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there are sound baffle boards put around the perimeter. However, no-one is able to control the wind which will always carry sound. I remember this from some years ago


when Madonna played at Mote Park and I could hear it well in my former home at Linton. So what? Get over it. If you don’t want to be disturbed, take your annual holiday when the oh, so awful disturbance is too great to bear. SusanWebb, Hastings Road, Maidstone


Park is not just for residents


I WRITE further to your recently published leer of complaint regarding the festival held in Mote Park. Your correspondent seems to want it


both ways: he describes the aendees as contributing nothing to the local economy, but then accuses the borough council of using the park as “a cash cow”. This is leaving aside his idea that none


of the people aending these events might be resident taxpayers of the county themselves – something I amfairly sure is not the case. By all means complain about the noise –


I might have been tempted to go on holiday myself that weekend – but as you say yourself, the land was sold by Viscount Bearsted “for the enjoyment of the people of Maidstone” – and not just the lucky few who actually live in the park. S Moore, Aylesford


Shops are on a busy road


I WISH to inform you that the new-build at Parkwood is not pedestrianised (Downs Mail, November). The shops are surrounded byWallis


Avenue, Longshaw Road, Livingstone Walk and CobbWay. The main car parking is on Longshaw Road, which is possibly the busiest road in Parkwood as it leads on to Bicknor Road which has a school , a church, four assembly halls, a crèche, a playing field, and playground. The car park is laid out either side of Longshaw Road facing the shops, causing much inconvenience to users as cars are constantly reversing in or out. Elizabeth McCashin, via email


Retail park traffic a disaster I READ with uer dismay in the Downs


Mail (No 235, page 4) that the traffic lights installed for the recently-opened retail park at the north end of Hermitage Lane are not synchronised with those at its junction with the A20. It’s no wonder that, during the rush


hour, this already congested junction now has almost stationary traffic spreading ever further in all directions and will come under increasing pressure with every new house that is built along Hermitage Lane. What were those responsible for planning this installation thinking of, if ever they were thinking at all? It appears to my unsophisticated mind


that this is a major oversight and that heads should roll. Let’s not forget, Hermitage Lane provides a major arterial route to Maidstone Hospital.Will it take a catastrophic accident to make those responsible realise what a mess they’ve caused before they put it right? The horrors of Hermitage Lane are becoming all the more apparent with very new brick that is laid on any one of the building sites there. The seemingly uncontrolled development is a mistake in the making and could be stopped if those responsible look beyond their wallets and think again. Peter Farr,Wateringbury.


Rail service is appalling


MAIDSTONE’S Labour councillors are campaigning with party colleagues in Kent, Surrey and Sussex to get Govia, which owns Southeastern, Southern and Thameslink stripped of their rail franchise. On November 4, three out of four peak


time trains on the St Pancras line were cancelled. Passengers travelling home on Tuesday


andWednesday evenings that week faced having to stand. There are no facilities at


MaidstoneWest to sit in a heated waiting room, despite being called for over the last few years. This level of service is appalling. It is not infrequent that high speed trains


are delayed or cancelled.We pay £44 return to use a poor service which takes at best 51 minutes to cover 40 miles, and pay a premium fare. Govia should have these services taken away and returned to public ownership. Our services in Kent and Sussex are a national scandal. Cllrs Paul Harper and Keith Adkinson, Maidstone Labour Party


Site chance for university


IT IS sad news, hearing of the closure of Invicta Barracks - but what a wonderful opportunity it gives the town. No, not to build yet more houses, but to


offer the site as a university campus. Maidstone missed this opportunity


when Senacre School closed and was replaced by a housing estate. Due to the vast number of houses being built along the Suon Road KCC will now be looking to build another secondary school in that area. There is no forward planning in the town. Maidstone must be one of the few county towns in the country without a university and it would do much to raise its status. Like many young people who go away


to university, my daughters now live away.With a university in the town, it would encourage young people to look in Maidstone for work when they leave, as well as giving the town the benefit of their fresh and exciting new thoughts and ideas. Malcolm Luxton, Borden, Kent


Lights display for hospice


COME along to this festive fundraising event and enjoy a musical Christmas light display in aid of Heart of Kent Hospice. Every day until January 2, 39 Castle


Road, Allington, Kent ME16 0PP will be lit up from 5pm to 9pm with shows taking place every half hour. Drive up before the show starts and tune your radio to 106.1FM – it’s as simple as that. This is a free event but we are asking all


those who come along to make a donation either by texting LIGH77 TO 70070 or by visiting justgiving.com/fundraising/ LightingUpAllington Dorothy Gorman, via email


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