How Halloween became a public order operation in Kings Hill
Police patrols, private security and road closures for Halloween, plus a Kent MP's bullying apology and another twist in the county's council reorganisation saga
Halloween in Kings Hill has become an increasingly elaborate public order operation, with additional police, private security, dispersal powers and road closures planned for Saturday. We examine how an evening of trick-or-treating reached this point. Plus, a Kent MP apologises following parliamentary bullying findings, and the government's latest plans for a Kent mayor arrive just as it withdraws its decision on the county's future councils.
How Halloween became a public order operation in Kings Hill
For most of Kent, preparations for Halloween this weekend involve buying sweets, putting up decorations and deciding whether to answer the door to strangers dressed as monsters. In Kings Hill, the arrangements are rather more elaborate.
On Saturday, the community near West Malling will have additional police patrols, volunteer Special Constables, extra private security and a planned police dispersal order. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council's Safer Neighbourhoods Team will be on standby, while Tower View, one of the main roads into the development, will close to inbound traffic from 4pm.
This is quite a lot of preparation for an evening generally associated with children demanding Haribo.
Kings Hill is an interesting place for this to be happening. Built on the former RAF West Malling airfield, it is one of Kent's more conspicuous examples of a community designed from scratch. Thousands of homes, landscaped green spaces, modern offices and carefully maintained residential neighbourhoods have gradually emerged on the former military site.
But Halloween has become something of an annual public order operation, and the problem has been building for years.
