Public rights on playing fields

Reporter Villages editor Oakwood Park Grammar School and St Augustine Academy are planning to fence off the Oakwood Park playing fields.

The fields have been in public ownership since Oakwood Park was originally purchased by Kent County Council for the people of Maidstone in the late 1940s.

The local community of west Maidstone has enjoyed the ability to use the site outside of school hours for exercise, walking the dog, walking from Oakwood Road to Queens Road, and the enjoyment of outdoor open space.

It is important these rights be kept, together with meeting the legitimate needs of the schools for safeguarding their pupils and not having outdoor lessons and sports disrupted.

We are working with others to see if an arrangement can be found quickly so that schools have sole use of the playing fields in school time and that community access is available in school holidays and other times.

As local residents we are aware generations of Maidstone families have enjoyed the use of the playing fields, we have spoken to people over them, and know how they enjoy the site with its mixture of sports pitches and woodland, a rare and valued area in a built-up environment. We have also started to discuss with the schools how a mutually satisfactory outcome can be achieved. P Nolan, Maidstone for Remain consistently lied in their pursuit of ‘Project Fear’ those of us opposed to Brussels made the facts clear in an honest manner and if, as she says, we sometimes used emotive rhetoric, then that is hardly surprising, as this was possibly the last chance to save the democracy we love from bureaucratic dictatorship.

We may now look forward to a much better new year, as we break the links with the dysfunctional EU, and see our country on the road to being once more a free and independent sovereign nation. Colin Bullen, Douglas Road, Tonbridge programme. Since the service started, volunteers have visited around 240 schools in Kent and taught children about how to stay safe from abuse and who to go to for help.

To find out how you can join the NSPCC fundraising team and help us reach more children in 2017, visit nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do. Or why not come along and support Bearsted Golf Club’s Annual NSPCC event on June 15, 2017.

Best wishes for the New Year Michele Baxter, Community fundraising manager for Kent local community public house.

We are really pleased to see people enjoying the festivities and we recently managed to raise in excess of £900 for The Poppy Appeal and The Britain’s Bravest Campaign.

We also wanted to give a special thank you to Maidstone United FC for their ongoing support and we hope everyone has a fantastic new year. Matthew Bryant and Caroline Tierney The Hare and Hounds, Boxley Road, Maidstone