LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Retail park ‘an eyesore’ Dear Sir – After reading in the Downs Mail about the Newnham Park scheme, I felt I had to write to Maidstone Council to com- plain. This is the letter I sent them: Like so many others, I write to strongly


object to the proposed Policy SS4 “Newn- ham Park”. The proposal will destroy this rural set-


ting and cause insurmountable traffic chaos in an already overstretched local road net- work. Noise pollution, already at a very high level, will increase to an unacceptable level; harmful air pollution will increase above the high level that exists at present. This proposed massive industrial and retail complex will create an enormous eyesore, and will destroy the environment we cher- ish. It will never be able to be recovered. This north east area of the town has al-


ready been completely ruined by the dread- ful cheap and nasty office blocks that have been permitted at Eclipse Park. They should never have been allowed to have been built there. They are too high, and provide inad- equate car parking, because office occupiers there are parking “off-site” in the Hilton Hotel’s guest car park. Eclipse Park office development has to-


tally spoilt this area, which was previously farmland with views across open fields to- wards the North Downs. Please do not allow this mistake to hap-


pen again. This site is not a “park”. It will be de- scribed as a hideous industrial units site with a major out-of-town retail complex, which will obviously demand an enormous amount of car parking spaces plus the movements of delivery lorries and service vehicles, probably coming and going all through the night. The increase in traffic volume will be as- tonishing and the results will only be grid- lock. The tired, grubby, shabby town centre needs enhancement – that is where devel- opment is urgently needed. This is a totally unacceptable project and


will be strenuously objected to by all resi- dents in this pleasant semi-rural edge-of- town residential area. We have had to put up with Eclipse Park


–we are not prepared to endure “Newnham Park”.


David Hart, Emsworth Grove, Maidstone


Chairman is ‘misguided’ Dear Sir – I am amazed by the contents of the recent letter from Councillor Richard Ash regarding Bearsted Parish Council. Mr Ash seems to think that no-one except


those who attend the council meetings knows what happens at those events, clearly forget- ting there are minutes which are a matter of public record and that attendees speak to members of the village too. To so publicly slate Kevin Street, who served as a parish councillor for many years, and others who have only recently re- signed, shows how misguided he is and why the parish council is in such disarray. I am sureMr Ash wants to do his best for


the village, he just does not go about it in the right way – hardly the way to build bridges with the people he claims to repre- sent, or to encourage others to join the parish council. Jeanne Gibson, Birling Avenue, Bearsted


Sports shop link Dear Sir – Following the article about the closure of Hubble and Freeman, may I just put straight the lengthy history of this fam- ily business, because in the article there was


36 East


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no mention of my husband David Reader. He was the grandson of JC Hubble, and was an owner and partner in the business from 1960 to 2001. Originally, he joined HJ Hub- ble, and later was joined by P Ludgate. Over the years they opened eight other shops in Kent, and our three daughters worked in the shops too. The business thrived for many years within the sports trade. Thank you for the article. Zandra (Buzzie) Reader,


Fairbourne Court, Harrietsham


Car not always an option Dear Sir – Your letter to the editor from Mrs May, regarding the cost of school bus travel for pupils over 16, echoes all the feelings of people with children. The only point I would make is that not everyone, including my grandson, has the car as an alternative. If a car is not afford- able or available, what happens? R Page, Bearsted


Hospital repayments too high Dear Sir – I was interested to read in the Downs Mail that it will cost £1.7 million a month over the next 30 years to finance Pembury Hospital, after which it becomes public property. On the basis of the figures quoted in your report, including the construction cost of £228 million, I calculate this provides the PFI company with a 9.025% annual return on their investment. The present Bank of England base rate is


0.5%,most clearing banks do not offer more than 3% pa on deposits, and I can find no 30-year mortgage where the interest rate is anything like 9%pa. My instinct is that that local hospital serv-


ices are being put at risk by the fact that the PFI provider is simply overcharging the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. If this is correct,why cannot the PFI provider accept a more realistic rate of return so that jobs and medical services are not cut? John Cobbett, Foxgrove House, Hollingbourne


Bingo hall needs decorating Dear Sir – Reading your story, “Bingo hall is letting town down” in the Downs Mail in September, may I say I agree with every- thing Bill Moss says about the former Granada cinema in Lower Stone Street. I have passed it on several occasions, and,


like him, I think it badly needs decorating. I do not know who tried to smarten it up


with murals, which are an eyesore. In fact, I thought they were graffiti. I cannot comment on the state of the building inside as I never go there. It seems the Gala Coral Group have too much money and don’t want to part with it. JMArcher, Vinters Park, Maidstone


Facts on academy plans Dear Sir – I read with interest your article in September’s Downs Mail, headed “Acad- emy plans expansion”.As a resident of Oak- wood Road, opposite St Augustine’s Academy in Oakwood Park, I feel I should mention a few things the article does not. The proposed floodlit games areas over-


look the houses of Oakwood Road, and this games area is the size of one or probably two five-a-side football pitches, surrounded by floodlights. What the article omits to mention is the academy intends to let it out for non-school use in the evening, up to 9pm, all year round. Most of the residents of Oakwood Road


are elderly and retired – the noise and floodlights will be a nightmare for them.


Also your article mentions: “It is only two storeys high and appears low and flat.” Ground level is twometres above Oakwood Road to start with, so in fact the new build is three storeys high to us. This article had to have been written by


an estate agent! Keep up the good work. David Brown, Oakwood Road, Maidstone.


Park will benefit community Dear Sir–Iwould like to thankDennis Fowle for highlighting the improvements at Cobtree Park. This is the first of three phases, which will allow the community to benefit from the legacy left by our benefac- tor, Sir Garrard Trywhitt-Drake.We are con- fident the significant improvements will attract many new visitors to the park. Roger Hext, Trustee,


The Cobtree Charity Trust Ltd


Food market not the answer Dear Sir – In reply to Mrs J Fulton, I do live on the Sutton Road, but it is a long road and some of it is semi-rural with no amenities or frequent bus service. I sympathise with people who live in the


more built-up end of the road, but at least when they aren’t able to drive, they can still get to shops and town etc. I don’t think the idea of a food market is viable. Some peoplewould need to getmore than just food. I agree we don’t need more supermarkets, just a bigger one further away from Maidstone and a park and ride site. Rob Taylor, Sutton Road,Maidstone


Residents against scheme Dear Sir –With regard to the “In touch with your parish” section, I read the piece on Broomfield and Kingswood’s neighbour- hood plan, which states that “plans cover a range of issues such as community facilities that are needed and green spaces that should be protected”. However, this is at odds with a report to Maidstone Borough Council’s cabinet meet- ing on June 23, 2012, by Sarah Anderton (principal planning officer) on neighbour- hood plans. In it, she states: “Neighbour- hood plans are planning policy documents which will set out the policies for develop- ment and the use of land for a defined local area. Crucially, a neighbourhood plan will become part of the local planning author- ity’s development plan when it is adopted. It will have statutory weight in the council’s decisions on planning applications.” RACE (Residents Against Coxheath Ex- pansion) has been in contention with Cox- heath Parish Council, which indicated at its parish council meeting onMay 29 that it in- tended including the potential ClockHouse Farm development and other land around Coxheath identified for potential develop- ment, in its neighbourhood plan. The effect of this would be that residents would have no chance of stopping any de- velopment in areas highlighted in this plan from going ahead when planning applica- tions were submitted to Maidstone Borough Council. RACE has collected over 1,100 signatures


on a petition objecting to the potential Clock House Farm development, so if the parish council goes ahead and includes it, and other areas, in its neighbourhood plan, it will be ignoring the wishes of the major- ity of residents in Coxheath and runs the risk of its plan being voted down at a po- tential cost of over £50,000.


Marjorie Johnston,


RACE (Residents Against Coxheath Expansion)


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