News | Sponsored parish council Boxley ParishMail


CHAIRMAN: BobHinderCLERK: Pauline BowderyASSTCLERK:Melanie Fooks ParishOffice, BeechenHall,Wildfell Close,Walderslade,ME5 9RU


Tel: 01634 861237 email: clerk@boxleyparishcouncil.org.uk Website: www.boxleyparishcouncil.org.uk Contact details for parish councillors can be obtained fromthe parish office, the Useful Contact Details leaflet or the website Fears of traffic chaos at J7


MEMBERS of the Environment Committee voiced grave concerns over the possible 18 months itwould take to complete the planned improvements atM20 J7.


Many councillors felt that it


would justmove the congestion fur- therdown the road, andif the STEM School planning appeal was suc- cessful, its highway works would coincidewith the junctionworks. Earlier this year, roadworks con-


nected to the development atMaid- stone Studios brought chaos to the area. The congestion was a regular feature on traffic reports andmem- bers feared thiswould beworse. An information event is to be run


by Highways England and it was agreed that the parish council would ask to have a presence there


to allow residents to leave com- ments. The meeting further agreed that


South Ward councillors would set up an informal working group, inviting representatives from adja- cent parishes and borough council- lors to discuss the situation. The group was asked to consider


the additional traffic movements through the Grove Green/Weaver- ing area that will come from pro- posed development inside and outside of the parish boundary. The environment committee chairmanWendyHinder is request-


ing an urgentmeetingwith County CouncillorPaulCarter andhighway officers to discuss the situation. She said: “It just feels like this


community has been abandoned to the fates – the roadworks and then the additional traffic is going to be horrendous and nobody seems able orwilling to try to resolve the issue. “With 1,500 houses planned for


DetlingHill, other huge housingde- velopments just outside the parish boundary, possibly another three schools within a mile of each other and more development at KIMS, can no-one see that it is going to be


More fun at play area


FRANKLIN Drive play area for young children has been saved and re- freshed and now has two additional pieces of equipment for children up to the age of six. However, there is even better news, as borough Cllrs Wendy and Bob


Lorry parking


AFTERtens of thousands ofpounds was spent onOld ChathamRoad to stop illegal HGV parking, a foreign lorrydrivermanagedto get through the newdesign to park. BoroughCllrWendyHinder said:


“It is beyondbelief that just as this is finished a selfish driver bumps across a central kerb and parks up on a footway.” KCC will be tweaking the design


to stop this happening again. Boxley Parish Council has cam-


paigned to get the Government to change legislationto ensure that ille- gally-parked HGVs have their vehi- cles impounded until a fine is paid. CllrHinder added: “The Govern-


ment has been looking at cracking down on illegally-parkedHGVs, but there doesn’t seem to be anything that can be done about foreign lorry drivers.” IfBritishHGVs are identifiedas il-


legally parked then Cllr Hinder or the parish office will, if they can, contact the company to complain.


20


Hinder have agreed to allocate their borough councillor budgets for another piece of equip- ment. The play areawas on


the Maidstone Bor- ough Council (MBC) list to gradually have its equipment removed, but the nearest play area would be too far away to safely walk to. Cllr Wendy Hinder


suggested that the parish council could take on the play area. She approached the Gallagher Group, which kindly purchased and installed the newequipment.MBC has agreed to lease the area to the parish council for 99 years, so it will continue to give many years of fun to local children. Cllr Wendy Hinder said: “It is sad that the borough council is closing


some play areas, butwith the parish council’s cooperation, this onewill be saved for future generations. “I cannot thank theGallagherGroup enough for being so generous. This


lovely little play areawas looking a bit sparse and run down, butwith their support it is going to be so much better. Now permission has been ob- tained to allocate the councillors’ budget the extra £2,000 can pay for an- other extra piece of equipment.” The parish council has yet to sign the formal lease agreement .


Maidstone East September 2018


a nightmare for residents?” It is expected that 77 dwellings


will be completedatMaidstone Stu- dios in the next six months or so, and further houses are planned for land next to Eclipse Park. Marks & Spencer is also looking to put a large store onto Eclipse Park. Cllr Hinder added: “Tweaks to


the current roundabouts, a new roundabout andalso some highway improvements aren’t going to solve the issue of congestion. They will just push it further down the road. It is adisgrace that theplight of local residents is being ignored.”


Junctionwork ‘not adequate’


THE developer of 115 houses pro- posed for land at Gleamingwood Drive has submittedamendedplans including some highway improve- ment work to the junction at Lordswood Lane. Permission was previously given


for up to 89 properties on the site. Boxley Parish Council reiterated


its previous objections to the plan- ning application, even though it wants improvements at the junction, which is a major congestion point with lorry andHGV traffic going to the local industrial estate. A plan towiden the lane to allow


traffic to undertake vehicleswaiting to turn right into Gleamingwood Drive was considered insufficient. Councillors queried whether it was wide enough for aHGV and identi- fied a lack of plans to alleviate the congestion caused by vehicleswait- ing to turn right out of Gleaming- woodDrive. The junction is on a blind bend,


with extremely poor pedestrian and cyclist crossing provision. Revisions to the National Plan-


ning Policy Framework say there shouldbe nodevelopment if ancient woodlands are at risk andtheparish council argues that this supersedes the decision in 2015.


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