Impasse on paying for parishes


A TEMPORARY deadlock has been reached over the thorny issue of how parish councils should be funded. Parishes do not yet want any further changes to the concurrent func- tions grant that Maidstone Bor- ough Council has paid to them for many years. But MBC is adamant that a service level agreement (SLA) should replace the current sys- tem, which is based on a per capita formula. That grant was cut by 30% this


year. The borough, under severe financial constraints, had origi- nally wanted to do away with the grant completely but bowed to


Ulcombe reservoir


plan A NEW irrigation reservoir, measur- ing 127m by 85m, may be established at Homesby Court Farm,Windmill Hill, Ulcombe. G Charlton and


Sons has submit- ted a planning ap- plication for the facility, which would provide a water storage ca- pacity of 20,000 sq m.


pressure from the parishes. The borough also agreed to a comprehensive review of the funding process. However, the review group has failed to


MAIDSTONE Borough Council’s total budget for concurrent functions grant in 2010-11 was £424,000 for the 35 parishes. The level of grant paid to parishes ranged from £3,521 (East Sutton) to £47,011 (Boxley), with an average of £12,105. The formula used was a fixed amount to each parish (£2,261) plus a per capita payment of £6 based on the elec- toral register. The grant’s main purpose is to avoid “double taxation” where the costs of a certain service are charged twice to local taxpayers because the parish provides a service but the bor- ough still charges parishioners (via its universal council tax) for the equivalent services it provides in unparished areas.


Charity golf day


breaks £50k barrier FORMER Kent and England cricketer Martin McCague (left) and his pal Rick Mackaywere among 75 golfers who helped fundraisers to achieve a £50,000 target. The golf day was organised by Headcorn Imbibers to mark the 10th anniversary of raising money for the Heart of Kent Hospice in Aylesford. The Stableford rules competi- tion helped to push the total through the £50,000 barrier. Martin, who lives in Charing Heath, and


Rick, from Downswood, had just returned from a holiday in Portugal with their fami- lies on the day of the event. They managed to grab a few hours’ sleep before teeing off at the Weald of Kent Club. Jay Bray and Paul Hughes were the main organisers.


Author Rachel’s online debut FORMER Bearsted resident Rachel Amphlett has pub- lished her debut thriller ‘White Gold’ in electronic, eBook format. The plot centres around an explosive device heading to- wards the London 2012 Olympics. Rachel, who moved to Aus-


tralia in 2005, said: “Elec- tronic publishing is gaining ground every month. “Rather than approach agentswho often only take on five to 10 new clients every year, the effort was better spent publishing and promoting the book myself. I don’t think eBooks will ever replace traditional books, but it’s a way for me to get to a bigger audience.” ‘White Gold’ has been released via Amazon, iBookstore,


Diesel and other eReader distribution outlets. Rachel’s husband, Nick, used to run a chauffeur busi-


ness, Commodore UK, from home in Coltsfoot Drive, Weavering, while she worked as a PA in the Maidstone area. Her mother-in-law lives in Harrietsham.


PLANS to enlarge the Newnham Court Shopping Village are in the pipeline. A planning application for retail develop-


ment is expected later this year and, if suc- cessful, construction work could be completed by 2014. Details have not yet emerged but such a scheme would coincide with a nearby, major project to build a private hospital – Kent Institute of Medicine (KIMS) – north of the junction of Bearsted Road and New Cut Road. Originally, the plan had been to engineer a new roundabout there prior to the hospi-


make the hoped-for progress. This was re- ported to an extraordinary meeting of the Kent Association of Local Councils (KALC), attended by representatives of two- dozen councils at Maidstone Town Hall. The meeting heard talks had broken down because the Cabi- netmember for community serv- ices, Cllr John Wilson, insisted there was no alternative to a pro- posed parish services scheme – an SLA between Maidstone and the parishes. KALC secretary Cllr Clive Eng-


lish described the proposed SLA as “incredibly bureaucratic” and also excluded “huge swathes” of


what is covered at present by concurrent functions. Parish representatives de-


cided it would be premature to introduce an SLA given its complexity, the need to clarify numerous issues and the as-yet unknown ramifications of Gov- ernment plans for local author- ity funding and its localism agenda. The meeting agreed that it did


not rule out the concept of an SLA but wished to see the ex- isting concurrent functions scheme continue for 2012-13. It was further resolved that,


in the interim, a pilot study should be conducted with the help of Bredhurst and Staple- hurst parish councils.


Division over shed plan


COUNCILLORS narrowly failed to prevent further expansion of the Newnham Court Shopping Village near M20 J7. A proposal for a 20m x 20m stor-


age building on the eastern side of the site, next to Pennies Day Nurs- ery, was only given permission through planning committee chair- man Cllr Richard Lusty’s casting vote.


Committee members Ian Chit- tenden and Tony Harwood had called for the proposal, on land classified as open countryside, to be refused, to send out a clear mes- sage. Cllr Harwood said: “Local residents have fought long and hard to protect this area. The fact that we have gone from selling a few potatoes in a barn to an out-of- town shopping complex due to our policies being undermined by non-elected planning inspectors is neither here nor there.


Expansion scheme at Newnham Court


tal being built. But as the two schemes are likely to overlap, KIMS developers now want to delay the roundabout work until after the construction phase. Site access for large vehicles would be via a fourth arm of the existing three-arm roundabout. Agents for the hospital said in a note to


the borough council: “The [shopping vil- lage] development may result in substantial


“I have real concerns that we are setting a precedent for further un- dermining of protected landscape in the borough. Residents feel there is one law for Newnham Court and one law for the rest of the borough.” Cllr Chittenden made reference


to themedical centre set to be built nearby within the next year. “I can’t think of a better time to put down a marker.” But development control man-


ager Rob Jarman stressed that a re- fusal would be difficult to defend at appeal because the shed is a small structure within an existing retail park and would cause little harm to the character of the land. This was taken on board by six members of the committee, who negated the six councillors who voted against, with Cllr Lusty’s vote proving decisive in granting planning permission.


changes to highway infrastructure at this lo- cation… resulting in the KIMS roundabout works at New Cut being short-lived and possibly overlapping.” Delaying the roundaboutworks to the end


of the proposed KIMS construction phase would reduce disruptive road works, the note added. Borough planners have been asked to vary


a condition of the original KIMS consent to ensure a “proper phased development”. A temporary car-only access to the KIMS


site for contract staff would be sited 60m east of the New Cut roundabout.


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