Park 'N' Ride Set to Close

The Park and Ride service in Armstrong Road just of the Loose Road that serves the southern approach roads to Maidstone is set to close on the 3rd Sept.

This decission was made without consultation and is expected to increase traffic congestion on the Loose Road and in fact on the whole of the southern approach to Maidstone. A massive 71,888 cars will now be forced to travel into the centre of the town, not only disrupting the lives of the 104,000 users of the service but the thousands of other drivers who have no other option than to use the southern approach roads.

This added traffic will clearly increase pollution for local residents to endure.

In the council paper titled "Record of Decision of the Council Member for the Environment" signed by Cllr Tony Harwood, he acknowledges that "the car park in Armstrong Road is owned by the Council and if not required could be sold producing a substantial capital sum."

So it looks like the Council Leaders are planning to shoehorn even more houses into an area which has already seen unpresidented development. Of Course the greatest irony of the whole thing is that the Park 'N' Ride was just about the only peice of "infrasture" that the Borough Council had contibuted to in the area, to ease traffic problems. This will undoubtedly undo any of the benefit that the KCC traffic mangement system had achieved on these heavily congested roads.