Dear Editor,

Re: Village's new road layout is a mish-mash

You have a point Mr Burns. I too am somewhat disappointed with the completed road layout through the village.

Looks to me like Kent County Council (KCC) have cocked up, yet again.

Whether it be investing huge sums in Manston International Airport, which crashed spectacularly, or the Turner Centre in Margate, which KCC are now trying to recoup some of the millions lost through the courts, or even the plans to site a lorry park near Aldington and the waste processing plant nearby, which has brought hundreds of protesting residents out into the streets, their run of 'bad luck' has now stretched to the much heralded Hawkinge local road plan.

My understanding was for it to be made easier to travel through the village to Canterbury or Folkestone by directing traffic onto the new link road.

I admit, that throughout much of the day this has worked, but during the rush hours when there are not just more vehicles, but also more pedestrians, including schoolchildren, the plan appears to have fallen far short of expectations.

In the mornings, it is not unusual to have a queue of traffic from the roundabout at the bottom of the Spitfire Way to the Churchill School playing field; a distance similar to the length of queues seen in Canterbury Road before the new road was constructed.

Mr Burns has now pointed out that Canterbury Road is being used as what could be described as a 'rat run' and unless KCC steps in quickly we are going to be plagued with even more speeding vehicles trying to avoid the bottleneck on the bypass.

Let's see some positive action from the county council and put in measures to deter the use of Canterbury Road for through traffic, because the way things stand, their smart new road layout is failing miserably to do the job for which it was designed.

So KCC, prove to us you are up to the job to which you've been entrusted. Don't waste any more money, just listen to the villagers, take note and you will see they probably know more than your 'experts' on how to solve local problems.

Tim Piper