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Control the Mote Park music MailMarks


MOTE Park’s popularity has increased


since Maidstone Council completed its big improvements and I ampleased that more social events have been agreed with an organising operator for future years. I have no doubt the council has imposed many strict conditions – and the most important must be noise controls. The park is big enough to happily host crowds of 10,000 and more without impacting too severely on its general users and neighbours. But there have been bad noise experiences in recent years, with very loud music blaring out from the park. The big BBC Radio One festivalwas not without its serious noise problems and late last summer neighbourswere horrified by a day of music, leading to many complaints. Live and recorded music will be permied and I have no problem with that provided it does not become a nuisance to neighbours. It’s all down to volume levels – and these controls have to be very strict.


We need traffic lights


Dear Sir – Regarding the leer from JS Hartnup in the Downs Mail (September) regarding the lights at the junction of Willington Street and Madginford Road, I’d like to point out the following. First, it is good thatwe can come out of Madginford safely and not dicewith death (except for some motorists inWillington Street ignoring the lights). The queues at peak times are unavoidable, but every road in Maidstone has them at peak hours. They are inevitable. Surely Mr Hartnup experiences them on his other journeys. Not many people use the pedestrian


lights and when they occasionally do, those of us coming out of Madginford lose our turn at the next change, so as to not inconvenience the impatient drivers in Willington Street. The crossing lights only operate when someone pushes the buon – that’s not very oen. To compare this access to Mote Park at this point with accessing it from School Lane is ridiculous and pathetic. This junction is busy during term time


and these lights are needed. B Brown, Madginford


Real facts of the maer


Dear Sir – Barbara Long’s leer (Impact of Immigration, Issue 209 September 2014), while generously stating that Dennis Fowle is entitled to his opinion, then claims that it is not supported by the facts. In my opinion her comments are not


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26 Maidstone South October 2014 Diane Nicholls


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


Jane Shotliff Journalist


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Dawn Kingsford


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


DENNISFOWLE President dfowle2011@aol.com


 Hospital care


AFTER years campaigning from the outside as chairman of MASH (Maidstone Action for Services in Hospital) for quality services in our local hospitals, I have now had an opportunity to judge the TunbridgeWells Hospital, in Pembury, from the inside aer my wife’s serious fall saw her admied there for twoweeks and an operation. I ampleased to report on the highest quality clinical and nursing care from a friendly, aentive team nowworking in a magnificent building and environment. Our concerned family saw the NHS at


its very best – when the chips are really down it so oen comes up trumps. And before shewas discharged to our care the hospital also carried out a series of important (and reassuring) health checks.


supported by the facts. She says that part of the housing need inMaidstone is because we are living longer – but the developers are not building one-bedroom bungalows for older people, they are constructing three and four-bedroom family homes. Older people are part of the 320,000


British people who le the UK last year, usually for sunnier climes and not to take someone else’s job. Barbara Long also claims that four fihs


of the people moving into Maidstone come fromwithin the UK. She makes this claim in the knowledge that itwould be difficult for immigrants to be granted a mortgage on a Maidstone property while living abroad and, therefore, they have to rent in the UK before applying to create a good credit history. These people are then classified by the Government as coming fromwithin the UK.


Why does she feel the need to defend “non-UK residents” (immigrants to you and me) if they are not the cause of the housing shortage? These comments and her aempt to smearDennis Fowle as a racist are a sign of theweakness of her argument (“If you disagreewith me you are a racist”). The EUimmigration policy that Barbara


Long supports is itself racist, since it only allows the free movement of people from the predominantly-white European countrieswhile denying automatic access to Asian and African people. We should only accept people who have


skills that this crowded country needs, regardless of their ethnicity. MikeWardle, by email





True to my role, I will record areas for improvement:  Directions to help visitors move round the hospital need investigating, especially at lis. Many visitorswere baffled when they ended up in maternity corridors. Wifi needs to be available – patients can feel isolated in the excellent single rooms.  Food at local hospitals is now just about boom of national league tables.


Market movers THE recent fierce competition between


local supermarkets and changes in customer loyalty are fascinating. I like to keep an eye on all, but I give priority to my locals – Tesco and Lidl in Tovil. Generally I have followed the crowd to


Tesco – but admired the improvements made by discounters Lidl, even if business there was still slow. But how the tide has changed. On a September shop the Lidl car parkwas full, the storewas crowded and four checkouts had queues instead of the one I expected. Tesco, by comparison,was quiet. It is an amazing revolution.


Thoughts on immigration


Dear Sir – I am writing with regard to Barbara Long's leer in the September issue. It is rare to find such a kind and thoughtful opinion on immigration. Your responsewas in line with what is more frequently said. I ama Spanish citizen who moved to England in 2006 to live with my English partner. I would like to ask that any British person who takes part in a debate on immigration considers the following points:  Imagine yourself in a foreign country, with customs you do not know and a language that is not your own, surrounded by people whomisinterpret you, even consider you inferior, away from the people you love. It is not easy.Whatever an immigrant’s reason, it is a good reason for that person. Because it is not easy.  I hear British people speakwith pride about Victorian times. Less frequently they realise that at that time, the Britishwere emigrating to other countries, and the citizens from those countries are now coming to Britain.A strong part of Britain's immigration is linked to the history of the Empire. I understand that another part of Britain's immigration is linked to the EU, and Iwish British citizens could be given the opportunity to vote on their membership.  UK is not only a country of immigrants, it is also a country of emigrants. Spain receives quite a few of them along its Mediterranean coast,with a detrimental


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