Litter wardens are unnecessary evil

I would like express my support and agreement with your correspondent Robert Payne who has written about litter wardens.

After reading about the antics of these so-called enforcement officers over the last few weeks in your paper I am disappointed to know Maidstone Borough Council feels there is a need for such a force.

Whenever I see them in the town in their black uniforms it fills me with trepidation. Invariably, they are in pairs and if they were to approach me I would feel, at least intimidation if not a little scared.

They march about as though they are military, looking for easy pickings to fill their company’s and the council’s coffers. They are an unnecessary evil and should not be allowed to prowl our streets. Let’s all lobby our councillors and get these official thugs off of our streets.

Incidentally, what are the police, who we pay through the nose for, doing? I only ever see them forcing their way through traffic with their blue lights and shouting at motorists who can’t always get out of their way.

On another note I would like to point to is the fact that in your reports last week about crime such as rape and abuse, I notice that eight of the defendants have foreign names. Why are we allowing these migrants into our country, pushing the crime rate up? Mike Loft, Claygate. unspoilt it is with regards to miles of fields and woodland with no large housing estates being built, unlike the Maidstone area.

Where Maidstone Borough Council and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Councils join, TMBC seems to be building everything on the Maidstone border as near as they can possibly get. Can somebody please tell me why there are not massive housing projects in Sevenoaks, Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells and why Maidstone seems to be the dumping ground for 20,000 houses? God forbid west Kent should be spoilt by any housing that would be detrimental to the ambience of what appears to be a sacred area immune to the damage being inflicted everywhere else. And please do not quote Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty as my area is also surrounded by one with the Pilgrims Way less than a mile away and Leeds Castle on the doorstep but it does not seem to stop the developers chancing their luck. Rosemary Harlow, Mallings Drive, Bearsted.