Story

THE STORY SO FAR

For the past 10 or 15 years parishes all over the UK have been, mainly without success, trying to control the amount of traffic using their local roads as "rat runs". Campaigning as single parishes or villages success was rare and limited and traffic levels continued to rise. Many vehicles take to the local lanes and use them in this way because big towns, such as Maidstone, have a poor ring road or through route transport programme.

Quiet Lanes:-

"Quiet Lanes" are an initiative of the Countryside Agency. They are minor rural roads which have been treated appropriately to enable shared use by cyclists, walkers, horse riders and motorized users. They are part of a toolkit of ideas the Countryside Agency has for improving travel choice, the quality of life and strategic traffic management of rural roads - to the benefit of local residents and businesses as well as visitors.

Kent County Council, amongst other counties, embraced the Quiet Lanes programme and introduced a scheme around West Malling and St Mary's Platt. The aim of the Quiet Lanes project was to preserve the remaining "quiet lanes" so they were safe and friendly for all means of transport, i.e. pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists as well as car drivers.

TRAMP Maidstone:-

In the middle of 2002 fourteen parishes located around the South West of Maidstone joined together in a partnership to investigate the possibility of introducing a series of Quiet Lanes in their local parishes in an attempt to preserve those roads, lanes, bridleways and footpaths which are currently quiet.

We all understood local parishioners were worried about the quality of life in their villages being destroyed by the increasing number of vehicles using their roads because the bigger transport infrastructure in this country is being ignored.

During our early discussions it was established that we would be more effective if we joined together and formed a Partnership. This site is the story of the TRAMP Maidstone project.

Parish Participation:-

The area under consideration comprises the 14 Parishes of Barming, Boughton Monchelsea, Collier Street, Coxheath, East Farleigh, Hunton, Linton, Loose, Marden, Nettlestead, Staplehurst, Tovil, West Farleigh and Yalding, all within Maidstone Borough.

Amenity Value:-

While largely agricultural in outlook, the area boasts much heritage, good scenery, many features of interest, opportunities for river sports; the millennium river walk and many other public footpaths; lanes to cycle; bridleways and stables for horse-riding; together with a good number of quality pubs with good eating and play areas for children. As such the area warrants protection from excessive traffic, and deserves promotion as part of Maidstone’s green tourism agenda. A number of traffic problems are evident however, and it is important to start managing the traffic system of the area as a whole, protecting vulnerable areas and discouraging rapid through transit, in order to retain the special qualities of the area for people to enjoy.

Agreement:-

The 14 Parishes have agreed to work in concert because we recognize that individual traffic management initiatives (as are frequently urged on us by our parishioners) are likely to do little more than move the problems around. The Parishes are aware that not all the area would qualify for quiet lanes status, but are agreed that the first step in a traffic management scheme for the area, must be to protect those lanes that still qualify as quiet lanes, before it is too late.