downsmail.co.uk MY home in East Farleigh is about


twomiles fromMaidstone town centre and I amastounded with the proposal that our parliamentary constituency should be changed fromMaidstone and TheWeald to KentMid and Ticehurst. Has theworld really gone thatmad? The residents of the existingMaidstone


Electoral world gonemad MailMarks


DENNISFOWLE President dfowle2011@aol.com


and TheWeald havemuch in common and this benefits us and ourMPwhenwe need help or bales are to be fought. Butwhat havewe in commonwith


Ticehurst, Etchingham, Tenterden, Biddenden, Benenden, Cranbrook, Brenchley, Horsmonden, Frienden, Sissinghurst, Hawkhurst, Sandhurst and PaddockWood? They all look in different directions.What a nightmare for us and anyMP. I support a reduction in the number of


MPs from650 to 600 and aempts to equalise the number of voters to around 75,000. For the record, I support even more strongly amassive reduction both in the number of peers in and powers of the House of Lords – say to amaximumof 200with fewpowers beyond acting as a safeguarding longstopmaking recommendations to the House of Commons. But the proposed KentMid and


Ticehurst (what a strange title) has the feel of a fewtired civil servants tossing some left-overs into a hat before catching a late train home. It includes rural areas fromthe council districts of Rother, TunbridgeWells,,Ashford andMaidstone and even crosses the Kent boundary into East Sussex.


Facts on school planning


THANK you for printing your full and balanced report regarding the Planning application fromthe Valley/Invicta Academies Trust. The only point that I feelmay not have


come across to readers is the fact that any delay in the newSchool openingwill be entirely the fault of the applicants. If the application had gone to Commiee


itwould have almost certainly been approved, albeitwith conditions, less than 36 hours after they appealed for non - determination. If the school had truly believed that these


conditionswere in themselves unreasonable they could have simply done whatmany applicants do and appeal against the specific conditions. Thiswould have enabled themto get on


withmost of the process of developing the site,without significant delay. The fact that they choose not to do so, and


put in an appealwhichmay not be heard for severalmonths,makes a nonsense of their arguments that they had to do so in order to “speed up a process delayed by the Council” and to avoid an “impasse”. Clive English, Chairman, Planning Commiee,MBC.


We’re grinding to a halt SIX or seven editions ago you ran a front


40 Malling December 2017 We have amuch greater allegiancewith


theMalling areawhich could nowbe hived off fromTonbridge but included in Chathamconstituency. Malling – from WestMalling eastwards – looks somuch toMaidstone. Howridiculous that if you look across


the RiverMedway atAllington you view Aylesford – and that falls in Tonbridge andMalling district. The Coldharbour roundabout and west of Hermitage Lane are in that same district – andmany of Maidstone’s serious problems stemfrom this. Tonbridge council is pilingmuch of its required house building programme and other development right on our doorstep. That’s a boundary changewe in Maidstone should all be pressing for – both froma parliamentary and district viewpoint. Amuchmore sensible parliamentary


set upwould be to create the seats of Maidstone East andMaidstoneWest (whichwould includemuch ofMalling). I shall be passing onmy comments to the Boundaries Commission. Others will be helpful.





Townmarket I AM pleased the council has agreed


Jubilee Square in front of the Town Hall is to feature amarket, perhaps a couple of


cover article on a Councillorwho thought that the newbridge road systemon Bishop'sWay inMaidstonewas running wonderfullywell! I have been to several opticians and


several glaziers in and aroundMaidstone and not one of themhave any ideawhere he gets his rose tinted glass from. If he couldwrite into theMail and


enlighten us all thatwould be great. At thismoment in time though only


'clueless' and 'a totalwaste ofmoney' spring tomind. Brian Blake, via e-mail


We’re grinding to a halt


IWAS interested to read Dennis Fowle’s pro-Brexit leer in yourNovember issue. WhenMichael Gove said don't listen to the experts did he have Dennis inmind? Could I suggest Dennis reads his own


publication and start listen to the experts like TomTugendhat, TimWaggo boss of the Port of Dover and representative from the RHA. I'mwaiting for an expert to reassureme


that allwill bewell in Kent afterMarch 2019. Please canwe have some realism fromDennis aswhen he asks howI view things nowafter reading the DownsMail, the answer is very uneasy. Bill Banks,Maidstone


times aweek. It should be a great success. I hope it aracts the type of stalls so


popular inmost French and other European towns. They bring atmosphere and character to town centres and are so popularwith residents and visitors. They largely concentrate on fresh and


colourful food – fish,meat, cheeses, breads, vegetables and fruit as well as ready-to-eat hot and cold snacks and drinks. It is a pleasure to visit them. If thisMaidstonemarket becomes well


established itwill aractmore visitors to the town centre, hopefully adding to trade for shops, stores and restaurants. Themarkets need to be launched with


something of a bang – perhaps a lile family entertainment andmaybe some jazz sessions.





River walk THE riverwalk along the new


footpath fromBarming toAylesford is a delight.We took advantage of the free parking at East Farleigh rail station for the two-milewalk to town.Much has happened in recent years along this stretch on our beautiful river –wellworth catching up.





Hospice support ENCOURAGING to see such a big


and enthusiasticMote Hall audience supporting the Heart of Kent Hospice at the excellent charity performance of The Mikado. In such difficult financial times the hospice needsMaidstone’s support – asmuch as we need our hospice.


Confidence could soon falter


I HAVE never been an uncritical admirer of the European Union – far fromit – and your columnist Dennis Fowlemay have a pointwhen he says that the views of favouring a speedy exit have hardened in the past 18months. But he fails to acknowledge that since the


referendumthere has been a 15%fall in the value of sterling, evidence that hard-nosed financialmarkets do not share his confidence about the future. True, devaluation does offer some respite for hard-pressed exporters, yet it has also meant higher prices in the shops,more expensive foreign travel and added costs formanufacturers using imported raw materials and parts, so that their extra competitivenessmay be short-lived. Your columnist adds that should the


whole process of leaving the EU become a lengthy, drawn-out, patience-sapping affair – as seems quite likely –wemight expect to see the re-emergence on the national stage of Nigel Faragewho, let us remember, said that if the resultwas a close run thing, therewould have to be a re-run of the referendum. Since then, he has kept an


uncharacteristic Trappist silence.As for the maligned European Court of Justice, it is hard to see a British court having the clout to impose a £90mfine on Google for tax evasion. K G Banks,Maidstone


Comment


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