downsmail.co.uk 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 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 lile India; Bradford is
lile 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 We have ruled by “right” but as with the decline and fall of our British Empire, can we still hang on to an outdated philosophy? We may be a post-Christian society, but perhapswe ought to drop our high- minded righteousness and become a post-right society too. Richard Maryan, Coxheath
Richard, your conclusion that different cultures rarely integrate is obviously contentious and makes a general assertion on a complicated subject that resonates emotionally with many. However, your point that the exceptionally
high number of homes being built in Maidstone borough could lead to the current national immigration debate becoming a much more
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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 there supporting me.
local one strikes a less arguable chord. The mixture of an overheated property
market in London, Maidstone Council’s top priority to provide affordable housing and an abundance of large housing estates set to spring up in the borough in the next 20 years is likely to result in a more diverse racial and cultural make-up in Maidstone. This notion is likely to have been behind UKIP’s success in the recent elections, with four councillors winning seats on Maidstone Council and the party gaining more votes in the borough than any other in the European count. Our local authorities must therefore learn
from the experiences of other areas in the country that have seen large influxes of people from minority backgrounds and do all within their powers to facilitate a high level of social cohesion. Response by Stephen
Kings Hill issues not new
Dear Sir – I wish to thank you for highlighting the ongoing predicament that our “new community” has been enduring for 20 years while I have been living in retirement in Kings Hill. I refer to the report on page 14 of the Downs Mail (May edition), which comments on the anger expressed at the public meeting, clearly applauded by many aendees, but which also again highlights development issues, for example extension to the community centre, sports facilities and open spaces.
Hannah Green with her husband Andrew 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
As the secretary of the Kings Hill Allotment and Garden Society from 1995, and having a commitment towards the promotion of horticultural topics especially in connection with our two schools over this period of time, I amhappy to see the “Pupils learn about life on land” feature on page 43. The “latest scheme”, which is how you describe the “new plans”, arewell over a year old. Indeed, theywere processed by the local planning authority and submied as a Phase 3 planning application in the spring of 2013 and prompted the public meeting late last summer leading to those plans being reviewed by the developer, but hopefully reviewed via both of Kings Hill's developers – Kent County Council and Liberty Property Trust. My society’s views and concernswere communicated via emails to all parties. I'm afraid that the promise of sports facilities remains too vague. Given our sustained 20-year calling for a local allotment site and despite the publicised claim of the allotment site being opened last year, along with the many football pitches, the proposals of the parish council are simply not fit for purpose. They simply fallwell short of the demand. For this self-styled prestigious new community of Kings Hill, the angry residentwas right to offer at the public meeting whatwas clearly a popular view, while another voiced his opinion that this situationwould not happen in the USA. Brian Pearson, secretary, Kings Hill Allotment and Garden Society
Comment
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