Local News for Larkfield & East Malling and West Malling Bulleting No 31, from Trudy Dean, Michelle Tatton, Roger Roud, and David Thornewell

Dear Neighbour,
A million thanks to all those people who sent in their comments to the Local Plan.

David Thornewell and I helped at a drop in for residents wanting advice and help on writing their comments to the Inspector, at Church Farm New Hythe Lane, on 5th November. We also spoke at packed, very successful meetings at The Malling School on 1st November and West Malling Primary School in October.. We know that the petitions, surveys and letters sent in successfully persuaded the Borough Council to include the proposal to extend the Green Belt, to reduce the extent of Kings Hill growth on Broadwater Farm, and to rethink the route for an access road to the bypass near West Malling Station.

So very well done everybody! Especially the residents who held a street party to get everyone to sign up to the Green Belt petition. Great style guys and thanks for the cake!

The Borough Council now has to organise all the representations into "issues", send them to the Inspector and then put them on the website, probably in January. The Inspector has to read them all, and decide which issues s/he wants to explore further. A list of these will be published, and interested bodies and people will be invited to send in short statements summarising their views. A date will be announced for the start of the Examination in Public some time in Spring.
Best wishes,

Trudy Dean
Kent County Councillor for Larkfield, East Malling and West Malling

Highway Diversion Routes

Lorries thundered along New Hythe Lane this week as KCC had signed it as the diversion route when a section of Malling Road to Snodland was closed. I was advised that New Hythe Lane is always the diversion route in these circumstances because the route via Gighill has traffic calming humps on it. What do you think?

Library Closure challenged

Lib Dem County Councillors have challenged whether KCC has started its consultation on library opening hours legally. Any change to a service must first explore whether vulnerable people will be affected and, if they are, how the effects can be reduced. The report in fact said that KCC felt there were so many ways to get library services without attending a library, that they were no longer going to take 'deprivation' or poverty, into account. Larkfield Library is set to lose 5 hours of opening, and West Malling will have its opening hours more than halved. The report suggested that swipe cards could be issued to give approved people access to the Library when it was 'closed'. However, when I asked how much it would cost to put in the technology of swipe cards and CCTV, the answer was £50,000 per library. That totals £5.5 million cost of converting all libraries - more than wiping out the £1m saving over two years which the shorter hours are intended to deliver. I think they'd better think it out again.

Make sure you send in your views as the consultation has already begun and will close on January 29th. 2019
consultations.kent.gov.uk/consult.ti/LRAStrategy

20mph Policy to be Reviewed
.
Following a campaign by Lib Dem Councillors at County Hall, KCC has agreed to review its policy on 20mph schemes. Kent has far more restrictions on putting in such schemes than other Councils, and this means fewer 20mph schemes are put in. Hopefully, this review will convince KCC that 20mph schemes means traffic is slower, quieter, and causes less vibration, as well as reducing injuries if a pedestrian is hit.

Winterfield Lane -Lucks Hill
Michelle and Roger have been working on possible ways of improving the safety of this junction used by many Larkfield people en route to The Malling School and West Malling. A number of people have had narrow escapes due to poor visibility for drivers and pedestrians. One possibility is to fill in the 'slip road' on the school side of the little island known as Couch Green (The one where the finger post has been knocked over AGAIN). This would mean all vehicles would then use the other carriageway which, if widened slightly, could take all traffic and give better visibility. This design would also provide a safer crossing point than at present. Let us know what you think.
Leybourne Park Broadband
Following an enquiry from a resident, I discovered there is a government scheme to help residents meet the cost of providing broadband to homes where it is not commercially viable for the broadband companies to do so. It needs all interested residents to work together as a group, so if anyone in Leybourne Park might be interested in such a scheme, please contact me at trudy.dean@kent.gov.uk

Morrisons to Martin Square Path
Following a recent attack in this path, Anita Oakley has asked Morrisons to consider reducing the height of the wall between the car park and the path to increase the visibility of people using it.
Trying to clear the way to the turkey
I have asked for roadworks for UKPN (see below) on Hermitage Lane to be delayed until after Christmas. It's difficult enough to get to Sainsbury's at Christmas.

The saga of the A20 boating lake near Homebase goes on. The latest version is that traffic engineers have discovered they needed to empty three soakaways. They need the landowner's permission to get to a third soakaway. Which they hope will solve the problem. If it doesn't, it's back to plan B which is pumping the water away to a reservoir, possibly under the road. Made me wonder briefly if just drilling a hole in the road would do the trick.........

Christmas shopping is underway: Buy in your Local Shops if You Can.

Please try and buy as much of your list as you can from local shops. Every pound you spend in local shops and businesses stays in local communities, in contrast to spending in national chainstores. It also helps the environment, as getting your goods locally reduces the distances materials and goods have to travel, and increases the freshness of food products.

Five new building sites on Kings Hill

David Thornewell and I attended the Liberty Trust public consultation I wrote about in the last Bulletin. They say that they cannot find buyers or tenants for the three left hand plots on the map which were originally intended for commercial development. They are therefore applying for planning permission to change the land use to residential. Going from left to right across the map, the five sites are proposed to provide 70 flats accessed from Malling Road, 70 flats accessed from Kings Hill Avenue, 210 houses and flats connected to Jubilee Way, 115 houses and flats reached from Amber Lane, and 40 houses opening onto Wateringbury Road.
Both East Malling & Larkfield Parish Council and West Malling Parish Council commented in theIr comments to the Local Plan that some of these sites could be considered instead of building over some of Broadwater Farm.
Kent County Council - highway authority and developer on Kings Hill
Kent County Council, as owner of the former airfield, is a joint developer with Liberty Property Trust, its development partner on Kings Hill. It was therefore more than usually interesting to read the comments of KCC Highways on the Local Plan, and Broadwater Farm development in particular.
KCC Highways have pointed out that the proposal for 900 houses on Broadwater Farm does not satisfy the County's requirement that any development of over 300 houses should have more than one access.
This means that a second access will be needed and, we understand the only practical alternative is through Kings Hill. Liberty Property Trust have made it clear that they will require a contribution to the maintenance costs of the Kings Hill road network if residents from Broadwater Farm development use Kings Hill roads to access the bypass. No doubt this payment will be significant, and may mean that Berkeley Homes who have bought options on Broadwater Farm may need to renegotiate the terms of their sale to compensate for it. Alternatively, they could reduce the size of the development from 900 to 300 houses, in which case a single access road would be sufficient.

A20 junction designs coming soon

I understand that the detailed designs for increasing the capacity of the junctions at Winterfield Lane, New Road, and New Hythe Lane with the A20 London Road will be available at the end of November. Shame they couldn't be completed before we had to comment on the Local Plan.

Ryarsh Sand Quarrying Plan dropped

On Tuesday this week, the County Council's Environment Committee recommended that the proposal to quarry sand at Ryarsh Quarry should be dropped. Officers advised that the site lay within the Green Belt which required "Special Circumstances" in order to be developed. Since the sand could be supplied from an alternative site at Lenham which is not in Green Belt, there was no justification for excavating at Ryarsh. The Full County Council has to ratify this recommendation in a couple of weeks and, not surprisingly, the owners of Lenham Quarry very quickly launched a legal challenge to the decision.

ROADWORKS
B2246 Hermitage Lane, Maidstone. Temporary Traffic Lights from 26th November to 14th December near Barming Train Station for UKPN.

19th December. Rochester Road Aylesford closed for up to three days for laying of water pipe by South East Water

EVENTS
There's lots of opportunities for mince pies coming up in the next few weeks.
Saturday 1st December. East Malling Conservation Group Dinner will be held at the Institute. Tickets are £18 per head. Book with Roger Roud at rouds@talktalk.net or ring 01732 840828
Sunday 2nd December. West Malling Christmas Festival is taking place between 12 noon and 5:30pm with the light switch on at 5pm. This free event is great day for all the family, including live entertainment on stage, Santa's Grotto, a trampoline and carousel, shopping, stalls, crafts and food and drink.
Sunday 2nd December. Heart of Kent Hospice, Aylesford Priory Service at 4.30pm, where stars representing people who have passed away will receive a blessing. The WM Community Choir and Maidstone Singers will all be singing at this very special service for patients and friends and anyone who wants to create a memory of someone they have lost.
Thursday 6th December. Fancy some company? Silver Lunch Club Christmas Dinner at St James Community Centre at 12.30pm. £6.75 for three freshly cooked festive courses. Ring 01732 846314. Transport available if needed.

Friday 7th December to Sunday 16th December. Bazaar Christmas Extravaganza returns to Pilsdon Chapel Barn, Water Lane, West Malling (except for Monday 10th when closed)
Jewellery, clothes, home furnishings, gifts, decorations and loads of stocking fillers. All goods are traded ethically from India and Nepal where owner Joanna Hall travels every year to ensure the craftsmen and women get a fair return for their work. Come and feast your eyes on this Aladdin's Cave! It's an amazing sight. Refreshments available.
Saturday 8th December. Saturday 1-4pm St James Centre Community Christmas Fair. Stalls, fun activities, crafts and Santa's Grotto to book stalls contact angela.communityprojects@gmail.com
Sunday 9th December . "Carols by Candlelight" at 5pm St Marys Church, West Malling. Concert with WM Community Choir and school choirs from More Park and WM Primary Schools. Tickets £5. Children free. westmallingcc@hotmail.co.uk.
Saturday 15th December from 2pm St James Centre Christmas Cinema Club "The Polar Express". Meet Santa and enjoy some festive treats.

Tuesday 18th December Larkfield Community Group Christmas Party, Methodist Church New Hythe Lane 1.30-4pm adults only.

Sunday 23 December. Christmas Farmers Market, High Street, West Malling from 9.30am until 1.30pm.

Monday 24th December. Christmas Eve Drinks and Carols, 11 to 11.30pm King and Queen, New Road, East Malling.

Monday 24th December. Christingle Services at St Marys, West Malling. 3.30pm and 5pm (doors open at 4.30pm) Please note this service is very popular. Please walk to Church if you can. Parking is scarce!