Re-opening of towpath delayed
A STRETCH of towpath beside the River Medway in Aylesford is to remain closed until at least 2015 after parts of the bank col- lapsed. A 1km stretch of the public riverside path between the village and Allington Lock was closed by KCC two years ago because it was deemed too dangerous to use. The council is investigating funding options but the repairs would be expensive so the proposed reopen- ing date has been delayed. The only alterna- tive route is along busy ForstalRoad and then rejoining the riversidewalk via a footpath op- posite the entrance to Cobtree Park. Local Open Spaces Society representative
David Thornewell said: “This is an important link in the towpath which is continuous all the way from New Hythe into Maidstone.
New school plans THREE out of five new primary schools in Kent are to be built in Malling to meet increasing demand for places. More than £31m in government money
has been given to the county council who aim to build the five schools and ex- pand 14 others by September 2015. KCC is also working with 50 other schools who are struggling to provide sufficient places for pupils. Schools are due to be built at Snod-
land,Kings Hill and Leybourne Chase as well as Folkestone and Sheppey. The £31m from the Department for Ed- ucation has come through ‘targeted basic need’ funding and is in addition to gov- ernment funding announced earlier in the year.
The section through Maidstone is now in a very good condition, following the work car- ried out with external funding. “KCC obviously has great financial prob-
lems and I know they are exploring all the options. “In the meantime I think it is important that
they provide amap of the alternative route to get round the closed section.” David Munn, KCC’s public rights of way manager for West Kent, said: “A study has been commissioned to look at the alternatives for providing a long-term solution to the on- going problem on this stretch of the river and a number of options have been identified. However, the costs for all these options are very high and funding opportunities are being looked at.
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discuss the issue back in July, said: “We feel Had- lowCollege has not given sufficient consideration to alternative sites, particularly on the main cam- pus.” However,byworking in conjunction with the col-
lege, governors hope the newfree school will ben- efit from the strength of a much larger and established organisation with superb facilities. They say students aged from 11 to 16 will have
opportunities very different to those in other schools, with an option to study for thehighest ac- ademic grades while “participating in a wide vari- ety of life-enhancing and enriching experiences”. Headmaster Steven Davies said: “The college
will continue to work closely with Tonbridge and Malling planning officers to ensure a prompt res-
olution for planning for the main building. All mat- ters concerning the welfare of pupils are thor- oughly assessed to ensure our school pupils are safe at all times.” The free school’swebsitesays: “HadlowCollege
aims to be an outstanding school.We intend tobe a centre of excellence for learning within a land- based environment, with a focus on science.”
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other interested parties resolved that one op- tion in particular should be given priority and the county council will be carrying out more work looking at the feasibility of this option in the coming weeks and months. “The current period of closure extends to
2014 but, given the scale of both the funding and technical problems associated with this section of the river path, it is likely that this period of closure will have to be extended. “In the meantime, improvements have
beenmade to the section of the path that runs west from Allington and to a linking path to Forstal Road at Aylesford to at least provide an alternative route whilst the path is closed, although it is acknowledged that this is not an ideal solution.”
College site ‘unsafe and inappropriate’
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