downsmail.co.uk Plans are at odds


Dear Sir – Following the reports on page one and 31 in the latest edition of the Downs Mail, Broomfield and Kingswood Parish Council would like to respond. At a packed public meeting in March


2012, the parish council was asked to carry out a neighbourhood plan, accepting that we would require some development on a limited scale. However, in essence the plan would create social facilities, which are currently lacking, but also try to prevent large-scale development that would change the character of the close community that already exists. Maidstone Council did not consider any


of the land put forward by local landowners suitable to be included in its dra local plan and neither did residents when consulted for the neighbourhood plan.


Now KCC has waded in and while many


of its points have value, the proposal for 550 homes in Kingswood is bizarre, not least as there has been no dialogue between Paul Carter and the parish, something he has found fault with by MBC during its consultation. Is Paul Carter even aware that our dra neighbourhood plan is now at public consultation stage? There may be a proposal for a spur road


by Mr Carter for his proposed development, but that is only one route, when every other road surrounding the proposed development is made of single track, minimum width roads. The parish council has tried to limit any


development to 30 houses to minimise the impact on the already overwhelmed infrastructure, and has now been told we can no longer be classed as an exception site as MBC does not wish to create a precedent. Therefore we now have to increase the allocation to 39 dwellings to finance offsite affordable homes. What has happened to the principle behind localism? Parish councillors are trying to address the needs of our community and the “big boys” at MBC and KCC are riding roughshod over all our consultations with the local community, something both KCC and MBC have failed completely to do. Broomfield and Kingswood Parish Council


Thanks for caring


Dear Sir – When travelling along Forge Lane in Headcorn on our disability scooters recently,my wife and I crossed the road to a dropped kerb immediately opposite the old surgery in Clerks Field. As I approached the kerb I happened to


do so at a slant. As a result, my back le wheel did not get on to the pavement and dropped to the road and my scooter tipped over into the road. Acar approached, fortunately slowing


down to a stop. My wife, who was following on her scooter, shouted: “Can anyone help me?”


Contact our team ...


Stephen Eighteen Editor stephen@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 231


30 Maidstone South June 2014 Diane Nicholls


Assistant editor diane@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 232


Jane Shotliff Journalist


jane@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 233


Dawn Kingsford


Journalist dawn@downsmail.co.uk 01622 734735 ext 233


Employers so supportive


Dear Sir – I want to shout from the rooftops about how wonderful it is to work for a family business where I am not considered just a number. I am being treated as a person that the Notcutts family really cares for. In January 2013, at the age of 45, I was rushed to Maidstone Hospital from work at Newnham Court, where I had had a stroke.Within a couple of days I was taken to King’s College Hospital for a life-saving operation to allow the swelling to take place in my brain. My husband, children and family


didn't know if I would survive. I then spent a further 10 months in both hospitals and a special neurological rehabilitation unit in Sevenoaks, where I was told I would be unlikely to walk again. However, my husband and I decided I


had too much to live for and I was determined I would walk again, which I can now do with the help of a physiotherapist. I recently walked in a public place for


the first time, when I did a sponsored walk from the Town Hall along Maidstone High Street. I completed about 100m and there were 50 people


Immediately, three men appeared from


two nearby houses – they must have been in their front gardens. At once they picked me up and then righted the scooter, geing it onto the pavement. The lady who was driving the car had stopped and ran over to help collect up our groceries, which were scaered on the floor, and reassured my wife. I cannot thank these four people enough


– without their help we could have been in very great difficulty. While I felt ok at the time, and moved off aer proffering my thanks, I have sustained only a few bruises on my arm. However, we were both le very shaky. We wish to thank these people for their


very prompt action. They are truly very good Samaritans, and I thank the good Lord it was not any worse. R Ferguson, Knaves Acre, Headcorn.


Problems go back 70 years


Dear Sir – The local and European elections were yet another opportunity to delay the inevitable fall of our Big Society. The UKIP votewas seen as some sort of radical vote to stop the tide of immigration that comes from Europe like the juggernaut that lands on the M20 each day; a protest vote that is gaining ground becausewe can’t cope any more with this constant influx of new people with new languages. The indigenous people are struggling


and desperate, but many problems that face our society today, and indeed elsewhere around theworld,were born


Hannah Green with her husband Andrew


there supporting me. I never dreamed of being able to do


this and I have now raised about £1,400 for the Stroke Association’s Step out for Stroke campaign. The charity has helped me in the past few months, but sadly during this time, I unexpectedly lost both of my parents. Mr Notcutt and my colleagues have supported my family and me, helping me to get to the place I am now. Anyone who would like to contribute


to my fundraising total for the Stroke Association can do so online at www.justgiving.com/Hannah-Green16. Hannah Green, Bedgebury Close, Vinters Park


some 70 years ago. Although I live in Coxheath I have seen first-hand the implications of immigration on a population in a local area. My uncle lives in Southall,west London, and Iwas responsible for a company office in Bradford for a very short while. In visiting these places it is instantly visible that the local population is no longer indigenous to England or Britain. Southall is indeed lile India; Bradford is


lile Karachi. Our Commonwealth duty or responsibility for that exchange of young men for twoworldwars as part of the British Empire has cost us dear, not in terms of building a united multicultural capital city and beyond, but in building countries within countries. We have definitively established that we


rarely truly integrate as different tribes. In the South Eastwe enjoy a largely wealthy indigenous population that has been immune from such home invasion, but now with the European influx on top of our Commonwealth commitments, this feeling has broken the back of many of our local people. Local politicians in Maidstone or further afield in Kent are perhaps mediocre because they haven’t had towork very hard to continue the status quo. If in the 21st century we still remain divided by the colour of our skin, even thoughwe all talk the game of racial equality, thenwe should understand why UKIP is growing. Although Maidstone has largely been protected from such thoughts, constant new build developments just might change that acceptance here too. We have ruled by “right” but as with the


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