Maidstone Borough Council is working to fight the effects of the recession and bring prosperity to the borough. We help residents with housing and council tax benefits, heating and insulation grants, home improvement grants, free bus travel and support for organisations which offer money advice.
Maidstone’s new high speed rail service
Maidstone’s high speed rail service from Maidstone West to St Pancras International via Strood will start on 23 May. Southeastern is running the service on a trial basis with a review into the success in December.
Three trains will run from Maidstone West in the morning departing at - 06:56, 07:26 and 07:56. And there will be one service in the evening at 19:13. Trains will depart St Pancras International at 06:25, 17:14, 17:44 and 18:14.
The high speed service, calling at Strood, Gravesend, Stratford International and St Pancras will take about 50 minutes.
Passengers wanting to get to Docklands will be able to change at Stratford International onto the Docklands Light railway.
Dave Ward, Network Rail’s route director for Kent said: “Passengers in Maidstone rely on rail for over 2.2 million journeys every year. The introduction of this trial High Speed service will increase capacity and allow passengers in Maidstone to travel to a wider number of destinations, as well as helping us run a more reliable service.”
At times of the day when the high speed service is not running, the normal twice an hour, 59 minute service, changing at Strood, will operate.
New visitor service at Maidstone Museum
Maidstone Museum’s new East Wing is welcoming visitors to the museum and to Maidstone with information about the collections at the museum and the town’s other attractions.
A new purpose built reception will offer all of the services currently available at the Town Hall Visitor Information Centre, which has closed. All the books and
What’s in the East Wing
As well as the new reception, shop and café Maidstone Museum’s new £3.7million East Wing will have two new galleries, one for temporary exhibitions and one to display more of the museum’s Japanese collection. There will be five new display areas, two meeting rooms, a flexible education space, passenger lift, accessible toilets, and a cloakroom with buggy storage.
Better storage facilities for the collections will provide more opportunities to rotate and display objects, some of which have never been on public show.
The new wing will also help to cut
running costs because green technologies such as geo-thermal heating and photovoltaic cells will provide free, clean energy.
souvenirs which were available at the Town Hall will be on sale at the museum’s new shop and café.
The museum has offered information to visitors to the town from May 9 and the reception and shop will be open by the end of July. The East Wing’s new galleries will be opening later in the year.
Census success
Census day was March 27 and census collectors spent April chasing up missing forms. Early figures suggest that Maidstone’s return of forms was higher than the national average. That’s good news because the census information is used to help government and councils plan the services and resources people need, such as transport, housing, healthcare and education.
The amount of money we have to spend on services is based on population statistics from the census.
01622 602000
customercare@maidstone.gov.uk www.maidstone.gov.uk Maidstone Council, Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone ME15 6JQ
Useful numbers
Citizens Advice Bureau – 01622 752420 or 01622 757882 Council tax – 01622 602003
Housing benefit and general housing advice – 01622 602557
National debtline – freephone 0808 808 4000
Heating and insulation grants - 01622 602470
First time buyers’ grants - 01622 602470
Energy Saving Trust - 0800 512 012
Concessionary Travel - 08458 247802 Jobcentre Plus – 01622 702700
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