News Call to fix floodedA20


A PERMANENT solution has be be found to stop amain road from flooding. That’s the view of Aylesford


Parish Council chairman John Bal- combe after yet more issues on the A20 in recent poorweather. The stretch of road heading west


after the South Aylesford Retail Park has been flooding for a num- ber of years and, despite works being carried out by Kent County Council, the problemremains. When we reported on the latest


flooding incident on the road on- line, Facebookwas inundatedwith comments. And Cllr Balcombe admits it has


been a long-termproblem. He said: “I have lived close to


here for 14 years and it’s always been an issue. “KCChas done variousworks on


the road but nothing seems to per- manently solve the problems.” It is an increasingly busy stretch


of road, and can be used by drivers looking to avoid traffic jams on the M20, aswell as those travelling be- tweenMaidstone andMalling. He said it is of great concern that


the road is a continual flood risk – especially given its proximity to the retail park and a bus stop. “This whole A20 corridor is al-


John Balcombe with a temporary flood sign on the A20.


ready at maximum capacity,” Cllr Balcombe added. “This part is right next to a bus stop so there are safety concerns. “You also have traffic queuing all


the way back up to Coldharbour roundabout when the road is flooded. “The parish council get com-


plaints fromresidents, the borough councillors do and so do Kent County councillors. Something needs to be done to permanently


stop the road fromflooding.” His view is one shared by local


MP Tracey Crouch, who says it needs to be sorted out “once and for all” by the local authority. She said: “It is absolutely ridicu-


lous that this continues to happen. For years, I and others have com- plained about the flooding, its dis- ruption and the danger it causes and yet nothing has happened. “None of the authorities appear


able to take responsibility or own- ership of the problemand therefore no solution implementation. “KCC ought to get a grip of this


and sort it out once and for all.” A KCC spokesman claimed that


work to fix the problem is “immi- nent”. A staement said: “We are aware


of the flooding on theA20 inAyles- ford and deploy tankers when we receive reports of flooding. “The soakaways at this location


have unfortunately exceeded their shelf life so going forward we are planning to install a pumpwhich is due for completion by the end of March 2018. “To enable us to carry out any


improvement works we require permission from the landowner andwe are currently in the process of finalising this.”


YMCA MAIDSTONE Beat the January Blues


downsmail.co.uk


Air gun aack AMANwas shot in facewith an air gun in Snodland. The man, in his 20s, was as-


saulted by twomen between 10pm and 1.30pmonWednesdayDecem- ber 13 2017, while he was walking along an alleyway at the rear of Pollyfield Close. A statement said: “It is reported


the victim was struck on the head frombehind causing a cut and then suffered serious facial injuries from three airgun pellets. He ran from the scene and later went to a local hospital formedical attention. “The two offenders are described


as black andwearing tracksuits.” Anyone who has information


that may help is asked to contact Kent Police by calling 01622 604100 quoting reference YY/037496/17.


Medicalworry A MAN was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after amedical incident in Larkfield. Police and South East CoastAm-


bulance attended the scene in Briar Close just before 10amon Saturday January 6. A man in his 70s was treated at


the scene for injuries described as serious to his head and thorax. He was subsequently airlifted to


a London hospital for further treat- ment.


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Malling January 2018


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