downsmail.co.uk MANYMaidstone restaurants are so


noisy I have had to stop using them. It’s sad, because often the food and service are excellent. But both are insignificant ifwe cannot


hear each other speak at a small table for two, three or four.And this has happened at several restaurants in the last year. On the last occasion,we gave up trying,


asked for an early bill and rushed out. It was a great relief to escape. The cost of this torture averaged £20 an hour per person! Themain problems seemto be low


ceilings, lack of cushioning furnishings and tables too close together. Now,when a friend recommends a


restaurant,my first question is about noise. If that iswrong, nothing elsema�ers. I knowmany share this view. This should be a very high priority for


restaurant owners.Nowadays, they face increasingly stiff competition in Maidstone,where food quality has improved somuch over the last fewyears.





Flats plan I FINDmyself torn on the document


proposing thatmore than 1,000 apartments/flats should be built on five privately-owned sites inMaidstone town centre.


Months of road closure hell


ITALL started with the heavy snow during the winter and things in Gatland Lane have deteriorated ever since. After the snow, residents of Gatland


Lane and its surrounding roads had to negotiate the “surface of themoon” to avoid damaging their cars’ suspension, such was the state of the road. Wemade constant pleas to the county


and borough councils for help and, eventually, the road wasmarked. The surface was to be a�ended to and the road closed for four days for work.And the day before, theA26 Tonbridge Road collapsed. Ever since, Gatland Lane has been


turned into a busy thoroughfare with open backed vans/lorries bouncing their cargo through the road calming cushions at 4amand waking the residents. Ge�ing out of our drive is a dangerous


manoeuvre as nobody takes notice of the speed limit and everybody is in such a rush that to leave between 7.30 and 9.30amis hazardous. We understand the problems that the


A26 has presented and the inevitability of the use of Gatland Lane but, would it be so far fromreality to expect users to have some consideration for the residents? We are then faced with the ongoing


problemof Jubilee School. Gatland Lane has always been a fairly quiet backwater, with residentsmainly being on the upper side of 50.What the school has introduced is a total anathema to this environment


46 Maidstone October 2018


Too noisy to enjoy ameal out MailMarks


DENNISFOWLE President dennisfowle28@gmail.com


One is the oldGranada cinema site at the


bo�omofGabrielsHill – an eyesore for so long. I had hoped TheMall shopping centrewould expand into this area, but town centre retail is so depressed that this nowseems very unlikely. Residential seems themost likely answer


to a problemwe need to see solved. It would be awell-located place to live, especially for those not using a car. Another proposal is for LenHouse,Mill


Street, lining the River Len. This grade II- listed building dates back to 1937 and is seen as no longer fit-for-purpose by the car dealers planning amove to ParkWood business estate. It is looking very sad and neglected


nowadays, inwhat should be one of the most a�ractive areas of our town. A�ractively-designed apartmentswith a meaningful river frontage could look superb on this site – awonderful place to live, again probably for non-drivers. Neither of thesewould be huge


with aggressive parents prepared to justify, verbally and physically, blocking residents’ drives. The level of parking is a real hazard – and the school is only 60% full of its present limit of 210 pupils. We welcome the opening of the


Tonbridge Road! Gareth Owen, via email


Bus complaint frustration


I THOUGHT readersmight be interested in the difficulty we have hadmaking a complaint againstArriva buses. We do not have a computer, but you are


expected to do it online.We wanted to highlight the fact that the No 7 should have got to our stop at 12.50pm. However, it did not arrive, so we had to get the next bus at 1.50pm. This is not the first time. On several


occasions in the past, the bus has failed to arrive. This is why I amwriting to you, in the


hope thatArriva will take notice and something will get done. G Troer, Bearsted


Homes on borough border


TONBRIDGE &Malling Borough Council has received an application fromGladman Developments to build 840 dwellings in Hermitage Lane,Aylesford. This site is on the borough boundary betweenMaidstone and Tonbridge &


developments – but the full proposal for more than 1,000 flats etc in the town centre is a differentma�er.Maidstone councillors are rightly concerned that in our over- crowded town, there are not the infrastructure and vital services to support another huge increase in our town centre population. We have tomeetGovernment demands


for newhousing, but I do not favourmuch of this in urbanMaidstone. There is talk of newdevelopments/villageswith their own infrastructure and thismakesmuchmore sense tome, despite opposition from countryside organisations.





Crowded crematorium PARKINGhas been enlarged andmuch


improved atMaidstone Borough Council’s crematorium– but the real problem remains. The crematoriumitself seats fewer than


100mourners and I have been embarrassed toomany times at bigger funerals by serious overcrowding. So often mourners are the older generation in need of a seat but left to stand at the back or in the corridor – or unable even to enter the building. It is a problemthat has been ignored for too long -andMaidstone deserves be�er.


Malling and, should approval be granted by this council, it will have repercussions for the residents inAllington. There will be two access roads, one onto


theA20 at the 20/20 roundabout and White Post Field into Hermitage Lane which can only increase the congestion on these twomajor roads. The infrastructure is already poor in this


area, with schools and doctor’s surgeries over-subscribed. Recently, two surgeries in theAllington area closed, leaving 5,000 patients without doctors until the surgery was replaced by a practice fromthe town centre. Although S106 payments will be paid by


the developer towards infrastructure budgets, these will go to Tonbridge & Malling Council, but it is inevitable there will be an overspill of residents fromthis estate using the schools, doctors and dentists in theAllington area. It is therefore essential that there are


cross boundary discussions between Maidstone Borough Council, Kent County Council and Tonbridge &Malling to ensure this does not happen without some budgetary recompense. Themasterplan for this application has


no provision or land safeguarded for a GP or newmedical centre.More than 2,000 new patients could therefore fall within theMaidstone Borough Council area, which is already at breaking point. The increase in traffic along theA20 to


theM20 roundabout, already a bo�leneck, will not be resolved unless a new railway


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