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Sponsored parish council | News Boxley Parish Mail


CHAIRMAN: Ivor Davies CLERK: Pauline BowderyASST CLERK: Melanie Fooks Parish Office, Beechen Hall,Wildfell Close,Walderslade, ME5 9RU


Tel: 01634 861237 email: clerk@boxleyparishcouncil.org.uk Website: www.boxleyparishcouncil.org.uk Contact details for parish councillors can be obtained fromthe parish office, the Useful Contact Details leaflet or the website Concern over


crossing route THE parish council has responded to a Highways England consultation on options for the Lower Thames Crossing route. Members considered a briefing


note which suggested that, whilst the crossing pointwas immaterial to the parish,Walderslade, Lordswood and Sandling areas would be ad- versely affected by the plan. The council’s response anticipated


that a significant percentage of the vehicles using the proposed cross- ing would use Junction 3 of the M2 to access the M20 via the A229 Blue Bell Hill. This would have an adverse and


severe impact on the highway struc- ture and local communities would suffer from increased noise and air pollution and from even worse con- gestion at the Lord Lees round- about. The council stated that Junction 3


of theM2was already overloaded at peak times and itwas unacceptable that the consultation had ignored this issue and had in fact absolved itself from making a decision on im- provements.


Fitness class


ANEWclass teaching tai chi qigong starts on Monday, April 18 and more details of the health benefits and cost can be obtained from Pauline.MAT@talktalk.net. The hall has many regular clubs including dance, short mat bowls, karate, children’s activities, maths and English tuition, adult jewellery class, Age Concern social club, pi- lates, yoga and babies and pre- school children groups.


Lights change


THErollout ofLEDlights to replace existing street lights will take place between September andNovember. On completion, the street lights


will return to all-night illumination, with KCC anticipating that the whole country will have all-night street light illumination by next spring.


Local elections LOCAL council elections will be held on Thursday, May 5. Make sure that you are eligible to vote. Further information can be obtained from the parish office.


34 Maidstone East April 2016


PARISH clerk Pauline Bowdery spotted this newcomer – a kestrel – and took a snap as the bird perched in a nesting hole high up in the masonry at St Mary’s Church, Boxley


Put dogwaste in household bin


RESIDENTS were reminded that they can place dog waste in their own household bins with the gen- eralwaste and it will be collected. Borough CllrWendy Hinder re- ported that after contacting the line manager to raise the issue of the dog bin in The Spinney not being emptied, it emerged that some residentswere placing large bags of dog waste collected from gardens into the public bins,


which are used regularly by dog walkers and are not very big. Hence the bins were filling up very quickly, leaving nowhere for dogwalkers to put their bags. The bin in The Spinney was emptied following her request. A litter/dog bin had been removed from Forestdale and she had arranged for a dog bin to be put in place closer to the woods and away from houses.


Nuisance vehicles increasing PCSO Matt Adlington reported on a recent increase in incidents involv- ing nuisance vehicles inWalderslade Woodlands; Boxley Road,Walder- slade and BoxleyWarren. He would be working with the woodland volunteers group and police off-road bike team to deal with the problem. He believed that many of the driverswere uninsured, so risked having their vehicles confiscated. The PCSO said any information could be useful and urged members of


the public to report any nuisance vehicles or behaviour to 101 or the parish office.


Peg tiles ‘should stay’


BOXLEY parish councillors raised concerns about a planning applica- tion to change the roofing materi- als for the conversion of farmyard buildings to two dwellings at Street Farm in The Street, Boxley. Permissionwas originally granted


by Maidstone Council in 2013 on condition that handmade Kent peg tiles were used “to ensure the ap- pearance and character of the build- ings, the setting of the listed buildings and the conservation area


is maintained.” The applicant has now asked for


the condition to be varied so that other clay tiles can be used, but the parish council considers that the original ruling should stand. It has asked Maidstone Council to


refuse the new application, stating: “Tonowcompromise on the roofing materials will make a mockery of the original permission and ad- versely impact on the visual amenity of the Area of Outstanding


Meet the latest churchgoer ...


Natural Beauty, the conservation area and the appearance and char- acter of the buildings.” The parish council said: “A quick


search of the internet has found nu- merous sites that offer handmade and reclaimed Kent peg tiles and so the argument that they are difficult to source is not accepted.” The council wishes to see the ap- plication refused or reported to Maidstone Council’s planning com- mittee for consideration.


Response to


local plan THE parish council’s response to the consultation on the draft local plan included requests that it be changed to include:  Protection for the Medway Strategic Gap: currently the gap at Lidsing, Bredhurst and Capstone Park is deemed countryside but no additional protection to stop Lordswood andWalderslade join- ing up with Hempstead.  More protection for the coun- tryside.  The addition as Landscapes of Local Value of Beechen Bank, Walderslade Woodlands, Cow- beck and Reeds Croft woods.  The reference to new bus serv- ices at the proposed development at M20 Junction 7 to include the bus service serving Bearsted vil- lage and Bearsted train station. The parish council’s response to


the integrated transport strategy highlighted numerous issues. Councillors raised concern that it


was very aspirational and ap- peared to ignore the likelihood that people would continue to use their cars in preference to other modes of transport. Itwas recognised that the position would only worsen with the proposed increase in housing. The parish council will be at- tending the public inquiry (the date is as yet unknown) to ensure that its views are presented in per- son to the planning inspector. Residents wishing to be kept in- formed of the progress of the local plan can sign up to a community alert by contacting the parish of- fice.


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