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downsmail.co.uk Stunt death ruled an accident


THEdeath of a “human cannonball”whodied after being fired into the air at a stunt show at the Kent County Showground in Detlingwas an accident, an inquest jury ruled.


Matthew Cranch (24), of Newquay, Cornwall died of multi- ple injuries after a safety net col- lapsed during Scott May’s Daredevil Stunt Show on April 25, 2011. He had performed the show- piece five times during the four weeks since joining the team The two-day inquest at Arch- bishop’s Palace, Maidstone heard that a mechanism that triggered the release of the safety net was not properly set. As a result, the safety


Partial victory in call to cut


speed limit KCC has partially backed public calls to reduce a speed limit along the A20 Ashford Road in Lenham. A72-name petitionwas presented


to the October meeting of Maidstone Joint Transportation Board request- ing that the 60mph ceiling is cut to 40mph. The county council is in- stead recommending it only goes down to 50mph, because “an artifi- cially low speed limit can lead to ad- ditional overtaking manoeuvres and can be counterproductive in terms of road safety”. The KCC response, presented at a


recent JTB meeting, added: “There has been a number of recent plan- ning applications made on sites ad- jacent to and accessed from the A20 Ashford Road. If successful, these will alter the characteristics of Ash- ford Road, which currently has little housing directly fronting the road, with the exception of the properties near the Faversham Road junction. “As a statutory consultee, Kent County Council has requested that as part of these developments the current national limit on the A20 is reduced to 50mph, which is sup- ported by recent speed data.” However, the petition’s other re-


quest – reduction of the speed limit in Faversham Road, north of the A20, to30mph–was rejected. KCC’s response said: “The level of devel- opment would not currently sup- port the introduction of a lower speed limit.”


Youth club


BEARSTED Youth Club, led by Holy Cross Church youth worker Gareth Phillips, is back for 2015. The club is for 11 to 18 year olds


and meets onWednesdays at Madg- inford Hall between 7pm and 9pm. Youngsters can play sports, board


and computer games with some trips out in the summer. Cost is £1.20. Call 01622 630165 or 739324.


32 Maidstone East February 2015


net quick-release mechanism acti- vated prematurely after the lorry- mounted cannonwas fired, leading to the net dropping as Mr Cranch fell to the ground.He died at Maid- stone Hospital. In December 2012, Kent Police


ruled out a criminal prosecution and the matter was handed to Maidstone Council. The jury heard from experts that


dirt or grit on the safety net mech- anism could affect its performance


and that it appeared the trigger had not been set to the end of its travel. Stunt show employees, including Tommy Austin who set up the mechanism on the day, said they were not aware it could be set in a falsely-closed position. Mr May, owner and managing director of Stunts UK Ltd, said training involved employees watching senior colleagues doing the stunt under supervision and fi- nally on their own. The stunt had


been performed 1,000 times with- out issue and any faults that were found resulted in equipment being taken out and rectified. The jury heard from the firm’s


chief mechanic Tony Nicholls that he had never encountered prob- lems with the trigger not setting properly.


Equipment was checked before


each show and there was more in- depth maintenance during breaks between performances.


Link road brings housing fears


THE chairman of Langley Parish Council has spoken out against a south-east link road. Despite years of talking, there is


still no concrete plan for a bypass linking the A274 Sutton Road near Langley to M20 Junction 8 near Hollingbourne, mainly because of a lack of funding. With Maidstone Council’s draft


local plan earmarking Langley parish for hundreds of new homes, Cllr Cheryl Taylor-Maggio believes anewroad willmakematters worse. She told Maidstone’s Joint Trans- portation Board: “A new road through the middle of our parish would act as a magnet for new de-


velopment along its length, which would destroy the accessible coun- tryside of the fruit-growing area that we seek to preserve, and engulf Lan- gley Heath. It would also join Lang- ley to Park Wood, which we have opposed in our neighbourhood plan. “With a new road in our area the


local plan housing number could rise [from 18,600 between 2011 and 2031] to more than 30,000 homes – 60,000 residents. “It would trigger the development


of all the sites put forward by devel- opers and property owners in Lang- ley, Leeds and Otham. “A bypass should be a bypass


Town centre manager


Bill to leave the role MAIDSTONE is to get a new town centre manager in April, after the departure of Bill Moss. Mr Moss (65) said his 13 years in the role had coincided with improvements in Maidstone and to its night-time economy, with bars, restaurants and retail outlets in areas such as FremlinWalk. He now expects to spendmore time in the vol-


untary sector with the Urban Blue Bus and as a trustee and helper at the Blackthorn Trust.


around our parish – not a road through it. We already have the A274 and the B2163 Heath Road. Adding a third major road from the Horsehoes Lane junction would turn Langley Heath into a traffic island. “Such a route would not ease traf-


fic congestion on Loose Road, Sutton Road or the centre of Maidstone be- cause most traffic comes from the west and would still use Chart Wents and the Lees Road to get onto the M20 rather than drive through Langley to reach a new road cross- ing north of Horseshoes Road. “The only solution is to reduce housing number from 18,600 to a sustainable level.”


Truck services


MAIDSTONE is to become home to the first of a new generation of drive-through Scania dealerships. The 2.5-acre site on the A229, off


M20 Junction 6, represents an in- vestment of £6m. The site, owned by Gallagher Properties, will offer 24-hour serv- ices for truck, bus and coach opera- tors. It will initially employ 34 technicians, parts and administra- tion staff, although this is likely to rise.


MPto stand down at May election


MP SIR Hugh Robertson has an- nounced he will not stand in the upcoming General Election – cit- ing his age as one reason for leav- ing politics. He left his role as a foreign of-


fice minister in July. The Conservative has repre-


sented Faversham and Mid Kent since 2001. Hewas sports minister during the London Olympics in 2012. Sir Hugh (52), who spent more


than 10 years in the Army before entering politics, told the Downs Mail: “With five-year parliaments


and my age, this is the last realis- tic chance to have another career before I get too old.”


When pressed about what path he might take after leaving politics, he added: “I don’t know yet but I hope to continue to play


some role in broader public life, probably in sport or foreign rela- tions, and also have a bit more time in Kent, including at the St


Lawrence cricket ground in Can- terbury.” When he first stood in 2001, the


seat was a Labour target, but in 2010 his majority topped 17,000. So far, Labour’s Michael Desmond, UKIP’s Peter Edwards- Daem and the Green Party’s Tim Valentine have said they will stand for the seat in the General Election on May 7. As for the Tory candidacy, Sir


Hugh said: “Iwas selected from a field of 300 applicants and I sus- pect a similarly large field will apply this time.”


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