Representatives from all local councils and businesses were invited to two meetings to discuss this and the lighting removal, in January and March 2013, and the order for closure was signed in May 2013 - there was a virtually unanimous objection to both proposals by all present.
The Highways Agency suggested lorries would travel on to or stop at the laybys near Canterbury (which meet modern standards even less but are still open!) and the photo below shows the pair of laybys between the Whitfield and Jubilee Way roundabouts which are exactly the same design but are still open, so no logic in that decision at all.
All councils should have a form for residents to report incidents to the Highway Agency so that an accurate record can be kept of where problems are occurring and to what extent. It used to be available for downloading from the
Lydden parish website but had dropped off the bottom, I've put it back to the top again if anyone would like to use it.