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Under siege

Take a look at this map of current roadworks (in which Brock is included) in this section of Kent that is the North Downs between Maidstone and Charing. Key villages of Detling, Hollingbourne, Harrietsham and Lenham are hemmed in by major roadworks on the M2 and A249, as well as Brock which pushes the huge amount of non-HGV traffic on to the A20.

Traffic from Sittingbourne heading towards Maidstone now has a 1-in-3 chance of being routed through unsuitable rural roads such as B2163, by phone-navigation apps such as Waze, Apple Maps, Google Maps etc, just to save 3 minutes journey time. These roads are simply unsuitable - they are village roads designed for farm traffic at most, through conservation areas and often very narrow with non-existent pavements. Walking children to school has come a high risk event, as has moving around these villages for all on foot or cycle.

These are the North Kent Downs AONB, for heavens sake. UNESCO have identified the area for Global Geopark Status. And Brock is being allowed to take place through this region to the detriment of so many important, beautiful and historic villages including Bearsted, Hollingbourne, Harrietsham and Lenham. There are no controls for the multiples of non-HGVs that are routed onto the A20 (compared to the HGVs on the M20 for which there are controls); for the non-HGVs it is a 'do as you please' approach - and so they do. The sheer volume and (understandable) frustration of these drivers leads them to block roundabouts and roads, preventing people who live in these villages from going about their lives. This contravenes a basic right under the Human Rights Act - the right to peaceful enjoyment of their property.

Hence these villages are under siege. Shame on KCC and the Kent (lack of) Resilience Forum for letting this happen. Thanks to MBC for raising this consultation, but be clear also that your planning policies and plans (ie allowing the "GENCO Business Park" development at J8 and plans for a horrendous addition of thousands of new houses at Lenham Heath) are massive contributors to destruction of important landscape and degradation of so many peoples' lives.

KCC, KRF, MBC and Highways England - enough is enough.



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Jules over 2 years ago
I live in Hollingbourne and work at Leybourne. In normal circumstances my journey takes 15-20 minutes. When Brock is in place the journey can take in excess of an hour. This, Coupled with the fact that there seems to be a far higher incidence of accidents on the M20  during the time brock is in place make the commute to and from work far more stressful than it needs to be. 
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Share I live in Hollingbourne and work at Leybourne. In normal circumstances my journey takes 15-20 minutes. When Brock is in place the journey can take in excess of an hour. This, Coupled with the fact that there seems to be a far higher incidence of accidents on the M20  during the time brock is in place make the commute to and from work far more stressful than it needs to be.  on Facebook Share I live in Hollingbourne and work at Leybourne. In normal circumstances my journey takes 15-20 minutes. When Brock is in place the journey can take in excess of an hour. This, Coupled with the fact that there seems to be a far higher incidence of accidents on the M20  during the time brock is in place make the commute to and from work far more stressful than it needs to be.  on Twitter Share I live in Hollingbourne and work at Leybourne. In normal circumstances my journey takes 15-20 minutes. When Brock is in place the journey can take in excess of an hour. This, Coupled with the fact that there seems to be a far higher incidence of accidents on the M20  during the time brock is in place make the commute to and from work far more stressful than it needs to be.  on Linkedin Email I live in Hollingbourne and work at Leybourne. In normal circumstances my journey takes 15-20 minutes. When Brock is in place the journey can take in excess of an hour. This, Coupled with the fact that there seems to be a far higher incidence of accidents on the M20  during the time brock is in place make the commute to and from work far more stressful than it needs to be.  link