Charity’s fears over road proposal
A LONG-ESTABLISHED Maid- stone charity that helps people with chronic illness and dis- ability fears the impact of plans to turn a quiet cul-de-sac into a busy through road. The Blackthorn Trust has its headquarters, gardens and cafe behind the Blackthorn Medical Centre in St Andrew's Road, Barming. It celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. Along with local residents,
staff were shocked to discover that the integrated transport strategy recommends “an open- ing up of the eastern end of St Andrew’s Road onto the Queen’s Road/Tonbridge Road junction. The direction of traffic between each of these junctions would be made one-way in a clockwise direction”. The cost of opening up the junctions and altering St An- drew’s Road are estimated at a minimum of £670,000 and max- imum of £1,060,000. Residents say that because the
road has been a cul-de-sac for so long, it has become an estab- lished pedestrian area, used by children walking to school, peo- ple visiting Oakwood Park or themobile library and the many groups using St Andrew's church hall. Shoppers using the shops in
Tonbridge Road also park in the cul-de-sac. Ray Hensby, who was born in
St Andrew's Road 72 years ago, said: “The road was blocked off
Fair harvests £1,400 STALLS full of local produce and hand-made crafts drew vis- itors to enjoy the autumn sun- shine at Blackthorn Trust’s harvest fair. A spokesman said: “The Gar-
den Café was buzzing with ac- tivity and our folk band played a variety of well-known music which had visitors and volun- teers finding it difficult to keep still, especially to the bagpipes.” The event raised £1,400.
Bus gate plan makes return Continued from page one
Objectors make their feelings known at the Blackthorn Trust
because it was causing conges- tion with traffic going into Ton- bridge Road.” Chief executive of the Black-
thorn Trust, Jan Prior, said: “The trust takes referrals from all over West Kent for people with chronic
pain.Many of them are very slow on their feet or in wheelchairs. They are all going to have to cross this road.” The trust shares limited park-
ing space with the Blackthorn Medical Centre, where the four doctors have a list of 7,000 pa- tients. Parking for staff, volun- teers and people attending the trust for therapy would be af- fected, as most currently park in St Andrew's Road. The trust also relies on visi-
tors to its cafe, plant nursery and bakery for social enterprise income and fears the resulting increase in traffic and reduction in parking will cut off this trade. The Reverend Brian Reed,
vicar of St Andrew's Church, used to work as a traffic engi-
neer in London. He said: “It will disrupt access to the church. People will be forced out of St Andrew’s Road onto the Ton- bridge Road. The road was closed because there were too many traffic conflicts; if they open it up again there will be even more conflict.” Ms Prior said it was important
for people attending the trust with mental health problems to have contact and mix with the public: “There isn't anywhere else in the area that provides these resources, this ethos or this mix of services. “These people are already troubled and it adds to their concerns about this threat to the place that helps them.”
Residents have formed the St Andrew's Road Action Group. Spokesman David Meinert said anyone with concerns could make contact through its Face- book page, email or website:
www.standrewsroadaction-
group.moonfruit.com
Road worker killed repairing A2 A MAN killed while trying to repair a section of the A2 near Can- terbury has been named as Larry Newman, from Maidstone. Mr Newman (37), who was employed by Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald, is believed to have been struck by a piece of machin- ery as he worked on the central reservation near Barham during the early hours of Tuesday, October 2. He was attempting to fix the carriageway and the crash barrier
after a lorry ploughed into it the previous day, shedding its load of beer on the carriageway. The Highways Agency contractor died at the scene. Police and the Health and Safety Executive have launched an in- vestigation into the tragedy and an inquest will be held at a later date.
600 Facebook members and over 100 people attended a pub- lic meeting to discuss the issue. Local charity Blackthorn Trust is located in St Andrew’s Road and has raised concerns over parking and health issues. Cllr Stephen Paine, Maidstone Council’s cabinet member for planning and transport, wrote on his blog: “I’m interested to see what officers think of some of their proposals, including the reconnection of Queens Road with Hermitage Lane. “The Fountain InnCrossroads
(as they are known locally) are at capacity already. More im- portantly, though, the area is an air quality black spot; local res- idents are literally losing months – even years – off their lives due to pollution here. As a council, we have a duty to try and resolve this. “However, there are questions
over whether the St Andrew’s scheme would deliver on this – or merely shift the problems on to a different set of roads and junctions.”
Flats may be halved CAXTON Property has un- veiled a plan to reduce the number of residential units from 10 to five through internal alterations at 20-24 Melville Road,Maidstone.
Driver banned VICTOR Grafs (30), of Perry- field Street, Maidstone, was banned from driving by Mid Kent Magistrates and fined £400. He admitted drink driving, on September 4 in College Road, Maidstone, when he was stopped at the wheel of a Volvo V40. Grafs gave a test of 91mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg. He must also pay £85 court costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Advice bureau hoping for ‘generous benefactor’ Continued from page one
cuts as the council tries to bal- ance its books. Chief executive Bonny Mal-
hotra has pledged to leave no stone unturned in a bid to plug the funding gap – and vowed that the service will go on. However, he is hopeful that a
local entrepreneur, philanthro- pist or benefactor will realise the value of the service and come forward to help in the in- terim. He said: “The irony is that the Government depends heavily on the voluntary sector. They know we will shout and scream, but we will still pro- vide the service as that is what
4 Town
we signed up for. When some- one knocks on your door asking for help, you can’t close it.” As with most charities, pleas
for volunteers to help generally result in more people seeking that help, butMr Malhotra said: “That’s fine.We want people to come to us with their problems. “In times of plenty, we don’t
have a problem, but at the mo- ment, too many people are chasing too little cash. “Unfortunately, Maidstone is perceived as quite well off. Apart from four deprived areas – Park Wood, Shepway, Tovil andMangravet – the borough is relatively affluent. “People like Lloyds TSB,
who we approached for fund- ing, were looking to help the top 20 deprived areas, and we’re not one of them.” When Mr Malhotra joined Maidstone CAB 14 years ago, it was100%fundedbythe bor- ough council – to the tune of £145,000. Now, although the council
has put in £185,000 this year, as the service has grown that represents just 30% of the total funding. Mr Malhotra said: “We have
been successful at raising funds and we are fortunate in having been able to grow and are grate- ful to the council for their con- tinued support. But we can’t
expect them to give us more at a timewhen everyone is having to settle for less.” Maidstone CAB had just
seven salaried employeeswhen Mr Malhotra joined in 1998. Today, it has 28. He said: “We ask our volun-
teerstogiveatleastaday a week, but they cannot manage without professional support and people to provide adminis- trative and clerical back up. “The staff here have years of experience and, as our success rate shows, are crucial in pro- viding specialist advice with regard to debt, housing, em- ployment and welfare benefits issues.”
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