News


downsmail.co.uk Travellers return to parish land


A HIGH-level meeting is to be held following a further invasion of the borough council’s land at Leybourne by travellers. Tonbridge and Malling Council’s


chief executive and council leader have agreed to meet for crisis talks with the parish council on Friday, May 26. It is also hoped they will be joined by the chief constable. Leybourne Parish Council chair-


man, Bob Ulph, said: “Given that the parish council does not own this land, which has become a tar- get for gypsies, we have called for a high-level meeting to discuss what can be done. “The parish council has taken a pro-active stance over the protec- tion of this open land, and has be- come all too familiar with the process required to move travellers on. However, this is an issue for the borough and county councils and enough is enough. We want action to resolve this perma- nently.” It follows the arrival of three car-


avans prior to the bank holiday weekend, which grew to 11. Two- tonne boulders used to protect Old Barn were moved by travellers to


Lions serve up


centenary tea A HUNDRED pensioners were treated to a tea party at the East Malling Centre to mark the cente- nary of the Lions movement, which is being celebrated by clubs all over the world. The party was hosted by Malling Lions and there was a band to entertain and, of course, lots of cakes. The food was do- nated by Tesco, whose staff also went along to help at the event. Ray Lawrence of Malling Lions,


said: “The result was 100 happy faces on a dull afternoon.”


settling in Aylesford. Cllr Ulph said: “We are paying £20,000 to upgrade wooden fenc- ing along CastleWay, which starts shortly, and Gallagher’s kindly brought in some bigger boulders, but these serve only as a temporary measure to the problem.” He added: “We are now prepar-


ing a range of landscaping options to safeguard the open space, which we will be taking to the meeting to get approval and financial assis- tance from the borough council.” He said one other suggestion


Gallagher’s provided bigger boulders to deter future invasions


get their caravans on the land. Cllr Ulph said: “Unfortunately,


this was all around the weekend when council offices are closed, and therewere extra problems get- ting a court hearing to evict them. However, because of the frequency


of this happening, we were able to alert the necessary authorities out of hours and get things moving.” The caravans finally moved on Friday, May 5 – leaving behind a trail of rubbish and excrement – to reassemble atWillow Mead before


likely to be discussed would be the land being gifted to the parish council, which would allow it to gain “private land” protection from traveller invasion. Cllr Ulph added: “This is one


way that has worked successfully at Kings Hill, where the process of ejecting trespassers seems easier; although the cost implications for the parish council of maintaining the land would need to be dis- cussed fully first.”


Road closure


MOTORISTS have been warned of roadworks off the M20 either side of the bank holiday weekend. The left hand slip road off the


M20 at junction 4, westbound, at Leybourne will be closed for four nights for resurfacing. Adiversion will be in place from 9pm-6am every night from Thurs- day, May 25 to Friday, June 2, apart from the bank holidayweek- end, when work will be sus- pended. A spokesman said: “We apolo-


gise in advance for any inconven- ience caused, but we will try to keep this to a minimum.”


Primary school sweeps the board at art competition


CHILDREN from St Mark’s Primary School, Eccles, made a clean sweep of prizes at the third annual Peters Village Tri-History Arts Competition. The competition for year five


pupils at primary schools in Eccles, Burham andWouldham, was launched in 2015 by Peters Village developer Trenport, joined this year by housing association Orbit, which is building 157 homes on the site. The results meant pupils at St


Mark’s shared most of the £800 worth of cash prizes, although Highly Commended awards were earned by pupils at the neighbouring village schools. The children took part in


16 Malling May 2017


workshops in the run-up to the competition, with this year’s theme chosen as Why I Love My Valley: Our Homes, Past, Present and Future. The winners are pictured with


artist Colleen Dunn and judges,Tonbridge and Malling Council deputy mayor Cllr Roger Dalton and Tracey Crouch, who is seeking re-election as MP for Chatham and Aylesford. The winners, all from St Mark’s, included: gold (£250 and certificate, plus a £10 voucher for every classmate) Lewis Allen; and silver (£100 and certificate) Charlie Briggs. Highly commended (£10 each)


were: Burham Primary - Lily Beresford, Lexie Brice, Karis Frost, OliverWotton;Wouldham Primary – Erin Church, Jack Colvill, Ellena Giles,


Zara Immanuel, Alfie Morrell; St Mark's – Zara Berwick, Daniel Culver, Annabelle Davies, Amelie Devlin, Ryan Francis-Penney.


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