Gridlock? We’ve seen nothing yet
Editor News editor Helen Grant MP in her recent attack on Maidstone council fails on one essential point.
It was the Tory-led government from 2010 to 2015 that abolished most planning laws and regulations in place since 1947, designed to protect the environment.
The Tory government promotes all development unless it can be proved the impact will be disastrous.
The housing target was independently assessed – does our MP not understand the housing crisis we are in?
Her own colleagues at County Hall have yet to oppose any significant planning application on the basis of traffic congestion – look at Hermitage Lane and Sutton Road.
We need an MP who will work with the council to promote our town’s future. Paul Harper leader, Maidstone Labour group
Traffic gridlock in Maidstone was an easy target last week for Maidstone MP Helen Grant as the problem can only get worse because of the vast number of houses being built in and around the town, principally, as we are now led to believe, for people from London who cannot afford to live there.
One of the issues not helping is the fact there is little affordable public transport available and it appears the county council is keen to cut subsidies to bus services, which will make the matter worse.
According to Department of Transport data, Kent residents use a bus on average 36 times a year versus an average for 39 in the South East. In Reading, where the bus service is still owned by the local council and more services are available, the average is 126 times a year.
In Kent the policy is to allow the private sector to make profits from certain services while expecting taxpayers to subsidise the less attractive services, which in many cases are cut to the minimum and not much use to regular travellers.
Ideally, the county council should take over running the buses, with more services and the profitable ones subsidising the less-used ones.
Unfortunately, this will not happen as the government has decided to stop local councils operating bus services.
More train services would also help, including a Maidstone Parkway service on HS1 as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link is only running at a third of the capacity forecast by British Rail in 1988.
Unless there is some major change of policy by the government, which I note is supported by Mrs Grant, the traffic situation in Maidstone can only get worse. John Cobbett Hollingbourne I write concerning your headline “Carry On Regardless” and articles on pages 8-9 in last Friday’s KM. I read Helen Grant MP has attacked Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) over its housing policy, but she seems to forget it was the Conservative-led council that set the housing target about four years ago.
At that time I was a Conservative councillor on MBC and spoke against the housing target figure. I considered the figure way too high. It was one of the reasons I left the conservatives and joined Ukip.
Lib Dem Fran Wilson is calling for the government to give councils greater financial freedom to build council homes. I asked the council at the October meeting of the communities, housing and environment committee, of which I am a member, if it was considering this option but was told by an officer the council had no plans to go down this route.
It is good to see that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are finally coming round to my and Ukip’s way of thinking about the housing crisis and transport problems in Maidstone, plus the other things needing to be considered such as schools, doctors and air pollution. Cllr John Barned (Ukip) Shepway South ward
With regards to the comments of Maidstone MP Helen Grant about the traffic – it is slowly reaching gridlock with the amount of new houses being built and no new roads constructed to take the traffic being created.
There should be a new Medway crossing near Allington to take vehicles away from the town centre. Also, what about the Leeds bypass the council has been talking about but on which seems to take little action?
What about the bridge at the bottom of St Helen’s Lane? It was a Bayley bridge, then converted to a wooden one and allowed to decay. It’s now a footbridge. Cars used to cross the river there and there were no railway lines to cross as there is marketplaces. For Kent businesses there’s a roadshow at Chatham Dockyard on Tuesday, more here: http://bit.ly/2gvc4tH. London’s ExCel conference centre is also holding an @export essentials’ event from December 5-9 more here: http://bit.ly/2gCgS1f.
Now UK businesses are selling wine to France, tea to China and boomerangs to the Ozzies. Brand UK is respected worldwide and I urge our local businesses to take a look at the opportunities available.