downsmail.co.uk


who are taken everywhere nowwith parents, who aremostly engaged onmobile phones. Is it time for restaurant reviewers to start


including noise levels in their critiques? Va


lWillia S ms,Hollingbou rne hipping incity problems


I READwith interest your itemin theDowns Mail regarding the building of yetmore flats in the county town. Thousands of houses and flats have been


built in and aroundMaidstone in the last few years. There have beenmore changes since 2 0 1 0 than therewere in the previous 4 0 years, and the only newroad is theM2 0 . Given the number of dwellings that have


been built, youwould have thought that the homelesswould have ceased to exist in Maidstone. I understand through aFreedom of Information request, that there are over 6 0 0 people locally awaiting accommodation. Why? I also understand that some of the recently


completed accommodation is being bought by London Boroughs likeNewhamand TowerHamlets to house their homeless. After arecent television programme highlighting the drug and knife problems in those areas, I fear that those problemswill become our problems. What kind of people are being sent to live


inMaidstone?Arewe sleepwalking into a situation that is not of ourmaking? Unfortunately for us,Maidstone, is just


close enough to London to be useful and far enough away that they can dump their homeless on us.Do these people have jobs or will they take the jobs of existing residents? The schools, doctors and dentists surgeries,


the hospitals, homecare for the aged, are all areaswhere there arewaiting listswith no foreseeable improvements. You can build aschool but you have to


staff it. Likewise hospitals, doctors and dentists. Roads need to improve, sewage disposal


needs to be adequate,water supplies and electricity need to be considered. I feel the residents ofMaidstone are being


ignored andwill be subsumed by the influx of outsiders, changing the character of the town forever. AnnBa


tes,Allington BBC‘balan ce’mademe lau gh


I LAUGHEDout loudwhen I read Roy Datsan’s claim(leers) thatwe should consider BBCnews, theGuardian/Observer and Private Eye formore factually balanced reporting of EUmaers. Somany ofmy friends have abandoned


BBCnews because of its slanted anti-Brexit bias and nowwatch ITVnews for balance. DennisFowle, President,DownsMa


il Muntjacs aremoving in


IHAVE just read your article on the Maidstonemuntjac population and Iwas wondering ifmanymore people had emailed you regarding sightings? I farmaround that areajust belowLinton


Hill and find it interesting that they are starting tomove into the area.No doubt they will be regulars in the years to come. Pa


trick Wood, v iaema il Cycle pathsneed investment


MODAL shift is agood ideain theory. However, in practice it needs both investment and education. I’mafairly keen cyclist. I’ve been cycling


regularly for fitness and health for the past three years. I cycle frommy home in Grove Green into town along theAshford Road and then pick up the river’s newcycle/walking path to eitherAllington or East Farleigh lock. The cycle path into town is badlymarked


andmaintained.When I’mon the path, I come across pedestrianswalking in the cycle lane. I’mnot sure if it’s alack of knowledge or safety, alot of the peoplewalk close to the grass bank and havingwalked into town I can understandwhy. I felt vulnerablewith the trafficwhizzing past just inches away and foundmyselfmoving ever closer to the cycle lane.However, on seeingme approach, pedestrians seemunsurewhat to do and often either stopwhere they are ormove closer to the grass bank often forcingme into the pedestrian lane. The signs along the route are barely visible


and there are bushes and brambles growing across the cycle lane. Theworst times are school times and evenings,when the runners are out. School


kids are alwayswalking in the cycle lane and the runners often run four abreast. Ifmodal shift is towork, the council needs


to invest inwell thought-out routes that are marked and signed properly. They need to be properlymaintained.Above all, people need to be educated about the lanes. Neil Cole,GroveGreen


Footbridge delay explained


RE YOUR article on theM2 0 bridgework, September edition. The footbridgewas destroyed two years


ago inAugust 2 0 1 6 . The old bridgewas not up to the current design standards and had to be redesigned. This involvesHighways England needing to buy asmall additional parcel of common land fromtheAddington ParishCouncil to accommodate the design. Representatives of the parish council first


metwithAone+ ,Highways England appointed project team, inNovember 2 0 1 6 and again in July 2 0 1 7 , andwemade it very clear toAone+ thatwewanted toworkwith themand fully supported the rebuilding of the footbridge. Wemade themaware that because the


land they require is common land they would need aSection 3 8 Consent.Minutes of bothmeetingswere taken. We later received aseries of emails and


transfer documents fromHighways England stating that the landwas not common land and asking thatwe sign the transfer.A further legal search established that the Section 3 8 consentwould be required. We have nowincurred alegal bill of over


£3 ,5 0 0 , and no progress has beenmade becauseHighways England has still not applied for the essential Section 3 8 consent. Fortunately,we have an undertaking that Highways Englandwill pay our legal fees. The people ofAddingtonwant the bridge


back, as it cuts their village in two and it stops the villagers having easy foot access to their newvillage green. But the questionmembers and residents


have iswhyHighways England did not followthe correct procedure and obtain the Section 3 8 Consent two years ago? If this had been done, the project could have been mergedwith the Smartmotorwayworks. StephenMa AddingtonPa


cDona ld-Ga y, cha rish Council


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