New homes survey PERMISSION was granted for a block of eight single-bedroom flats at Terry’s Yard, 100 Union Street, Maidstone. The joint application from
West Kent Housing Association and Appledore Developments Ltd will see the demolition of a number of single-storey build- ings on the site. One of the council’s conditions was that an archaeological survey should be undertaken.
Bike stolen from flats A CARRERA mountain bike was stolen from a bike store at a block of flats in Sandling Park, Penenden Heath.
Parking no obstacle for 26 flats
THE lack of any parking spaces for a 26-flat af- fordable development in Church Street, Maid- stone, for people over the age of 50 was labelled as “discriminatory” by a planning committee member. The joint application from Golding Homes and
the Cutbush and Corrall charity for two blocks containing 16 one-bed and 10 two-bed apartments was given almost unanimous backing by the com- mittee. But concern over having no parking provision
was strongly emphasised by Cllr Jenni Paterson, who said: “Many people over the age of 50 do, and will continue to, drive cars. For many with mobility problems, the private car is their only means of getting around. “Many may have friends with mobility prob-
Mandarin classes could be country’s first
CHILDREN aged two-and-half to five years are learning to speak Mandarin at a Maid- stone nursery, and are thought to be the youngest in the country to be learning this language. Many nurseries in Maidstone and across
the UK teach French or Spanish but at Little Learners Nursery in Boughton Lane it was decided that pre-school children should learn a new language. Manager Hayley-Louise Oliver said:“With
the Confucius Classroom and Mandarin les- sons being so positive and popular at New Line Learning Academy, I had the idea of promoting this within our nursery to en- courage pre-schoolers to acquire new lan- guage skills. “One-hour classes have been running
since September on a Monday morning and children learn simple words by playing with
a range of toys. Some children have already learnt the basics of ‘hello and goodbye’.” Nursery children recently learnt about Chi- nese New Year and watched a performance about celebrating this traditional festivity at NLL Academy. The event included kung fu, folk dancing and lion dancing. Little Learners’ purpose-built premises are located within NLL Academy’s building.
lems and want to visit them. Many of us in this committee are over the age of 50 and we still work and own cars. It is an arrogant assumption that older people do not require, need or even want cars in an urban area. It is insulting and discrim- inatory.” Cllr Clive English trumpeted the scheme, ex- plaining that the lack of parking had enabled is- sues such as landscaping to be improved. He stressed that the residents who would be consid- ered for the new homes would be on Cutbush and Corrall’s database as not requiring parking spaces. A lack of spaces had worked well on almshouses managed by the charity throughout Maidstone, he insisted. Eleven councillors voted in favour of the scheme, with Cllr Paterson abstaining.
Elderly scheme may be cut A SCHEME that supports elderly people may be forced to cease after being hit with a funding cut. Since 2005, Brighter Futures has helped maintain the independence of older citi- zens in the borough. KCC has announced it can no longer fund the scheme, based at Maidstone Community Support Centre in Marsham Street, due to financial con- straints. Team leader Peter Way says there is enough funding to last to the end of the year, but nothing beyond that. He said: “Our fund manager Barbara Dagger is currently working extremely hard putting together a proposal to secure long-term (five years) funding from the Big Lottery, and we are putting our hopes in this being approved.” More info:
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