Insulted by hypocrisy over centres

For some time I have been following the story of Bockhanger Community Centre with interest and dismay.

Then Ashford Borough Council (ABC) distributed its ‘Ashford You’ magazine with a centrefold about – community centres and their value. Wye, Singleton and Repton all featured.

The very next week contractors moved in to demolish Bockhanger Community Centre.

How hypocritical can you get? ABC was unwilling and unprepared to spend any of the ratepayers’ money to maintain and keep this community centre but quite happy to spend money buying up properties in Ashford whilst being unwilling and unprepared to spend money on improving the town with a theatre.

We have more cinema screens than you can throw a stick at and ABC propose having yet another screen on space upon which the former Odeon/ bingo hall stands – which would make a great theatre. Bockhanger Square has been neglected and allowed to become run down over the years by ABC.

I recall reading that ABC had said that Bockhanger had lasted for as long as they had planned for – around 50 years. Does this mean that the houses around Bockhanger, built at the same time have reached their expiry date and will be demolished? Incidentally, nothing about Bockhanger Community Centre in the magazine but of course that is a negative bit of news; the magazine only publishes good news where slaps on the back can be handed out to ABC.

How insulting to be treated as fools. ABC, like our MPs, are paid for out of the public purse and should follow our wishes and not their own.

S.E. Foster,

Grasmere Road, Kennington policy would only affect a student who continually breaks the rules and therefore unless as parents we would see this as acceptable behaviour, I cannot see how anyone could not support the school’s action.

I would have preferred to have seen you acknowledge the recent Ofsted report into the school and celebrate the improvement and hard work put in by staff and students. Or, alternatively look into reporting the issues around mobile phone use, the damage caused to children’s mental health, bullying and the loss of the ability to use resources such as an encyclopedia to find out information instead of Google.

S. Cloake,

Tenterden