Sir/Madam
Local Lib Dem activist Dorothy Weedon (Kent Messenger, 9 January) has selectively misread my previous letter about the Tories' plans for charging for residents' car parking and Sunday town centre charges. As I had previously stated, the Green Party's support for these charges would ONLY be on condition that the funds raised were to be invested in support for bus services, particularly the Park-and-Ride buses which are also under attack by the Tories, and to encourage more environmentally sound travel in Maidstone. Sadly these ideas are unlikely under a Tory-led Council. Certainly the Council, in agreement with other relevant authorities, i.e KCC, Network Rail, etc, could indeed help fund support for new rail stations, as elsewhere in the UK, even if Dorothy Weedon does not think so.
It is the Greens who understand the "real world". It is a world increasingly being hit by man-made climate change with slowly reducing oil supplies, (even if temporarily cheap at present). There is no long-tem future for all to own a car, and we need to invest massively in public transport and encourage more walking and cycling, as well as invest more in local jobs and communities. However the other political parties in Maidstone seem, at present, more concerned with small struggles over parking charges than getting to grips with the major environmental crisis that threatens us, not least in congested Maidstone where excessive car use and constant congestion is not healthy for the town's economic well-being either.
Ian McDonald
Transport spokesman for Maidstone Green Party
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