ture of Maidstone – and now is your chance to give views to the borough council on how it evolves up to 2026. I have read the core strategy consultation document and heard council leader Cllr Chris Garland explain the main thrusts to the Rotary Club of Maidstone. I am a lot happier than five
years ago when the aim was to build 5,000 houses on green- field land just east of Bearsted to raise around £25m for a new orbital road (the old Leeds/Langley bypass). That road is needed – but those con- sequences were too tough. It now seems Government
will require about 11,000 new homes in the borough between 2006 and 2026, and 3,500 have already been built. Most new housing will be in
urban Maidstone, hopefully with regeneration of ‘scrappy’ places like Lower Stone Street. But some countryside must go and about 1,000 homes are proposed for the Sutton Road area towards Langley, 800 around Hermitage Lane to- wards Allington and a total of up to 1,500 in the ‘rural serv- ice centre’ villages of Harriet- sham, Lenham, Staplehurst, Marden and Headcorn, ex- tended to try to ensure their
YOUR views on future of Maidstone MailMarks
IT is a key time for the fu-
DENNIS FOWLE - President Kent Campaigning Journalist of the Year 2001 email:
dfowle2011@aol.com
sustainability. My concern is that escalating ‘social’ contributions required of developers, including now possibly towards creatingmore gypsy sites, will drive many away. The council wants to find
about 10,000 extra jobs as the population rises to around 170,000. Many businesses like to be close to motorways and J8 of the M20 is in the spot- light. Local construction com- pany Gallagher has a blueprint for a major new business park (‘bigger than Kings Hill’) on land south of the A20 east of OldMill Lane, Hollingbourne, that it would like to see in the masterplan. The council is also looking at
about 11 hectares of the now historical Kent International Gateway site (117 hectares) close to J8. It knows this is controversial and wants to build in protection against fu- ture sprawl along the A20 to Bearsted.
The council is impressed
with the business site in Mar- den and is contemplating a three-hectare extension. The consultation period runs
well into October. I hear the council expects to make some changes. It is up to you how many and where!
Sold down the river IT is appropriate that Maid-
stone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is naming the much-reduced children’s unit in Maidstone Hospital ‘River- bank’. There is no doubt the Maid-
stone area is being totally sold down the river by the NHS over children’s services and cannot bank on the safety of what remains. That will al- ways come to mind with the new name. The children’sward is closed
and inpatients must now travel to the new Pembury Hospital. How well can these ill young-
sters be supported so far away from family and friends? All that remains at Maid-
stone is a short-stay paediatric assessment unit and a paedi- atric outpatient department. The unit has seven beds for childrenwho need observation - but will open only Monday to Friday from 9am to 9pm. It will be closed every weekend. This may suit hospital or- ganisation – but not children who (inconsiderately) have problems too at night and weekends. Those needing ob- serving late in the day will have to transfer to Pembury – even if they are fast asleep in one of the beds.
Over-60s go free THEKent Life attraction at San- dling is offering over-60s the chance to bring a friend for free untilOctober 21. As autumn approaches, sen-
ior visitors are being urged to enjoy the seasonal benefits, in- cluding free entry for one friend when buying a day ticket. Special activities are on offer during this period include an apple weekend (October 8 and 9), and ‘scrumping’ event on October 4. Please quote “ap- ples” at the admissions desk. Photo ID will also be required. More info:
www.kentlife.org.uk
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info@downsmail.co.uk Town 37
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