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downsmail.co.uk Call to halt council’s court action


LABOUR and Conservative group leaders on Maidstone Borough Council have urged officials andpolitical leadershiptoput aholdonHighCourt actionagainstKent County Council. Labour’s Malcolm McKay and


MBC is committed to its policy


Tory John Perry are concerned aboutLiberalDemocrat-ledMBC’s decision to press onwith proceed- ings to get a tax-payer funded ju- dicial review. Theywant parties to get around


a table to resolve the dispute ami- cably andmade their feelingsplain at ameeting of council group lead- ers on January 3. CllrMcKay toldDownsMail: “It


is fair to say that John andIwish to see this resolved outside the courts.” Eddie Powell, Maidstone Inde-


pendents’ leader, agreed. Paperwork for the next round of


taxpayer-funded legal action by MBCagainstKCChas been lodged with the High Court in London. MBCis seeking a judicial reviewto examine how KCC spends S106 cash released by developers for road improvements. The borough council’s chief ex-


ecutive Alison Broom and the Lib Dem leader Martin Cox say the


Cllrs John Perry andMalcolmMcKay want an out-of-court resolution


costly legal action is for “clarity”. At the heart of the case is the


MBC house-building programme, which will see 17,600 new homes and a massive increase in traffic. Another 8,000 units could be in- cluded in the Local Plan review. According to the courtpapers, in


dispute is MBC’s demand to con- vert theA274 (Sutton Road) into a


Retiring CAB chief ‘hard to replace’


THE chief executive of the Citizens Advice Bureau inMaidstone has announced his retirement. Bonny Malhotra (pictured) will be retiring at the end of June


2019, after leading the branch formore than 20 years. The organisation has


since become one of the most successfulCitizenAd- viceBureaux in the country. MrMalhotra said: “When


I first arrived atMaidstone bureau in June 1998, I little expected to find a job, a bu- reau and a community that would still be engagingmy enthusiasm21 years later. “The work has been an


excitingmixture of opportu- nities, setbacks, challenges and successes, always demanding the best that I,my staff and vol- unteers couldgive. I amproudtohavebeenapart of a teamwhich has been so wholehearted in helping and speaking up forMaid- stone. Iwill continue to support the vital role of the bureau in our community.” Chairman of the Bureau Trustee Board, Rob Bird, said: “Bonny


has been an inspirational and dedicated advocate for those who find themselves disadvantaged throughoutMaidstone. “Through his leadership and vision, the bureau has provided an


excellent service forMaidstone residents which has been recog- nised at a national level.Hewill be very hard to replace.”


4 Maidstone East February 2019 Trucks put Brexit to test


TRUCKERS were each paid £550 to take part in a pre-Brexit dress re- hearsal atManston Airport. The airfield is to be used as a


massive HGV holding area if there are problems on the M20 after March 29, when Britain is due to leave the EU. Only 89 of the 150 lorries which


had been invited to take part in the logistics experiment actually showed up on the day of the trial in early January. It was meant to test timings


fromManston to the Port ofDover along the A256 and A20. The use ofManston is phase two


of Operation Brock, designed to keep freight flowing to the Chan- nel ports and to combatOperation Stack, pictured above. Phase one is theM20 contraflow


between junctions eight (Leeds Castle) and nine (Ashford)which is due to be in place by the time Brexit happens. The Department for Transport


declared itself happy with the trial and said the number of trucker s who took part “exceededwhatwas required”. Thanet MP Roger Gale claimed


that the pre-publicity of the event meant that the trial was not test- ing reality. The test showed a travel time of


90 minutes between Thanet and the Port of Dover, which handles over 10,000 freight units daily. Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom


Tugendhat continues to fight the M26 being turned into a tempo- rary lorry park in the aftermath of Brexit.


six-lane highway to accommodate bus routes. KCC has indicated it is unwilling to do this because it would “disadvantage” other road users. But the county council wants to


use £200,000 of the £2.7m in S106 monies from three A274 develop- ments to carry out studies into a Leeds-Langley relief road.


ofmodal shift.whichwill try to en- courage residents to make jour- neys by bus, bicycle or on foot rather than use a car. Cllr Cox admitted last year that


he was “not 100% sure” modal shiftwillwork. A well-placed KCC source said:


“This has nothing to do with the £200,000 anymore. MBC is trying to supersede the authority of KCC as the statutory body responsible for building roads. “We have to go to court to fight


that and one would expect that MBC will fail in that quest. But it seems MBC will not back down until KCC delivers six lanes on the A274, and we are not going to do that.We neverwanted this to go to theHigh Court.” We approachedMBC for a run-


ning total of money spent on the High Court action but the council refused to confirmit. KCC has asked the judge to re- jectMBC’s claimwith costs.


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