downsmail.co.uk 


last joining the fast broadband speedsters. We have pressed in rural East Farleigh


for years and now, in our part of Lower Road,we have been informed by BT it is available. I have limped along on a speed of


At last, I amup to speed MailMarks


IT has taken a long time but I amat


DENNISFOWLE President dfowle2011@aol.com


4.5Mb but nowI ampromised between 35Mb and 53Mb. That’s a big jump. I look forward to testing it. Taking this divewas not easy.We enjoy


awide range of Sky TV services; phone line, calls and TV sport fromBT; andmy internet providerwas TalkTalk (since it took overAOL).All costs kept growing and friends said Iwas seriously overpaying andmust sort it out, recommending a single provider. I had to comparewhat BT, Sky,


TalkTalk and others offered – not a simple process. I startedwith BT and a pleasant


representative said it could provide the lot, including (following a recent business arrangement) all themany Sky channels we use.Allwould come through a new smartbox it provides andwould be available too on our computers. Total cost would be just short of £100. I requested and received details of the


offer by email and discussedwith savvy friends. I replied se�ing out all the Sky channelswe expected and requested confirmation. Despitemy reminder emails nothing came back. I phoned BT again, spoke to a different


representative andwas toldmy Sky programme packagewould be restricted on this deal. Tomeetmy requirements I needed to retainmy rooftop dish and Sky


Who challenged Local Plan?


REGARDING the article ‘Will Tories pay the price over Local Plan chance?’ (Downs Mail north edition,March 2018), Iwas a little surprised the article failed tomention that itwas Conservativememberswho consistently challenged the assumptions and policies set out in the adopted Local Plan. During the past three years,Maidstone


Borough Council has been run by a coalition led by Liberal Democrats supported by Labour and a few independents. In this time, this coalition made no a�empt to counter or challenge the proposals in the Local Plan. Instead, the Lib Dems voted enmasse, albeitwith one abstention, to adopt the Local Plan. And, at the planning commi�ee, once again voted to approve all the developments in the Su�on Road/ Langley area aswell as unwanted additional developments in rural areas thatwent against neighbourhood plans. Itwas Conservativememberswho


throughout the Local Plan process consistently highlighted the lack of any planned infrastructure, especially roads and the flaws in the argument for so-called


46 Maidstone April 2018


TV box,which includes BT sport, and receive justmy fast broadband through the smartbox. The cost of allmy BT services still led to a useful saving overall. Iwanted to retainmy current email


address – andwas advised by local professionals I could. TalkTalk said ‘no,’ itwould last only 30 days after I switched. I had several phone conversationswith


Sky and negotiated amuch tighter deal for its services. Thewhole process took severalweeks.


But I think it should beworthwhile. Iwill have fast broadband and look like saving overallmore than £50 amonth.





Voting against MY vote is firmly against votes for 16


year olds. I see this as yetmore political shenanigans. Voting requires amature, rounded,


experienced brain prepared toweigh up somany considerations. Past experience shows toomany 18


year olds do not vote and use this important privilege.What hope for 16 year olds? Iwould notwish the fate of our nation to be in their hands. Let themenjoy their


‘modal shift’. Conservativememberswill continue to


challenge any further development, wherever appropriate, andwill seek to ensure that supporting infrastructure is in place, including progressingwork on providing the evidence to support a Leeds/Langley relief road. Cllr John Perry, leader, Conservative group,Maidstone Borough Council


Madness of ‘modal shift’


SHOULD the proposedM&S superstore come to pass at the Eclipse Park,which is very likely, does it not sound the death knell for the town centre? The county town is chokedwith traffic


due to increased vehicle use and the council’s crazy housing planswithout the roads to support them. The parking charges in all the car parks are already far too high, yet the councilwants to ramp up the ticket costs even higher. Small businesses find it hard to compete


while they are being stung for ludicrous rents and business rates.Meanwhile, another national chain seems to go to the wall eachweek because of all of the above – andmore.





Happy Hazlitt I WOULD not regard us as pop


enthusiasts butwe have a�ended four concerts at The Hazli� Theatre in the last fewmonths and they have given us a lot of fun. They startedwith an old crooner


favourite in the lateMa�Monro,with his son telling the story. Then itwas the Nat King Cole story, followed by the very popular Opera Boys,with theirmix of classic opera and songs fromWest End shows. But the bestwere The Upbeat Beatles, a


group of fourwho really had the Hazli� dancing, singing and clappingwith so many favourites.What a phenomenon the Beatleswere. Keep an eye on the Hazli� programme


nowParkwood Theatres have taken over its operation. You toomay find some very pleasurable surprises.





For the birds THE Arctic snowand coldwere very


challenging – but therewere several memorable rewards. We have about six bird feeders outside


our kitchenwindowand the endless display of beauty fromdawn to duskwas enchanting. We had no ideawewere so popular!At


times therewere 30 or 40 birds all challenging for positions. I hope they all survived.Whatwouldwe dowithout them?


This council, likemany around the


country, are not run by peoplewho have ever knownwhat it is like to run a business. It is driving people away from our town. Everyweek, I seemto read yetmore


about themuddle-mindedmadness that is ‘modal shift’, the council’s ludicrous notion thatwe can persuade people to leave their cars behind and go by bus (what buses?), cycle orwalk. You’d have to bemad or borderline suicidal tomake a journey on foot or on a bike at rush-hour in this place. It seems thatMaidstone is on the road to


nowhere. R Jackson,Maidstone


Woodcut ruling questions


WITH reference to your story about Woodcut Farm’s judicial reviewbeing refused by a High Court judge, Iwould like to know: 1. HasMrs Justice Lang visited the site? 2. Has she been briefed about the history


of refusals of planning on this site, including a public inquiry? 3.What are her reasons for refusal? 4.Why arewe subject to her scrutiny in


Contact our teams….


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Maidstone April 2018 47


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the first place? 5. Do we have to just accept this refusal


without explanation? I have tried to find a way of contacting


youth and prepare formore important times ahead.


her myself but, as always with these privileged decision-makers, the pedestal is too high. I am just an ordinary resident of


Bearsted, fed up with the continuous decisions of people, especially Maidstone Borough Council’s planning department, who seem hellbent on destroying the environment. Derrick Rowe, Bearsted


Vote in election, plea


AT the last elections for Bearsted Parish Council, I and the majority of the other councillors were ousted by a grouping of candidates under the banner ‘Best for Bearsted’. I have no problem with the result – it was democracy in action. I have obtained the nominations required to call for the election of at least one councillor. Unless I am unopposed, the election will


be held on April 12. Since I am not flavour of the month with certain councillors, they may well try to get a candidate to oppose me to prevent someone they may perceive as a troublemaker from ge�ing on the council. If there is an election, I am not pleading with the electorate to vote for me if they think the council is doing a wonderful job. All I would ask is that they actually vote, then at least the new councillor, whoever he or she is, can say they were actually elected and not appointed by commi�ee. Tony Grieve, via email


Taxes wasted by the billion


MANY claim we are a rich country, while our national debt climbs past £1,700,000,000,000 – £26,000 for every man, woman and child – and our personal debt is about the same again. It costs more to service this debt than we pay for Defence. Meanwhile, we’re told, as taxes rise, that


they can no longer afford to provide a proper police service, repair potholes, keep public toilets open, etc. So what I want to know is ‘Where has all the money gone'? Especially if you factor in


the millions made from pe�y fines. We are now paying more and more, for


less and less, while some people actually pay privately for services supposedly provided by the state, such as health. Something is very wrong as billions are


wasted and so-called ‘public servants’ pay themselves Lo�ery win salaries, bonuses and pensions, often for poor service and sometimes complete failure. Phil Granger, West Malling


Less secular than it seems


EVEN for an agnostic, albeit one with a love of religious music and architecture, Dennis Fowle’s recent piece chronicling local Anglican decline (‘What is future for our Churches?’) made melancholy reading. But perhaps this country is less secular


than it seems. Surveys of people’s beliefs used to show that many individuals, while not churchgoers, continued to believe in God, in life after death and to a much lesser extent, hell. This suggested that, privately at any rate, Christianity continued to be a source of meaning and consolation for significant numbers of people. Others professed to having had mystical experiences at some point in their lives, of sensing a spiritual connection with nature, say, or feeling you were in the presence of the dead. Possibly it is to this segment of the


population Anglicans need to be appealing. That said, the closure of a church is not necessarily to be lamented. Holy Trinity in Maidstone, one of just


four churches built in Britain to celebrate and commemorate the allied victory at Waterloo in 1815, is now a hostel for troubled 16-24 year olds, a role which arguably means it is closer to the teachings of the carpenter of Nazareth than ever. K G Banks, Maidstone


Little regard for town’s past


YOUR front-page article in the March issue on the Whatman Paper Mill, was a timely reminder that the remains of Maidstone's industrial heritage are continually being eroded. It seems, that Maidstone's town planners rarely deal with the developments of historic sites and


buildings, sympathetically. About a decade ago, I visited the mill in


order to authenticate a Whatman water mark in an 18th century book that I had purchased. I was shown, by a member of staff, a path that led down to the river, that had its surface completely embedded with bu�ons. I was told that rags imported from London (and used in paper-making) were unloaded from barges and the bu�ons that remained on them were removed and spread on the path. Over many years, this unusual feature had emerged. I wonder if the developers will be


sufficiently aware (or caring) to preserve the path, if it still exists? Ray Town, via email


Change to stroke services


A PUBLIC consultation is currently taking place around stroke services in Kent and Medway. The review is proposing to create three new specialist stroke centres in Kent to treat patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during the first 72 hours of a stroke. The public consultation is one part of a


very lengthy process, which has been going on for several years, to review the current service and to explore options for improving that service for the people of Kent and Medway. Hundreds of members of the public from


across Kent have already been involved in this review alongside the Stroke Association and patient groups. Our role at Healthwatch, as set out by statute, is to ensure people have ample opportunity to be involved and informed about any changes to a service. We have been working to ensure people’s need and wishes have been collected, gathered and considered. You can read our full review on our


website www.healthwatchkent.co.uk We would encourage people to read the


consultation documents and make up their own minds. Anyone can submit their views to the stroke consultation either by post, phone or email. The information can be found at www.kentandmedway.nhs.uk/ stroke Steve Ine, CEO, Healthwatch Kent


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