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Liberal Democrats on Kent County CouncilThe Official Opposition on Kent County Council |
WEST MALLING TRADE SUFFERS AGAIN
November 22, 2005 1:07 PM
Possible 2-week Road Closure
Trudy Dean, Chairman of West Malling Parish Council, has written to Kent County Council to protest about closure of a main road into West Malling during the run-up to Christmas. Lucks Hill, the main road between East and West Malling, will be closed to vehicles from 5 December for up to two weeks, to allow widening to the bridge carrying the West Malling bypass overhead.
Trudy has pointed out to KCC project manager, Geoff Cripps, that the important Christmas trading period in West Malling has been disrupted in successive years by Transco cable laying, water mains renewal, KCC traffic calming works, and now KCC work on the West Malling by-pass.
She wrote: "The Parish Council protested strongly on behalf of local shops and were told KCC had a policy not to disrupt trade over the Christmas period - and now, once again, they are doing exactly that.
"Local shops take approximately half of their annual profit in the run-up to Christmas, and any disruption is therefore a serious threat to their survival."
KCC has stated that contractors Birse hope to complete the work in under a week, and will reopen the road as soon as possible.