wishes to invest in


onsite refrigeration stores, reducing unnecessary transportation of produce, and also in investing in renewable energy production to lower its CO2 footprint and reduce cost by lowering consumption of purchased electricity.”


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Well done KCC Dear Sir – Here’s a good news story for the Downs Mail. This morning there was some sewage leaking onto our road, which had frozen, and our daughter slipped on it on the way to school. At 9.10am I submitted an enquiry about


this via fixmystreet.com, an excellent web- site. Thiswent toMaidstone Borough Coun- cil by error but at 9.20am KCC phoned me up to give me the update. As it turns out, the issue wasn’t a KCC re- sponsibility but was the water company’s remit. The very helpful advisor looked up the number of the water company and sent off the information on my behalf. The net result is the problem has been fixed less than 12 hours after I reported it. What a fantastic example of excellence in service delivery by our public services, and it is about time credit was given where it is due!


Alasdair Robertson, by email, Yalding


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


bus station a number of years ago to help 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


32 South


Solar panels agreed RETROSPECTIVE listed build- ing consent has been granted for the installation of solar pho- tovoltaic panels on an out- building at Hill Place, Linton Hill, Linton. Maidstone Council felt the


works had helped preserve the building/setting of the building and its special architectural and historic features.


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


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 to make 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


Parking charge puts me off Dear Sir – Shame onme, I rarely go toMaid- 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 a mis- take; try again…£8 payment required. No, that iswhat they wanted.We paid the money, but needless to say we will not be going intoMaidstone 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,


butwhat about proper retail businesses? In- stead ofwasting 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. Start working 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 January 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


You can e-mail the Downs Mail — info@downsmail.co.uk


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