Wednesday July 5 | 2017
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PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS STRUGGLING WITH BASIC SKILLS Page 12
Pitch approved but school faces even more compromises By Jonathan Banks THE controversial development of an all-weather sports pitch at a leading Tonbridge school will now go ahead after receiving the green light by the borough council’s planning committee. However, due to the objections of nearby residents to Tonbridge Grammar School, the use of the pitch has been significantly constrained. Their concerns over increased traffic, late night illumination from floodlights and noise have already led to the Deakin Leas based school dropping plans to allow the pitch to be used by the wider community or for it to host any activity on Sundays.
Restriction And last week [June 29], as councillors met to approve a similar development that they rejected in 2014, they applied additional conditions on the use of the artificial turf. Their previous decision was based on the ‘unacceptable level of disturbance to the surrounding residents’ it would cause. There is only one vehicular access point to the school, situated within a residential street. On Saturdays, the curfew for activity at the facility was brought back to 2.30pm from the originally proposed 6.30pm. A formal mechanism, to ensure the floodlights are only illuminated during the permitted hours, has also been demanded.
RUSSELL WATSON SPEAKS TO THE TIMES BEFORE HIS HUGE SUMMER CONCERT Page 50
HUNDREDS TAKE PART IN COLOURFUL CHALLENGE Page 4
ALL THE SIGNS LOOKING GOOD FOR TOWN’S ECONOMY Page 6
Food bank issues an urgent INSIDE call to feed town’s children MORE THAN A GAME Angels named Community Club Of the Year Page 63
STOCKING UP (LtoR) Mark Lavenstein, Lesley Darcy, Daniel Johnson, Dawn Stanford, Marianne MacDonald
By Murray Jones
murray@timesoftonbridge.co.uk HUNDREDS of children in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells could go hungry this summer as parents struggle to afford enough food. Nourish Community Foodbank, who started working in Tonbridge in October 2016, have warned that in the months of July and August they anticipate a sharp rise in the number of children needing a food parcel. Last year they saw a 57 per cent increase during that period, compared to the preceding two months. In total, 203 individual children were referred to the charity by third parties who were in need of a three-day emergency food bag during July and August. This equated to more than 1,800 meals provided to children who were at risk of going hungry. The latest statistics show that Nourish supplied 3,141 people over a year, a 34 per cent increase on the previous total. It comes at the same time that recent figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the weekly earnings in both Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge are higher than the national average and on almost all economic measures the two boroughs compare favourably to the national picture. However this on-paper affluence appears to mask hundreds of families who are struggling so much financially that they need Nourish to step in. The foodbank’s Co-Chair, Paul Haines, said: “Despite the overall wealth of the town there are pockets of deprivation. “We always stress that it could be someone who works in your street who has an incident or an accident that pushes them over the edge.” Nourish provide short-term emergency support for individuals and families that
NEW ROOTS OF HOPE Charity celebrates new office with mayoral visit Page 8
LEADING LADY
Benenden head talks strong leadership Page 17
are referred to them by various groups such as housing associations, local schools and domestic violence support groups.
‘Despite the overall wealth of the town there are pockets of deprivation’ On the subject of the summer spike in demand, he said: “In term-time, many children benefit enormously from the support schools provide through their breakfast clubs, in addition to free school meals. “However, many families struggle with the increased financial cost of feeding children during the summer holidays. At Nourish, not only have we seen a rise in referrals at this time, but this also coincides with a
dip in donations due to so many people being away on holiday.” Since 2014, a child in the first three years of primary school is entitled to a free school lunch. Others, whose parents receive financial support from the state, can also receive free school meals. With another expected surge this summer holidays, Nourish are asking residents to donate non-perishable food items for families struggling to put food on the table. Nationally, foodbanks are a relatively recent phenomenon. In 2010-11 the Trussell Trust, Britain’s biggest foodbank network, gave out 61,500 food parcels, but by 2016-17 this had risen to almost 1.2 million. To find out how you can support Nourish, visit: www.nourishcommunityfoodbank.org. uk or call 01892 548892
THE HANDOVER
Gordon Hill becomes new Lions President Page 2