pl
i ed
e an br
em M
ite
im sL
d.
Page
Ap
COPY
Page
d
COPY
Page
ui
COPY
Liq
FREE
OF TONBRIDGE
r EEape FRwsp
The BIGGEST local paper and it’s still
Local, National and International
S s ur L A S I N G tail Yo E G O F r de B R R O fo F I AT e 6 F L pag
Times
All the news that matters
Nseee
Wednesday July 24 | 2019
COPY Page
Kind messages from teenagers help those who are struggling
TROUBLED WATER: NCS young people have posted supportive messages for those with mental health issues on the town’s bridges
A GROUP of local teenagers have been posting messages of support for those with mental health issues on bridges across the town. Fifteen young people aged 15 to 17 who are engaged with the National Citizen Service [NCS] distributed the small posters as part of a social action project. NCS is a government programme that allows children to embark on a four-week programme based on three principles: social cohesion, social engagement, social mobility. Emily Phillips, leader of Team 10 Tonbridge NCS, told the Times: “We are overwhelmed with the responses from our first day.
Positives
45.7million people per annum [MPPA] in 2017-18 to 61million by 2032. But Charles Lloyd of the Penshurst campaign Gatwick Obviously Not [GON] told the Times: “There is no case for further growth at Gatwick. “Gatwick’s proposals would mean more carbon emissions, faster climate change, more noise, more health problems for local people and more congestion. “The country has woken up to the environmental damage aviation is causing. “Instead of pursuing growth that accelerates these impacts, the airport, and the wider aviation industry, should focus on reducing the environmental damage they cause in a serious, sustained way.”
“The group decided they wanted to focus on the promotion of mental health because although it is addressed, there are still some extremely heavy stigmas around it. “The idea was that they’d get people to stop and think about the positives and their purpose in this world rather that the negatives that are so easy to gravitate towards when you are not feeling your best.” Tonbridge is the base for West Kent Charlton Athletic NCS, and they chose locations such as the Big Bridge because they were the busiest places. “There’s lots of bridges we’ve covered today but our main focus was the by-pass bridge near Aldi,” said Ms Phillips. “Three people have already contacted us about how we stopped them from doing something they may have regretted and they called
Continued on page 2
Continued on page 2
Health problems and transport trouble: criticism of Gatwick’s two new runways By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk LOCAL MPs and pressure groups have reacted with dismay at the news that Gatwick Airport is to make use of its emergency runway for regular departures and is also planning a third strip. The West Sussex transport hub said it would be seeking planning permission to widen the runway by 12 metres to allow it to operate a full passenger timetable by the mid-2020s. A legal agreement which prevents the airport from using both existing runways simultaneously is due to expire later this year. Now Gatwick is applying for a Development Consent Order to do so.
Heathrow Airport beat Gatwick in a bid to be allowed to build an additional runway as the government looked for ways to increase airport capacity in the South East. The decision was confirmed last year in Parliament. Gatwick claims its ‘master plan’ is in accordance with the policy of ‘making best use of existing runways’ – and wants land to be safeguarded for a third runway. The proposals come in the aftermath of a 12-week public consultation which began last October. According to Gatwick’s Chief Executive Stewart Wingate, two thirds of the 5,000 responses showed ‘strong support for Gatwick and the local area’s ambitions’. Gatwick is aiming to increase the number of people who use the airport from