Valley Conservation Society

Holder of the KCC Award for Volunteering Excellence

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund

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­­­­­MEMBERS’ NEWSLETTER  No 92                                                                  _           October 2008
 

Last chance

for show

tickets

Tickets are now on sale for our next  drama production.   “Do not let us speak of darker days. Let us rather speak of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are greater days – the greatest days our country has ever lived…” Winston  Churchill, 29th October 1945   Enjoy an evening of drama and nostalgia with this production from the Stroud  Theatre Company, as they tell the story of life on the Home Front during the Second World War.    .On this occasion, seating will be theatre-style (no tables), but patrons will be offered a free interval glass of wine or juice.

When The Lights Went Out Boughton Monchelsea Village Hall Saturday, 25 October 7.30pm     Tickets are £7.50 for adults, £5 for children   From 01622 751926 or 01622

Ira Bernstein and Riley Baugus

Music from the mountains of North Carolina

DID you know that Kent has its own Appalachian dance troupe? Called Tanglefoot, they rehearse in Ash, but draw members from across the county.

Dancer Chris Laming said: “We are looking forward to visiting VCS at Boughton Monchelsea. We have seen Ira and Riley before, and they are absolutely fantastic!”

Ira and Riley of course are the genuine material. Riley plays the banjo and does the vocals – you may have heard him on the soundtrack of the movie Cold Mountain. Ira plays fiddle and dances.

This show is certain to attract a lot of attention from folk and country fans and we expect a sell-out, but you can get in ahead of the good ol’ boys by ordering now. Tickets £8 and £4 for children. Bring your own Bourbon!

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Time-table for Archbishop Courtenay

A TIME-TABLE now exists for the construction of the new Archbishop Courtenay School in Tovil that will replace the existing dual sites – the former All Saints in College Road and the former St Stephen’s Infants in Church Road.

The land for the new building off Eccleston Road will be officially acquired by compulsory purchase on November 3, although the existing occupiers – BT – have been granted a licence to stay on until April next year.

A planning application is expected in the New Year and if passed, construction could start in April. Building will take about 18 months, but the school governors will be hoping for an early completion so that the school can transfer in September 2010.

The only fly in the ointment is that there is still a debate about whether to create a one-way drive through system for the school, using both Eccleston and Beaconsfield Roads. Such a system might ease congestion, but would restrict the space available on the school.

It is anticipated that a small hall with a kitchen will be available for use by the community after school hours.

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One year on

ANOTHER anniversary is recorded this month. Monday, October 13, marks one year since Hayle Mill Road was re-opened to through traffic. Despite Tovil Parish Council securing the necessary funding for a traffic-calming scheme and despite VCS and TPC having broadly accepted the proposals suggested by Kent Highways, there is still no word on when such a scheme will start.

The Loose Road Area Character Assessment

A youngster checking on his future at the exhibition

THE consultants running Maidstone council’s public exhibition of its proposed Loose Road Area Character Assessment announced themselves pleased with the turnout at Loose Infants School on September 6. Tony Fulwood thanked the Society and other local groups for publicizing the event so well. He said most people were asking specific questions or making observations about their immediate neighbourhood. The deadline for comments on the proposals has now passed.

Tovil homes

AN AMBITIOUS plan to build 14 zero-carbon houses is proposed for a plot owned by KCC in Tovil.

The developer intends to provide a terrace of homes with solar panels and a direct solar-heated water system that will be south-facing to capture the maximum sunshine. The properties will be three-stories on one facade, falling to two, to reflect the steeply sloping aspect of much of the site.

The development by Da Vinci Properties will build over the concrete five-a-side football pitch that currently lies behind the YMCA-run Children’s House in Barfreston Close, but the Children’s House itself is not affected.

Access to the new site will be via Forest Hill, and the plot includes a section of garden belonging to one of the existing houses in Postmill Drive, owned by Mr and Mrs Wesson. The developer will have to install special measures to protect the new residents from methane gas, since the site is very close to the former Quarry Road landfill site.

The distinctive homes will have a balcony on the second level. Fourteen parking spaces are proposed. Full details can be viewed under MA/08/1733, on Maidstone council’s website: www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk.

Breakthrough!

John Smith at work with a Kango

MEMBERS of the Tuesday work party have succeeded in clearing the blockages from the channels and culverts that once formed part of the mill-race system at our ponds in the Lower Loose Valley. The final breakthrough came after they borrowed a pneumatic hammer from a local firm.

Come and join us on

The Great River Rubbish Roundup

The end of Maidstone as we know it

MAIDSTONE council has woken up to the fact that they have been duped.

Two years ago, a cross-party body of councillors voted to volunteer Maidstone as a Growth Point  and agreed to accept more housing growth for the town than was at the time being suggested.

Now the Government has taken all the arguments that Maidstone put forward as to why the town should be declared a growth point and a “transport hub” and ruled that in that case Maidstone better take another 1,000 homes on top of the extra it already volunteered for.

“It’s a cheat,” declared Cllr Paulina Stockell at a meeting of the Local Development Document Advisory Group on October 6. She was angry that the Government had decided to ride rough-shod over many of the provisions agreed at an earlier public inquiry into the South East Plan – the policy document that will shape the future development in our area for the next 20 years.

Among the changes, the Government is making:

• Maidstone to get 11,080 instead of 10,080 homes

• Housing figures are to become a MINIMUM instead of a target

• Policies to preserve the strategic gaps around Maidstone to stop it merging with neighbouring towns are scrapped

• Policies to ensure that only “sustainable” communities are built – with appropriate infrastructure and a high build-quality - are scrapped

• There is a threat of a further review of the plan shortly, which councilors took to mean that an even higher housing level would be imposed

Cllr Tony Harwood, one of the few to vote against Growth Point Status two years ago, said that Maidstone was "being treated like a former pit village."

He described the Government’s actions as “disgraceful”, but he also chided his fellow councilors, saying they were partly to blame for the situation. He said: “We should have realized that if you stick your head above the parapet, you are likely to get it shot off."

 

The council’s planning officers had prepared a draft response to the Government’s South East Plan that was mildly critical of the changes, but the backbench councillors felt it was not strong enough.

Cllr Harwood said the plan would mean the "absolute destruction of the quality of life for Maidstone's residents" and warned members representing rural wards that the plan would mean that soon there would be no rural wards left.

Cllr Stockell urged a much tougher response and said: "We should be fighting for what was already agreed and consulted on in public."

Cllr Clive English considered the scrapping of the strategic gaps to be "the ultimate insult" and advocated working with other district councils in the region to oppose the Government’s revisions.

Cllr Richard Lusty was angry that no meeting of the committee had been called for six months, and that therefore the planning officers had drawn up the council’s response to the Government without consulting councillors for their views.

He wanted the response strengthened and brought back to the advisory committee for approval before it was submitted to Cabinet for decision. “Otherwise,” he said, “it would be like "sticking two fingers up to the ordinary members of this council."

But planning officers present, led by the assistant director of development Brian Morgan, told him that was not possible. The report, as written by the officers, had already been included on the agenda of the next cabinet meeting two days later. The best that could be done would be to convey the views of the committee to the cabinet members when they made their decision.

Cllr Harwood observed that the officers had always been rather keener on development than the councilors.

*At its meeting two days later, the cabinet agreed to beef up the council’s response.

The public has yet to see the final draft.

Fire Station land goes to housing

MAIDSTONE council has approved (Oct 9) plans for the redevelopment of the former fire station recreation field and adjacent area off Loose Road for housing. A total of 122 homes will be built including two three-storey blocks of nine flats each at the entrance to the site. Forty-nine of the homes will be social housing.

The scheme equates to a density of 45 dwellings per hectare.

Watch your garages

A LOOSE member has warned that an attempt was made to force the door to his garage off Old Drive the other week – in broad daylight. Having already had the garage broken into the previous year, our member had made certain that there was nothing of value left in it. But all members are warned that the police say there is currently a spate of garage and shed break-ins in the area. If you see anything suspicious, report it at once!

New Line Learning

THE North Loose Residents Association is hoping to hold a meeting with the developers of the former Oldborough Manor School site in Boughton Lane in November.

The provisional date, still to be confirmed, is for Tuesday, November 25, at 7.30pm in the Baptist Church Hall in Boughton Lane. For confirmation nearer the time, ring Joan Simkins on 01622 744291, or look at the NLRA noticeboard on the Boughton shopping parade. 

CPRE Kent

THE Kent branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England holds its AGM on Friday, November 28, at the Lenham Community Centre in Groom Way, Lenham

All members and supporters are welcome. Lunch can be provided (cost £8) at 12.30pm prior to the AGM, which starts at 2pm. The guest speaker will be nature-writer Richard Mabey. Further details from 01303 815180.

And all that jazz

OUR New Orleans jazz night on September 26 went down well with the 118-strong audience. With the proceeds of a raffle and the snack bar included, the event raised £511 for the Society’s funds.

Whatever happened to the Hayle Place Nature Reserve?

MEMBERS may be wondering what is happening at the Hayle Place Stud Farm. After eventually losing the battle to stop Maidstone council agreeing to grant permission for housing on a third of the site, your Society was at least looking forward to becoming one of the trustees of the public nature reserve that was to be created on the rest of the land.

It is now one year and nine months since Maidstone’s planning committee granted planning permission – subject to the owner signing a “106 agreement” committing himself to signing over land for the country park/nature reserve. To date, he has still not signed. We heard from officers that it was difficult to track him down at his home in Monaco.

Meanwhile the tenant at the Stud Farm has erected many more fences lately and seems to be making more of a go of it as an equestrian business.

Badgers at the Y

A NEWLY created badger sett has been discovered on the margins of the YMCA redevelopment site off Melrose Close. The sett is currently occupied. It is not clear whether this will have any effect on construction. The West Kent Badger Group is investigating.

Next meeting

ALL meetings of the Society are open to all members to attend. The next meeting of the executive committee will be on Wednesday, November 12, a week later than usual because of Bonfire Night. We will meet at Flat 3, The Manor, Hayle Place, the home of Colin and Jane Holman, starting at 7.30pm. Call 746514 for directions.

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Printed and published by Alan Smith, Bockingford House, Cripple Street, Maidstone, ME15 6DN