Action needed over ‘forgotton’ smelly river strewn with litter
Calls to protect waterway which runs through our town but often ignored
More litter and sewage along a “forgotten” river has sparked renewed calls for action to fix long-running problems.
Two rivers flow through the centre of Maidstone but while everyone knows the River Medway, the other is overlooked and forgotten, claims Maidstone councillor Tony Harwood.
The River Len rises in the Bluebell Wood near to Lenham and then flows west, running almost parallel with the A20, until it reaches Maidstone. It converges with the River Medway alongside The Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone. In historic times, the river was of great economic significance to the area.
It powered 18 corn and paper mills along its main course and a further 11 mills off the tributaries that lead into it.
Even today it is said to be vital to the enjoyment of residents and visitors to the town, as it feeds the lakes at both Leeds Castle and Mote Park, both major tourist attractions.
And yet the river is in a sorry state according to those calling for action.
The river flows through the millpond adjacent to Palace Avenue and in front of the old Rootes factory, Len House, which is undergoing conversion. It is also home to the Len Valley Nature Reserve – a small area of rarely visited land that sits alongside the river where it runs underneath the A249.
Cllr Harwood, who is chairman of the reserve’s management committee, said: “Sadly there is sewage manhole there that often lifts and allows sewage to seep out into the reserve. “It smells of sewage there the whole time.”
Cllr Harwood (Lib Dem) said the pollution of both litter and sewage was having a devastating effect on wildlife.
He said: “There has been a steep deterioration in the environmental quality of parts of Maidstone.
“A few short years ago I would regularly see water vole and grass snakes on the island in the mill pond by Rootes. Now it is a heavily polluted and litter-strewn drain.
“The Rivers Stour and Darent would never be treated with such contempt and disrespect.” Part of the problem is that different sections of the river are in different ownership. It is also submerged for some of its length flowing underneath The Mall shopping centre.
But the river through the millpond in the town centre is owned by Maidstone council. A spokesman said: “We can confirm that following reports of littering in the mill pond in Palace Avenue, action was taken to clean the area and remove the waste.”
Cllr Harwood said: “The River Len rises at the same spring as the River Stour. Because they share a source, the Stour and Len also share wildlife, including white-clawed crayfish and the rare DesMoulin’s whorl
snail. However, while the biodiversity of the River Stour is heavily protected by legislation, the Len has no such protection. “Indeed, when the Heathlands garden village proposal and other development schemes are discussed, Maidstone council and the Environment Agency are always keen to protect the Stour, but they have no qualms regarding discharging highway and other surface water run-off into the Len.
“As a result a hypoxic ‘dead zone’ stretches along the River Len, within the River Len Local Nature Reserve and local wildlife site in Maidstone.
“Low water flows, waste-water leaks, farm and highway run-off all combined to trigger a harmful algae bloom in the summer of 2022, which led to oxygen depletion and a die-off of aquatic life including invertebrates and fish.
“There is a plaque at Lenham celebrating the source of the Stour that fails to mention the Len. Perhaps that say it all.”