We must use M20 junctions well MailMarks
SHOULD Maidstone Council endeavour to attract new busi- nesses to our area by allocating land close tomotorway junctions in its current emerging develop- ment strategy? These are the type of locations businesses have indicated they want – and this is the offer Maid- stone must make. In the current international economic
crisis, now increasingly impacting on the UK, I see the only real solution as building up our country’s business base so we trade more successfully with the rest of the world. I was brought up to believe I lived in a first-world nation. In recent years I have increasingly questioned this, and after vis- its lastwinter to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the truth really hit home. Since then I have spent two weeks in German Rhineland and have been so impressedwith the quality of life and booming business parks linked to just about every town I saw. No wonder the Germans want to protect
their own economy from the financial hor- rors of so many European countries. We have to relate all this to our own town of Maidstone. Increasingly I fear for the fu- ture of my children and grandchildren if the national and local economy continues to weaken. We need more local businesses bringing prosperity and good jobs to Maidstone – and these businesses have been telling Maidstone Council for years they need to be near motorway junctions. We have junctions5,6,7and8ofthe
M20 serving Maidstone, and we must use those areas wisely to improve our chances of a prosperous future for the borough. There will be sensitive sites and decisions to be made. I do not favour, for instance, an enlarged shopping centre near J7 if it will damage town centre businesses. That seems crazy. But I see a massive difference between
all the horrors KIG wanted to impose on us, with a massive rail/lorry interchange stretching from J8 to Bearsted and Thurn-
A FRONT door was forced in an attempted burglary at a property on Longham Copse in Downswood, but nothing was stolen.
Intruders tried to force a shed
door at a property in Long- parish Close, Senacre,butwere unable to gain access. Thieves forced a door on a
shed at a property in Bicknor Lane, Bicknor, and stole a Mountfield ride-on lawnmower and a McCullock chainsaw. A Sony car CD player was
stolen from a grey VW Polo car in Cooling Close in Vinters Park. A green camouflage-style
Land Rover Defender, registra- tion number D616 YCH, was stolen from a field on Alding- ton Lane, Thurnham. ATVwas stolen after the lock
was forced on a disused stable at Hockers Farm, Hockers Lane Detling. A grey Rover 45, regis- tration number X868 NKO, was stolen from a lay-by on the A249 at Stockbury.
38 East
DENNIS FOWLE - President Kent Campaigning Journalist of the Year 2001 email:
dfowle2011@aol.com
ham, and some of the proposals currently in the pipeline to attract new businesses to that area. One day I still hope we shall see the south-east Maidstone strategic road (the old Leeds/Langley bypass) link to the J8 roundabouts with an associated business park. We live in a very tough economic world
now and it is a vital time to get our priori- ties right. Much hinges on how enlight- ened Maidstone Council is with its blueprint for our future. These are impor- tant times.
Indebted to Malcolm MAIDSTONE said a fitting thank you
and farewell to Cllr Malcolm Robertson at his civic funeral in All Saints’ Church. So often we do not know how much a person is revered until death. His old friend Cllr Dan Daley spoke for us all in his fitting tribute. Many points rang a bell with me – none
more so than how Malcolm could study a complex document and pull out so quickly the most significant points. I am indebted to him for this when he helped me with editorial work for this newspaper.
Hospital horrors GOVERNMENT agreed with the ridicu-
lously massive cost of the public funding initiative (PFI) finance to build the new TunbridgeWells Hospital at Pembury. Government is worried that NHS trusts saddled with such grotesque repayment costs are failing to meet them. Now Gov- ernment is sending in lawyers and audi- tors to seven such trusts to try to find solutions.
There is only one answer. Gov- ernment agreed this style of fund- ing, and now Government must pay the piper – no matter how un- palatable in these desperate eco- nomic times. The 250,000-strong population of
the Maidstone area has good rea- sons to be angry. We do notwant to be in the same
trust area as Tunbridge Wells; Tunbridge Wells wanted this new hospital – not Maidstone.We did not want core services like women’s and children’s and emer- gency and orthopaedic surgery stolen from Maidstone to support the business case for a distant TunbridgeWells Hospital; andwe do not want reduced hospital services, cancellations and lower quality due to eco- nomic crises in the trust. Governments have a lot to answer for to the people of theMaidstone area.
Come to Cobtree I VISITED Cobtree Park, Aylesford, dur-
ing the summer holiday with two young grandchildren and was very impressed with recent improvements. The new play area for youngsters is spa- ciously laid out, and there is good enter- tainment for children up to the age of about 10. Previously I had seen the park mainly as a great walk among magnificent trees. Now Maidstone Council has funds for
more improvements, including a form of museum to the wonderful zoo run by Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake until a few years after the World War II. I have a boyhood photograph to prove I was there with my younger sister and brother. It was such an exciting place for me in those days, with a little railway ride up the hill from the Chatham-Maidstone road. The lovely little cafe there was also
doing a good tradewith hot and cold food. There are too many in Maidstone who do not even know how to get to this lovely park. Just go past the entrances to the Vil- lage Hotel and Kent Life and the magnifi- cent gates open up on the right. It is well worth investigating.
Beat the criminals IF YOU CAN HELP, PLEASE PHONE: Police: 101 Crimestoppers: 0800 555 111
A fridge was stolen from the
BT telephone exchange in Ham Lane, Lenham. A caravan window
was smashed in the back garden of a property in Fair- bourne Lane, Harri- etsham, but nothing stolen. Abarbedwirefence
was cut in an attempt to steal a horse from Keepers Farm, Old Ham Lane, Lenham The horse was slightly injured. A blue Peugeot 206, registra-
tion number FC04 UFB, was stolen from the Rumstead Lane Stockbury. The suspects are de- scribed as two Afro-Caribbean men aged between 35 and 45. One was 6ft tall and of heavy
build, with short Afro black hair. The other was short, of medium build, with short Afro hair and was wear- ing glasses, a blue base- ball cap, jogging bottoms, a T-shirt and white Adidas train- ers.
Thieves broke in to a
garage in a block in Larchwood Close, Boxley,
and stole a child’s 24-inch Muddy Fox mountain bike and amen’s black and red mountain bike. A blue and black petrol lawn- mowerwas stolen when thieves broke in to a locked garage at a property in Chatham Road, Sandling. On the same night power tools were stolen from
another shed in the same road, and a red rotavator was stolen from a garage. A car was broken in to on the driveway of a home in Tollgate Way, Sandling,andanumberof items were stolen, including power tools and photographic equipment. An anvil and power tools
were stolen from an insecure barn at Coldharbour Farm, Coldharbour Lane, Thurnham. The thief probably used a wheelbarrow, whichwas found discarded in a field.
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