News


Family festival NEWand originalmusicwill again be celebrated at the eighth Maid- stone Fringe Festival. Over the course of five days in


May, the county town’s pubs, clubs and live music venues will play host to live acts from many differ- ent genres ofmusic. The festivalwill run fromThurs-


day,May 3 toMonday,May 7, en- compassing the May Day bank holiday. As well as the multitude of gigs


– many of which are free – and there will be a number of all-day events alongside family-friendly entertainment in cafes and coffee shops in the town centre.


Plans for park A HIGH ropes course, adventure golf course, skate park and play- ground are to be built by Maid- stone Borough Council as part of a three-year phased development scheme inMote Park. Spokesman Cllr David Pickett


said: “Mote Park is widely re- garded as one of the best parks in the borough.” Work starts in February and the


park will be shut for up to eight weeks. The cost of the first phase of the developmentwill be £1.4m.


downsmail.co.uk


Villagers call for lights to ease traffic hold-ups


THE county council is to be asked to consider putting traffic lights on the A20 to keep traffic moving in two villages nearMaidstone. The lights proposed would be


ahead of the roundabouts at the Mercure Hotel (Great Danes) and LeedsCastle. Hollingbourne Parish Council is


asking KCC to fit the part-time lights, to allow traffic driving through the village to get onto the A20 in the morning and evening rush-hours. Councillors voted unanimously


for the traffic management idea at their January meeting, after stating their concerns about the mounting traffic volumes on the A20 and the potential for traffic to build further, leaving drivers struggling to emerge from either Hollingbourne or Leeds. Parish councillor John Cobbett said: “Every weekday morning from7.30amto 8.30amEy- horne Street is jammed with cars waiting to get on to the Holling- bourne Corner roundabout by the


Drivers exiting Leeds and Hollingbourne villages on to the A20 can face lengthy tailbacks in rush hour traffic


MercureHotel. The queue can often reach amile back to the school. Ey- orne Street is narrowin placeswith limited passing places, so traffic coming into the village from the A20 is also held up. A traffic man- agement system is obviously needed to allow traffic to leave the village at the busiest times of the day to prevent these tailbacks. We wantKentCountyCouncil (KCC) to look at this solution nowrather than wait until the problem gets any worse.”


He says with theWoodcut Farm


scheme looming over the A20 and 11,500 proposed new homes in Sit- tingbourne, the county council needs to act now. Councillors are also concerned about pressure for more newhomes in the village and the threat of chaos caused byOper- ation Stack, post-Brexit, adding to the existing problem. Cllr Cobbett said: “As a parish


councilwewant to get in earlywith our request to KCC to find a solu- tion.”


downsmail.co.uk


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16 Maidstone East February 2018 Maidstone East February 2018 17


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