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Dear Editor,
Re: More impressed by Beaumont's outrage if she'd been out with shovels, brooms and salt
You are right: Lynne Beaumont is a District Councillor.

Responsibility (and the funding) to salt and clear Shepway streets and pavements is that of Kent County Council and Kent Highways.

As a Kent County Councillor, I not only contacted the Cabinet Member for Highways on Wednesday night, when it was clear that they had lost control of keeping even major routes open, but was also out pushing cars and turning cars around in Sandgate High Street by 8.00am on Thursday morning. Unlike Kent Highways.

Both Kent County Council, and Shepway District Council, have been controlled by the Conservatives for some years. I can't disagree that they have not got the resources in place to keep roads clear. Perhaps if Kent County Council had not been wasting £600,000 over the past few years on the Kent TV project (that they have just ditched after years of pressure from the Lib Dems and others) then there would have been more resources on the ground to deal with emergencies when they arise.

Part of the issue is of co-ordination and working together: anyone in Folkestone could have told Kent Highways that there was a problem on Wednesday evening - and indeed at least I and Kent Police did. However, due to the way Kent Highways is organised, they, and their salt, is in Ashford.

Fat lot of use there.

It was only a few weeks ago that Kent Highways re-remembered that it is their responsibility to clear pavements at all - when responsibility transferred to them, they sort of forgot: Nick Chard tried to force the blame onto districts, and was forced to backtrack.

Overall, Kent Highways didn't get it right this time. Folkestone has seen a major snowfall, and despite the warning before and during, they failed to respond as strongly as they should. This is not to say individual crews didn't do as much as they could, but more crews should have been sent out, and been sent out earlier.

Lynne Beaumont is right. The response was insufficient. Nick Chard's head should roll.

Tim Prater
Lib Dem County Councillor for Folkestone West