“I like living here it's a vibrant self supporting little town. Why oh why must egotistical councillors come up with pointless ideas to spoil it. Chance would be a fine thing to go over 20mph in Commercial road. As all and sundry keep telling you its the double yellow line parkers who cause problems. Answer is easy and would add to the town's atmosphere.. Make it a pedestrian only area between War memorial and first car-park., say between 10am and 4pm Deliveries can be made mostly to the rear of properties or after these hours or during if essential. Do we need another camera no, do we need more pressure in our lives to conform, no !!! Has there been copious accidents around our streets, no !!!!! Your are voted in to fulfill our wishes remember that.”

“When are these unqualified penpushers going to stop trying to make a name for themselves interfering in average joes daily life ,I live in paddock wood and there are no major accidents that I have heard of and there is certainly no need to waste tax payers money on more cameras to spy on people for finacial gain I used to work for transport for London and I can assure you they are the most inefficent company (and politically correct ,Ken Livingston ) I have ever worked for , If you want to cut accidents a start may be to train youngsters roadsense like the tufty club/ greencross code etc instead of todays younger generation who walk in the road and expect cars to stop then blame the motorist when they get hit.
If speed ( Revenue ) cameras where scrapped and properly trained traffic police this would cut reckless drivering not just fine some one for doing 31mph and calling them a criminal .”

“Linda, of Paddock Wood you are right, roads are supposed to be for cars and I would add the movement of goods. But sadly such veiws are no longer held by those in charge of our roads! The governemnt issues all council with a list of 'guidelines' for streets, called 'Manual for Streets' Barring motorways and most 'A' and 'B' class rural roads, this wonderful document states the "hierarchy" for streets and I quote in descending order, pedestrians, cycllists, public transport users, emergency services, dustcarts,waste vehicles etc, then as they put it "other motor traffic" So there you have it, licence holders are bottom of the list, despite the nearly £1 billion a week, yes a week, collected in direct motoring taxes!
Some other jems from this manual are "Streets should not be designed just to accommodate the movement of motor vehicles" or "it is all too easy to forget that streets are not just there to get people from A to B" and streets should not be "primarily designed to meet the needs of motor traffic"
These sort of ultra low speed limits, started out in London with 'loony left councils' now these policies have been adopted by all major political parties.
This extract is on one of the front pages of Kent Highway Sevices website, "Restricting the availability of parking has been found to be the single most effective measure in persuading people to leave their cars at home"
So by denying you a parking space, effectively denies you the journey, coupled with ever lower speed limits, all helps this 'bash the driver' policy, in the vain hope that you will put on you bycycle clips, or let your movements and destinations and lifestyle be dictated too, by a bus timetables.”

“Waste of time - motorist do not keep to a 30mph spped limit so what difference will it make making it 20mph. I expect most of the accidents happen for speeding over 30 anyway. The roads round Paddock Wood are now being restricted, soon we will not be able to travel anywhere as it will take hours to get there. Stop picking on motorists perhaps pedistrians should be more careful - control your children - stop them running in front of cars after all the road is supposed to be for cars and not pedistrians”

“There are very few attractions in Paddock Wood appart from the Hop Farm which is ouside the town. If you set up a 20mph zone you will kill off any out of town shoppers coming to visit. Forget the idea, there are far too many cameras in our life already without any more survellance. Do you want to be known as "Paddock Big Brotherwood". Its much cheaper and more effective to put up some speed indicator devices if you want to slow people down. Lets see some sense and stop pandering to the TFL lefties.”

“Just clarifying part of my comment immediately below this:
When I said "there are plenty of other options" I mean there are plenty of other places to shop ... but without camera traps and a 20mph speed limit. Who needs the stress of it ... we're just trying to go about our daily lives.”

“I have been visiting Paddock Wood regularly to shop for a few years which I do so by car - but there are plenty of other options.
I expect you to extend the hand of welcome to visitors, not the heavy hand of camera surveillance in a small county town.
Shouldn't it be an attractive prospect to visit Paddock Wood? Do you see a bigger picture - is it is good for your town? What kind of message is sent out by proposing such plans.
You would do better to enforce the current (reasonable) restrictions, i.e. the main shopping street is regularly blocked by the many people who stop & park & leave their cars on the double yellow lines - so why not actually penalise those people.
I realise that involves employing someone to do it, and you won't get a backhander / incentive or whatever is on offer from the Government for their next cash cow. But such a scheme is in essence misguided.
It seems that Central & Local Government just don't get it: inventing ways to criminalise people is not what they are elected to do, and a steady erosion of trust continues between they & the people ... I would of said the voters, but many people aren't voting - ever wondered why?”

“Here they come again! There¿s always a local councillor eager to make a name for himself by suggesting a cure for a problem that doesn¿t exist or trying to make a name for himself to justify his existence on the local governing body. Every village and town has one. I sympathise with those who oppose any thought of a 20mph limit being imposed in an area where it is already difficult to reach 8mph because of illegal parking. One correspondent has commented that it is ¿A good idea, it makes such a difference in London and it makes for a friendlier community. It will encourage more people to walk and cycle more¿. London bears no resemblance to Paddock Wood in traffic conditions or community. I for one would not be encouraged to cycle more nor walk having grown past the age when I used to do such activities. Anyway, why should I clutter up the roads by cycling unlicenced on my untaxed and unregulated machine causing havoc to the careful, considerate and long-suffering motorists who are quite pleased even to reach 30mph if it were possible in Paddock Wood.”

“Soon i'll be able to remove my engine and push my car around and still keep up with the speed limit.Why don't you just have a man walking in front of every car with a red flag, after all there's millions of people looking for a job.”

“More motoring restrictions! The way forward? No, this is stepping backwards towards the 1920s.
How many people have been killed or injured here? Quite possibly insufficient for Kent to justify a 20 zone, let alone cameras.
The best way to protect children is through education and training in how to use roads - all roads, not just a few restricted zones.
Why are local councillors always so keen to impose these measures? Could it be a case of political posturing to appease NIMBYs who think "their" roads are some kind of "sanctuary"?
Maybe cuncillors should lose powers to decide speed limits, which could be handed to engineers with some proper expertise.”