Drink driver banned


KENNEDY Eugene Gondo (41), of Bannister Road, Penenden Heath, was banned from driv- ing for 40 months by magis- trates at Maidstone after he admitted drink driving. On March 19, Gondo drove a


red Vauxhall Astra alongWill- ington Street, Maidstone, when he was stopped and gave a breath test of 79mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg. He was also fined £180 and ordered to pay costs of £85.


Plan for 43 new homes on edge of Maidstone site


APLAN has been submitted to build 43 homes on the outskirts of Allington, on the north-west edge of Maidstone. Kingsway Properties has applied to establish 26 houses for the open market and 17 affordable units in Bunyards Farm, London Road. The plan includes 91 parking spaces. The proposal is larger than an outline applica-


tion for 18 apartments on the site that received outline planning permission in July last year. According to a planning statement by Pegasus Planning Group: “The increased residential den- sity proposed constitutes a level of development commensurate with the site’s sustainable location in order to make the most efficient use of the pre-


‘100 bus’ marks M&D milestone


ARRIVA has unveiled a bus painted in the once-familiar green and cream colours of its predecessor, The Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd, to mark the centenary of the company’s for- mation. Maidstone mayor Cllr Eric Hotson and other invited guests as- sembled at the Kent Life museum at Aylesford on March 22, ex- actly 100 years to the day that M&D commenced trading from a yard in Maidstone, as the bus went on public view for the first time.


M&D was absorbed into the


Arriva Group in 1998, but much of the network of services still provided by Arriva have their origins in routes which were started many years ago by M&D.


Arriva’s publicity manager Richard Lewis said: “One hun- dred years is a very significant time for a company to maintain continuous trading and, whilst the buses are now blue instead of green and carrying the Arriva name, we owe the longevity of our business to the pioneering busmen of the early 20th cen- tury and to the generations of busmen and women who fol- lowed them over the ensuing nine decades. “M&D was a major employer


The company expanded rapidly after the First WorldWar, with a fleet of 900 vehicles at one time. It employed many thou- sands of people over the years at depots stretching from Faversham in the east across to Bexhill on the Sussex coast.


viously developed land.” Tonbridge and Malling’s development control manager Neil Hewett indicated his support for a scheme of this size. In a letter sent to the project’s architect in January, he wrote: “It is accepted that the development would need to be in the region of 43 dwellings overall to support this level of housing from an economic point of view. “It is also recognised that, in order to accom- modate this level of development, it will be nec- essary for a small amount of development to take place beyong the current extent of previously de- veloped land.” Tonbridge and Malling Council will decide on the application.


Hard work pays off for school


A MAIDSTONE primary school once branded the worst in the country when none of its pupils achieved basic standards in maths and English is firmly on track to haul itself out of special measures. Just over a year after judging


in the region, as Arriva is now, and most local people probably know someone who worked ‘on the buses’.” The centenary bus has been painted in the final version of M&D’s livery, which was intro- duced at the start of 1997, a year before the transition into Arriva. The vehicle will be seen on routes around Maidstone, Tun-


From left: Arriva publicity manager Richard Lewis, KCC head of transport David Hall and Maidstone mayor Cllr Eric Hotson.


bridge Wells and Tonbridge and was one of more than 50 for- mer M&D buses and coaches on display at a Kent Showground event to celebrate the centenary.


New community health body launched


THE reshaping of the county’s health services has taken an- other step with the launch of the Kent Community Health NHS Trust. It serves a population of more


than 1.4 million and has a £200m budget and 5,700 staff. The new trust – distinct from


the hospital trust and the men- tal health trust – is one of the biggest providers of community healthcare in the UK. Its services range from com- munity nursing, health visiting and school nursing to podiatry (foot care) and physiotherapy. The new body was formed


from the amalgamation of East- ern and Coastal Kent Commu- nity Health NHS Trust andWest


8 Town


Kent Community Health. Trust chairman David Grif-


fiths, who formerly chaired the West Kent PCT board, said: “We will now have more autonomy to determine our own destiny, which ensures we are well placed to continue to improve our services. Our aspiration will be to become one of the best NHS organisations in the coun- try and to deliver the highest quality of care possible.”


the school inadequate, Ofsted inspectors have reported that Oak Trees Community School in Mangravet has made satisfac- tory progress. The school roll, which dipped from 136 to 81 after the January 2010 report was pub- lished, has nowincreased to 98, and for the first time in two years the reception class intake for September is fully sub- scribed. Ofsted said that new head of school Debbie Biggenden, who was appointed in January, was settling well into her new role and her partnership with in- terim executive head teacher


RosemaryWiles was effective. In 2009, no pupil reached the


minimum standard in English or maths SATS – now just over half hit the target. The latest inspection was the


third of six monitoring visits when the school will need to show consistent improvement before it can be taken out of spe- cial measures. The latest findings were set


out in a letter from Ofsted, which praised the school’s progress but said that further improvements were necessary. Teachers must continue to


work on lifting standards so that 80% of children hit English and maths standards. The school must also improve how it deals with pupil behaviour. Oak Trees formed a federation


with BellWood Primary School in ParkWood, in January, under the overall leadership of Miss Wiles.


No cutting corners for Clare! MAIDSTONE hairdresser Clare Larter is not everyone’s idea of an ultra-distance runner. But next month she will be swapping her pair of scissors for a


pair of running shoes as she tackles the 56-mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa. Clare believes all the sweat and pain will be worth it as she is raising money for a good cause. When most of us will be enjoying a bank holiday weekend,


on Sunday, May 29, Clare will be facing a hard slog, starting at sea level in the harbour city of Durban and finishing in Pietermar- itzburg at an altitude of 650m. On the way runners encounter five major hills, known as the “Big Five”. Clare (34), who works at Hair Professional in King Street, has


been training with two friends from Wouldham – Julian Griffiths (40) and policewoman Sallie Baisley (36), who introduced her to running. The three of them are seeking spon- sorship but have not yet decided which particular charity to support. Clare, who has done three 26-mile


marathons in the past 12 months plus the 32-mile London Ultra in February, is slightly worried about a couple of niggly injuries. “It makes me realise I’m not a ma- chine!” she added.


Neighbourhood Watch sticker request


LOCAL NeighbourhoodWatch volunteers have been asked to return surplus circular NHW stickers to their overall coordinator. Mid-Kent coordinator Lorraine Hemphrey made the request after running out of stock and being told that the Home Office is restrict- ing supplies in a cost-cutting exercise.


To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330


Clare in the Hair Profes- sional salon.


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