July date for public meeting

THE proposed Kent International Gateway depot at Bearsted will be debated publicly in July.

Speakers at the debate, organised by Kent County Council, will include its leader, Cllr Paul Carter (Con), Cllr Fran Wilson (Lib Dem), leader of Maidstone Borough Council, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of the Local Government Association, Faversham and Mid Kent MP Hugh Robertson (Con) and Dr Hilary Newport, Kent director of the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Richard Horton, chairman of the STOPKIG campaign, and Brian Clifford, chairman of the Bearsted and Thurnham Society, will represent protestors.

The debate will be in the large hall at Invicta Grammar School, Huntsman Lane, Maidstone, on Friday, July 6, from 7 to 9pm. Former BBC Radio Kent presenter Barbara Sturgeon will chair the meeting.

KIG has yet to say if it will send a representative.

Source

http://www.stopkig.org/ Say NO to Kent International Gateway

http://www.savebearsted.org/ http://www.bearstedactiongroup.co.uk/

Driver accused of filming 150mph blast on M20

Police are quizzing a motorist after claims he hit speeds of up to 150mph on the M20 – and then put the film on the internet.

But Anthony Coyne, 27, from south London, was identified by the clip he uploaded on to the web – and shopped to cops by the Sun newspaper who tracked him down.

The paper claims the footage – shot by his passenger – shows the speedo of his high-powered £28,000 Vauxhall VX220 sports car toppling 150mph.

It says the film was taken on a stretch of the M20 near Harrietsham, close to Maidstone.

The Sun story said: “Coyne believed there was nothing in the photos to show where the speeding took place or to identify him.

“But we tracked him down within hours. He left his phone number in earlier postings on another site and even gave away his location by revealing he was taking his new motor to Paris. There was only one motorway he would use – and that was the M20.

“We identified the exact spot as being near Harrietsham.”

Kent Police say they are now investigating the clip which the Sun claims Coyne posted on a site devoted to the VX220.

Coyne himself denied he hit such speeds and claimed he only posted the clips to ‘get a reaction’.

It comes just months after the Saturday Observer exclusively revealed the reckless antics of speed-nuts going through the Dartford Tunnel and across the QEII Bridge.

In those clips, uploaded on to YouTube, idiots risked life and limb hitting speeds of 130mph – almost triple the 50mph speed limit.

Source One & Two

Church Thefts

Churches are being targeted by thieves stealing Kent peg tiles from roofs.

Three incidents have been reported to Mid Kent police where thieves have climbed onto the roofs of churches in East Sutton, Sutton Valence and Harrietsham, and stolen tiles.

Officers believe the thieves may not have been caught red-handed because passersby assume they are legitimately working on the church roof.

Crime reduction officer, John Grant said:
“These thieves are being very overt in their actions, and naturally, people assume they are workers repairing the roofs as opposed to thieves stealing tiles from them.

“We would just ask members of the public to be vigilant and to ensure churches in the area are told if people are seen on the roofs.

“If anyone actually witnesses tiles being stolen, they should call the police immediately.”