News
pening will nightmare’
Gymmedal
MAIDSTONE’s Courtney Tulloch finished an impressive eighth in the World Gymnastics Championships inMontreal. Tulloch, who trains at Pegasus
Gym Club, was hoping to become Great Britain’s first medallist in the rings at the event. However, hewas unable to get on
the podium, finishing the event in eighth place. Tulloch celebrated his 22nd birth-
day the day before the final in Canada, andwas the youngest of the eight competitors to reach the final. He narrowlymissed out on a spot
intheRioOlympics, buthasnowgot his sights on forthcoming World Championships in Doha and Stuttgart, ahead of the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
development needs nfrastructure, says y Fermor
village, you can’t
valley, all of the cked at rush hour. ses being built in Staplehurst, it’s
n worse.” elf may soon be set
Mr Martin, who has unt Street, admits olve many of the
assive relief to have open,” he added. ill be that once it’s
Man found safe
A 72-YEAR-OLD man reported missing fromMaidstone on Septem- ber 17 has been found safe. Kent Police thanked members of
the public who assisted with the search for CliveMace,whowas last known to have been in the Barming area ofMaidstone at about 8.15pm. Hewas described aswhite, 5ft 8in
open it won’t stop the massive lor- ries coming over it. I don’t know why we can’t get something done about it. I understand it wasn’t a lorry that caused the damage this time but when it was closed before itwas caused by a HGV. “I would say we probably need another crossing, but I don’t know where that would be.” Cllr Emily Fermor, Lib Dem member for Coxheath and Hunton, has also seen first-hand the issues the closure has caused – but she too concedes that the problems will not go away when the bridge reopens. “We need to be making sure that money coming from increased de- velopment is being invested in in- frastructure,” she said. “We know that with big develop-
tall, of stocky buildwith short, grey hair and a grey beard. He had been missing for around three weeks be- fore hewas located.
ments we can get a certain amount of money through Section 106 or- ders andwe need to make sure that local councillors are wise to that and make sure the money is being invested where it is needed. “Of course, the issue with our planning system is that you can’t get the investment until after the development has been built.”
downsmail.co.uk News
Barron drove at twice limit
downsmail.co.uk
A DRUNK driver who got behind the wheel of her car when she was more than twice the legal limit has been banned from the roads for al- most two years. Bridgette Elizabeth Barron, 57,
New homes ‘will add to traffic congestion’
admitted drink driving in Bain- bridges Road, East Peckham. Mid Kent Magistrates heard that on July 23, she drove a Nissan Micra “oth- erwise than in accordance with a li- cence and with no insurance”. She gave a breath test of 87 mgs
of alcohol in 100 ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mgs. Barron must also pay £85 costs and an £85 vic- tim surcharge
FEARS are growing that another traffic blackspot is being born on a vital route through town. As work starts on 77 homes at
Maidstone TV Studios, residents and councillors say gridlock on the busy link between theM20 andA20 will become a regular feature. Ward councillor Wendy Hinder
Tesco arrest A 21-year-old man was arrested following a theft and assault at Tesco in Larkfield on September 5. Policewent to the store in Lunsford Park at around 9.20pm where the Larkfield manwas detained.
Lights going on THE countdown to Christmas is al- ready on at EastPeckham where vil- lagers are planning the big festive lights switch-on. The celebrations will be at 5pm on Friday, December 1, at the village centre in Pound Road.
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said: “New Cut Road is incredibly busy, even before any homes are built. With commuter parking problems, health service develop- ments atNewnhamPark, and now this new estate, the road will be horrendous.” Persimmon, which is building
the 61 family homes and 16 afford- able apartments, said the estate would share an accesswith the stu- dios. The new homes will push a predicted 150 extra cars on to the Grovewood Drive North round- about and on to New Cut Road everymorning and night. CllrHinder added: “Traffic from
Ashford, Medway, Bearsted and Sutton Road filter through here to get across town; it is an incredibly busy road already.”
WORK to reopen Teston Bridge was scheduled to finish on Octo- ber 8 – but residents fear that it will not be the end of their traffic ‘nightmare’. The bridge, on the B2163, has
been shut to traffic since August after a drink-driver caused the damage when he crashed into the medieval structure. The knock-on effect of the closure
has been huge for residents of nearby villages, withWest Farleigh parish councillor Geoff Martin de- scribing them as “like prisoners”, unable to get out of the area at busy periods. Mr Martin said: “The build-up of
Cllrs Tony Harwood andWendy Hinder But while Kent County Council
andMaidstoneCouncil have asked Persimmon to provide bird and bat boxes, public open spaces, awood- land walk and a contribution of nearly £80,000 to theNHS, no road improvements have been deemed necessary. Borough and Boxley parish coun-
traffic in East Farleigh has been un- real. I’ve had people reporting to me that if you’re on the wrong side of that bridge, you can sit there for half an hour. “It’s an absolute nightmare. Hunt
Street has been decimated by the traffic and holes have appeared in the road.We’re going to have to get someone out from highways to look at repairs. “The impact on the village has been horrendous – we’ve been like
Bridge reopening not solve ‘nightm
cillor TonyHarwood voted against the estate on traffic grounds, pedes- trian safety and the loss of trees. He said: “This was a country
lane; it is restricted in many places and runs alongside a residential area. Itwas nevermeant to become the unofficial Maidstone ring road it is today. “When the utilities were put in
for this development it was taking parents an hour to get their chil- dren to St John’s School.” Persimmon says the only high-
way improvements required by KCC is a zebra crossing and up- grading an existing bus stop. A KCC spokesman said: “This
site has a long planning history going back to 2006, when 142 homeswere originally approved. “The recent applications have
brought this down to 77 and other applications in the area have taken into account development atMaid- stone Studios, negating any re- quirements formajor road changes relating to this proposal.” TV shows such as Take Me Out- aremade atMaidstone Studios.
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Money from new development needs to be invested in infrastructure, says Lib Dem Cllr Emily Fermor
prisoners in the village, you can’t get across the valley, all of the bridges are blocked at rush hour. With more houses being built in Coxheath and Staplehurst, it’s going to get even worse.” The bridge itself may soon be set
to reopen, but Mr Martin, who has a business on Hunt Street, admits that will not solve many of the problems. “It will be a massive relief to have
the bridge back open,” he added. “The problem will be that once it’s
open it ries co why w about i lorry th time bu itwas c “I wo anothe where Cllr
membe has als the clos conced go awa “We
money velopm frastruc “We
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