Big savings from shared services
MAIDSTONE Council expects to save more than £1
/4 m a year
after merging its revenue and benefits functions with Tun- bridgeWells Council. The decision to run the serv-
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East Borough raises over £1,200 AN ‘own clothes’ day and a movie night helped East Borough Primary School raise £1,213 for Maidstone Mencap in the last school year. The PTA also held a fashion show that will provide additional
funds for this charity. Maidstone Mencap representative Felicity Rice thanked the school and said that the moneywould be spent on buying equip- ment for children helped by the charity. Headteacher Jan Herbert said: “I am so proud of the children’s efforts and the support of our PTA and parents.”
Good start for seaside Sunday service “We are, however, responding
A NEW Sunday bus service be- tween Sheerness, Sittingbourne and Maidstone has got off to a good start. It is the first link on Sundays between the Isle of Sheppey and the mainland for many years. The service (334) is being run
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for a six-month trial period on a commercial basis without any financial support. Arriva’s publicity manager Richard Lewis said: “Most Sun- day buses in Kent are run under contract to KCC and, in the present economic climate, it is quite unusual for bus compa- nies to take the financial risk of introducing new services on a Sunday.
to requests from our customers for a link between Sheppey and Maidstone on that day of the week and we hope that they will find it useful for getting to Maidstone for shopping, or for reaching Sheerness or Minster for a visit to the seaside. “The future of this service de-
pends on it being financially vi- able and we hope that the local people in Sheppey, Sitting- bourne and Maidstonewill give it a try to ensure that patronage builds to a level where it can become an established part of our network in the future.” For details, call 0844 8004411.
Car wash plan is ‘stopgap’ in hard times JOHN Iandolo has applied to set up a hand car wash business at 10 Buckland Road, Maidstone. The supporting statement says: “The site has residential approval
for development,which is not possible to develop due to these test- ing economic times. The proposal is ‘light of foot’ in that it can cease trading and be readily dismantled and closed as and when it becomes viable to take forward the residential scheme.” Maidstone Council will rule on the planning application.
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ice jointly was made last Octo- ber. Stephen McGinnes, Maidstone’s head of revenues and benefits, told the cabinet that savings targets had been ex- ceeded. The projected saving of £359,000 in the current year was now expected to be £437,000 and future years were likely to be £587,000 compared to the initial target of £560,000. He told the cabinet that Maid-
stone’s share of the savings would be just over 50%. Overall, staffing levels were cut by 20%, the equivalent
of 14.9 full-time staff, including three of seven management posts. The IT contract has also been reviewed to improve function- ality and make savings. Mr McGinnes said that, after
initial uncertainty, the staff “feel positive going forward”. Cllr Malcolm Greer said: “It’s
a good story. We need to make sure staff know we appreciate what they are doing.” Council leader Cllr Chris Gar-
land said: “I’m very pleased with progress.Well done. It’s an example of the way shared serv- ices can work and I hope to see many more like it.” Maidstone is forecasting a £150,000 saving from teaming up with Swale Council on park- ing services.
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