George Koowaree says that Highways England should remove the M20 contraflow between Jct. 9 in Ashford and Jct. 8 in Maidstone as soon as possible. The London bound lane restrictions have been in place since April. Earlier today Highways England reintroduced the coastbound contraflow, resulting in M20 traffic being restricted to two narrow lanes each way.
Earlier this year Kent County Council gave unanimous support for a plan to protect and increase the habitats for bees and other pollinators. These are vital for plants and food production. The plan proposed planting more wildflowers, including on our highway verges. These good intentions have to be translated into positive action across Kent as a matter of urgency.
At last week's County Council meeting Trudy Dean, Lib Dem county councillor for Malling Central, pressed the Cabinet Member on what steps Kent County Council was taking to encourage the planting of wildflower verges. The response was less than helpful, indicating that the County Council is still not taking the positive steps which were promised earlier.
Trudy Dean commented afterwards. "We know that the numbers of bees and other pollinators are in serious decline. This will soon have severe consequences for much of Kent's agriculture unless the decline can be reversed.
"Planting wildflowers is a key step towards improving pollinator-friendly habitats, and our highway verges are the perfect place to start. Local people are coming forward to set up local schemes, but they will need practical help and advice. I gave KCC the opportunity to provide a simple fast track guide to setting up a scheme, and the dusty response received is pretty useless ... no names, phone numbers, website links or volunteer group contact details.
"If this is how KCC recruits volunteers, we aren't going to be making much progress any time soon."
Trudy Dean's question and the response received are set out below:
Question by Trudy Dean to Mike Whiting, Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport & Waste
"Following the formal adoption of the Pollinator Action Plan at July's County Council, could the Cabinet Member please advise how local groups wishing to help establish wildflower rich verges should go about doing so and what support the County Council will provide them with?"
Answer
"If local groups have identified sites that they feel would make good wildflower verges and they would like to become involved, then they should contact our Highway Soft Landscape team. The team can discuss the proposals for each site and possible maintenance changes as well as reviewing the site with our partners Kent Wildlife Trust and the Bee Conservation Trust."
After several years of sustained pressure from Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners, Kent County Council have confirmed that the long-awaited pedestrian crossing at Barming Heath in Maidstone will be installed next year. The confirmation was provided in response to a formal question posed by Dan Daley at last week's County Council meeting.
Last week Paul Carter stood down as Leader of Kent County Council, having been in post for 14 years. The Council elected Roger Gough as his successor. Roger Gough was previously the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education.
Rob Bird, the Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition at KCC, paid tribute to Paul Carter and proposed three priorities for the incoming Leader.
Millions of people care for relatives, friends and neighbours, often at huge personal cost. They need more than our gratitude; they need our support.
Carers UK have estimated that over 8 million people are currently caring for someone [1]. That is an increase of nearly 40% on the number of reported carers in 2011. It is likely that 3 in 5 of us will be caring for someone at some point in our lives.
In a letter to Tonbridge & Malling MP, Tom Tugendhat, Thameslink and Network Rail have advised that Thameslink trains will not start running from Maidstone East to Central London in December. No new date has been given for the introduction of these services.
This devastating news comes less than a year after the former Conservative Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, gave a written undertaking that Thameslink would be going ahead this December to Rob Bird, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats at Kent CC.
Kent County Council voted unanimously in support of the Liberal Democrat motion [see below] today. The motion was proposed by Ian Chittenden and seconded by Ida Lindfield, It was then accepted, without amendment, by the Cabinet Member on behalf of the Conservative Group.
Now the KCC officers need a constructive negotiation with the bus operators. Then we will need agreement at February's budget meeting. So there is still some way to go but it's a good step forward.
