Storm blows in

Trees were uprooted, properties were damaged and trains ground to a halt as gale-force winds ravaged the district.

Two yellow weather warnings were in place on Sunday as 65mph gusts battered Kent.

A congregation at All Saints Church in Whitstable narrowly escaped injury on Sunday after a large branch fell at the entrance to the building just before a service.

Its reverend, Simon Tillotson, said it crashed to the ground as people were entering.

“We are just so grateful nobody was hurt,” he said. “But we were not in any way put off our worship and focussing on why we are there in the first place.”

A fallen tree also blocked the A291 Canterbury Road in both directions on the same day.

It prevented motorists travelling between the city and Herne Bay from passing as it sat across both lanes near Bullockstone Road.

Elsewhere, fire crews were called to Brogdale Road in Faversham after an uprooted tree cut off the route.

On the rails, there were obstructions across the county. Where they were able to run, trains were limited to 50mph across the network.

There was further disruption the following morning when a tree fell on railway tracks, halting rush hour commuters travelling between Canterbury West and Ramsgate.

Meanwhile, two fire engines were sent to one of the flats above the former Nasons store in Canterbury High Street at about 11am on Sunday to reports of a loose window pane banging in the wind.

In Herne Bay, a window of the Hippodrome in King’s Road was blown onto the street.

Doreen Stone, the chairman of the town’s pier trust, described the gales as “the worst storm in the last five years” after a number of the landmark’s attractions were damaged by the wind.

She said: “The canopy of the carousel took the worst of it along with the bungee, which was pushed to the side of the pier.

“We’re going to try to raise a few thousand pounds to repair the carousel. The whole of the canopy over it was ruined. It’s such a shame because it was a lovely old carousel.

“We really hope there isn’t any more damage to the pier later this week.”

Whitstable also suffered, with winds ripping off roofing, dislodging bins and blowing a boat into the sea wall. Thursday, March 14, 2019 Kentish Gazette (KG)

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n As Dave Wilson’s letter last week makes clear, Canterbury City Council has options when deciding whether and how to extend the Wincheap Park & Ride. It wasn’t all settled in the Local Plan.

A large area of land was ‘safeguarded’ for possible use, but it doesn’t follow that the council is obliged to turn all that land, including Wincheap Meadows, into a car park. It could opt for other ways of meeting the need without destroying the riverside meadows and violating the designated Area of High Landscape Value.

The obvious alternative is to build upwards rather than outwards. Put another tier of parking above the existing car park, or a slightly larger area, but don’t build on the floodplain.

No doubt it will be said that this would be expensive. There would be an obvious irony in that response, bearing in minds the millions committed to the hugely unpopular multi-storey car park at Canterbury West station.

The current proposal will itself be very expensive. The precautions to deal with flooding will cost a great deal. And the marshy area of wet woodland could not be turned into a car park without a great deal of work and expense.

By contrast, the existing car park is already there and available. It has the advantage of being a brownfield site, always preferable from a planning point of view to a greenfield location.

The design of the council’s proposed scheme allows scope for adding further levels upwards if need be, so clearly that is already regarded as a viable option. It may not be cheap, but how much better it would be to spend on a scheme which would preserve the irreplaceable river corridor and our priceless green heritage.