THE leader of Maidstone Council has announced that she is "very disappointed" after a continuing email campaign from members of the public protesting against the council's decision to close the Coombe Quarry Park and Ride service in September.

Cllr Fran Wilson (Lib Dem) said: "I have tried so hard to explain the situation this administration found itself in."

Cllr Wilson said the current Lib Dem administration, elected to office in May, had no option but to close the service because the previous Tory administration had left no money in the budget to cover the loss-making service after September.

Saying the council had not been able to make savings elsewhere in the council's budget to cover the shortfall, Cllr Wilson answered criticisms from the public that they had not even been consulted on the closure.

She said: "Please give us credit for not paying lip-service to consultation merely as a sop when we knew we were left with no alternative other than to close this site.

"If there had been any alternative we would have taken it."

However, her explanation seems not have satisfied protestors, who have been increasingly contacting the Kent Messenger Group demanding that a vote be held on whether the Park and Ride should be kept open.