Page 2 - The Lyminge Newsletter - August 2022

As this newsletter went to press,(Monday morning)
Pentland Homes made the following announcement:

STOP

PRESS

Lynne Collis said: We collected over 1000 signatures for our petition in 4 days, took legal advice, wrote to councillors
and our MP. We put the case that the closure should not go ahead without alternatives being considered and the risks to
villagers being properly assessed and managed.
We are delighted that Pentland Homes have had to listen to us.
MP Damian Collins commented: ‘I am happy to be able to tell you that these [works] have now been cancelled, with
Pentland promising to exhaust all other options. I very much hope that different arrangements can be made. I have
already asked the Leader of Kent County Council to look into this matter and for the relevant people at the County
Council to consider how these works could be carried out with less disruption to local people.’
The legal advice was spearheaded by Sheamus Maher. Having identified a solicitor willing to act on our behalf, he rallied
people to verbally support him financially and enable the letter to be finally sent late Sunday afternoon. “Everyone in the
village who made an effort to sign the petition, write a letter, send a post, and make a noise deserves great credit. I’d like
to think my bit was just the straw on the camels back to make them realise the whole village was serious. The legal action
would not have happened unless a few brave souls helped finance the action. It’s difficult to choose just one, but Gordon
Wallace of Beechborough Park made a very chunky promise of funds and without him I could not of gone ahead.” Pledges
of financial support (no matter how large or small) can still be made - see immediately below.
An account for the collection of the pledges has now been set up. Nancy Benham has offered to coordinate this
collection on behalf of the community.
Your pledges, together any monies not already donated, can be sent to:
N Benham Sort code 07-01-16 A/c 15305243 or PayPal (nancybenham@aol.com). Cheques can be sent to, and
cash left at, her home address Whisper Cottage, Rectory Lane, Lyminge, Folkestone CT18 8EG.
Please make sure any payment is referenced with your “Name and Road Closure” to keep the accounting
straight! The invoice from the solicitor needs paying by 9 August and so this is our cut off date for all
contributions. When you read this page, can you please send your donation immediately.
And that’s just the start. Community Action Group - Lyminge and Surrounding Areas, will now be working hard with
the Parish Council and local residents to make sure that the concerns raised are addressed before any further work is
scheduled.
Finally, a few ‘thank yous’ - to Mike Barrett who coordinated the petition and Hayley Harika Middleditch who
offered valuable support to the cause, to Sheamus for all the days and hours he put into pulling together all
the relevant documents for the solicitor, to John Franklin for his tremendous technical knowledge on how to
dig a hole in the road without causing mayhem, and to both Julia Carr and Lynne Collis who put in many hours
coordinating the information, forwarding it to the relevant people as well as ensuring the social media were
regularly updated. As the editor of the newsletter, I would like to add my own thanks to Lynne and Julia for their
unstinting support in providing information and direction to the articles. Their professional knowledge together
with their ability to clearly capture the essence of all that was happening was invaluable.

Editor: pbarnes20@icloud.com 2 Tel: 01303 863737