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Town to get first ‘hotel school’
MAIDSTONEmay soon have the UK’s first training hotel under plans to revamp the KCC-owned Oakwood House. The council and its consultants believe the imposing Victorian house, currently a conference and events centre, could become a “beacon of hope for many young people”. It would have 30 trainees in its
first year, rising to 50 over the fol- lowing three years. Under the plans, Oakwood would be a “unique hotel school”, providing a luxury 4-star hotel as the core facility with all aspects of training and development. The aim, outlined in an in-
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terim business plan, is to develop Oakwood House as a centre of excellence, promoting opportu- nities for young people through vocational training and appren- ticeships within the hospitality industry. Its guiding principes would in-
clude: providing real-life work ex- perience within a commercial hotel; forming strong partnerships
with schools, colleges and ho- tels;
forging international links
with other hotel schools. There are currently no dedi-
cated training hotels in the UK, though there are colleges and universities teaching theory and practical skills in a non-commer- cial environment. The business plan says the hos- pitality industry constantly criti- cises education for producing unsuitable students. “The gap be- tween the twohas never been sat- isfactorily narrowed. There is a serious skills shortage at all lev- els in the hospitality sector.” It concludes: “The opportuni-
ties for Oakwood House becom- ing a fully commercial hotel train-ing school cannot be over- stated.”
Students would have opportu-
nities to gain recognised qualifi- cations on a variety of courses of varying lengths. “It is hoped that the Oakwood
model will be replicated across theUK and that world-class hos- pitality skills will be developed here,” say consultants Mark Fagan Associates. The concept has the full sup-
port of senior managers and members of KCC, including leader Paul Carter.
Banking and hops: Oakwood’s rich history OVER the past five years, a new £1.8m conference suite and over- flow parking have been added to Oakwood House, plus £1.1m spent on refurbishing the 40 bedrooms. Extensions to kitchens will be needed to achieve its full training potential. KCC is now seeking tenders for all, or parts, of the contract for: hotel operation and expansion including accommodation, food
and beverage fit-out and management of a stand-alone ‘destination’ restau-
rant construction and development of spa facilities. KCC boughtOakwood House in 1948 from John Graham-Wigan’s
estate. He had extended the house, built more than 140 years ago for theWigan family, who had a banking and hop merchant back- ground.
Council orders removal of ‘harmful’ sign
MAIDSTONE Council has or- dered the removal of this sign (right) near Harrietsham as it “harms the scenic beauty” of the Kent Downs Area of Out- standing Natural Beauty. The borough’s planning de- partment felt the sign at the en- trance to Pilgrims Retreat, Hogbarn Lane, was, “by virtue of its height, scale, prominence and illumination, visually in- congruous in the surrounding countryside”.
Driving fines A LEEDS man was fined £525 for speeding while using his mobile phone. Oliver Scrivener, of
Wykeham Grove, was caught last August driving 42mph in 30mphWillington Street, as well as operating his phone. He was fined £175 for the phone offence and £350 for speeding.
The applicant, Sines Parks
Ltd, defended the sign in docu- ments to support its retrospec- tive planning application: “The sign is set in front of dense woodland. It cannot be seen from any long distance view or public footpath. In fact, it can only be seen once you are di- rectly in front of the access into the mobile home park. “There are still some mobile homes for sale and in the cur- rent economic climate we feel that it would not be unreason- able to allow the sign to remain in position for a further 12 months to help ensure the re- mainder of homes are sold.”
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