Council unhappy at plan to grow housing by 20%


MAIDSTONE Council has criticised the Government for suggesting that itmay have to increase the number of houses it provides by one-fifth. Officers and councillors from all sides


lined up to denounce the Government’s Draft National Planning Policy Frame- work. Chief among their criticisms was a pro-


posed “20% contingency” in housing that all councils would be obliged to meet. De- velopment control manager Rob Jarman re- sponded: “This, in effect, increases the total number of housing units by 20%, but such


Calendar could be electrifying


IT was a case of leg before cam- era for the men of Lenham Cricket Club as they posed for a calendar to raise funds to install a permanent electricity system at the pavilion in Ham Lane. The cheeky snaps, taken by photographer Roger Vaughan, include club members in and out of their kit, as well as pic- tures of family and friends. The calendar is part of a cam-


totals have been the subject of years of con- sultation and planning.” The document also calls for informality in decision making: “Any guidance needed to support the new framework should be light- touch and could be provided by organisa- tions outside Government.” Mr Jarman, who labelled the framework


“not fit for purpose”, argued strongly against this approach: “Light-touch is a vague term but, moreover, non-government organisations tend to act as pressure groups. “The good point about Government pol- icy is that it is, in essence, neutral.


“Development management is dominated


by appeals and judicial reviews; it is, in ef- fect, quasi-legal and therefore national Gov- ernment policy needs to be clear and robust, and so an element of detail is required.” This officer stance was broadly supported


by the Lib Dems, while council leader Chris Garland (Tory) felt the document “drives a horse and cart through what we are trying to do with the Local Development Frame- work,” which is currently being produced by the borough. Consultees have until October 17 to pro- vide feedback on the draft framework.


Sponsored bike


ride for Isabelle FORMER Allington resident Michael Page is taking part in a 12-hour solo spin bike ride to raise money in memory of niece Isabelle Teague, of Grove Green, who last year died of brain cancer, aged nine. The cycling will take place at


paign to raise £10,000 for the new system. Since the clubhouse generator failed, the team have had to playmatches without show- ers and without making tea or coffee. Fundraiser Kathy Lister, whose husband Tim


can be seen on September’s page, said: “The boys were very keen for the calendar to be a commu-


THE Mote Cricket Club hon- oured its captain Tom Harvey at the annual dinner with an award for being top run scorer (856) and fourth top wicket taker (28) in the Premier Divi- sion of the highly-competitive Kent League. Tom (pictured) received the


award from clubmember Matt Coles, who established himself as a fast bowler/batsman in the Kent County Championship


Members of Lenham Cricket Club, pictured with fundraiser Kathy Lister, and their cheeky calendar


nity effort, and that’s truly reflected on each month of this calendar.” The cricket team has printed 500 copies of the calendar, costing £5. It is being sold at a number of village businesses, themonthly farmers market and on eBay.


the tops


by Dennis Fowle


sidebythe endof the season.


Despite Tom’s success the


team ended an ‘unlucky’ sea- sonnexttobottom andwere relegated. But the four team


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Give us pastors a chance Dear Sir - I am writing in response to Tony Frost's letter to you in last month’s edition (September, Town) of Downs Mail. In his letterhe talks at length about the won-


derful work that the youth service ofKCCpro- vides and the fact that unfortunately the council is seeing fit to cut this funding. I agree with a majority of his points. I do, however, want to comment on hispoint about the voluntary sector. He suggests that the voluntary sector does


nothave qualified and experienced staff. This is a falsehood. I am a local youth worker for MaidstoneBaptist Church, amnot only a qual- ified JNC level youth worker but have over 10 years of experience working in a variety of sit- uations with young people. Just because the term voluntary is used does not neccessarily mean understaffed or underqualified. At our churchwe run anumber of very good quality young people’s groups, from our open youth club that runs on a Friday evening to our brigade companies that runeveryWednes- day. We are also in close contact with a num- ber of local schools, aiding them in their work with the young people in their care. I would suggest that, actually, if they were


34 East tact me. Tom’s


captains all spoke enthusiasti- cally of the emergence from the colts of talented young players and confidence the top team would soon bounce back. There was praise too for ded-


icated fourth team captain Dave Damen who said he was handing over after seven years leading a side with many young players. There were 37 different players last season with nine new colts.


Topnotch Health Club, London Road, Maidstone, on Friday Oc- tober 7, starting at 7.15am. He hopes to raise £2,000 for Demelza Hospice and Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. He said: “Isabelle fought it off


for six months and didn’t com- plain once, only that she was missing school. She dealt with it like an adult and carried on with life as best she could.” Sponsor Michael at www.is- abellefund.co.uk.


Vehicle crackdown A TOTAL of 18 untaxed vehi- cles were removed from the streets of Maidstone in a three- day crackdown. Operation Cubit was a joint operation by Maidstone Coun- cil in partnershipwith Kent Po- lice and the DVLA. Two drivers paid on-the-spot


fines.


You can write to us at: Downs Mail, 2 Forge House, Bearsted Green Business Park, Bearsted, Maidstone, ME14 4DT or e-mail: info@downsmail.co.uk


allowed and enabled, the local churches could carry out amazing youth work across this town and county. Across Kent there are ahigh num- ber of qualified youth workers working in churches. Formore information please feel free to con- Alastair Middlemist


Youth pastor,Maidstone Baptist Church


Why we stay wary of NHS Dear Sir – The latest debacle of hospital ma- ternity services in Kent shows how little we should trust statements made at the top of the NHS, driven by finance and political expedi- ency at several levels. We in Maidstone, fighting to retain consult- ant-led births in our hospital, sat through end- less spin sessions when managers from East Kent tried to sell us the endless benefits and safety of midwife-led birthing units, even though statistics showed one-third of patients would be transferred by ambulance in labour to a full hospital unit. Now East Kent consults on closing the birthing units at Canterbury and Dover – and talks of ‘safer’ options for mums-to-be having to make long journeys to Margate or Ashford. Meanwhile, a new birthing unit has opened this month at Maidstone Hospital – but most


womenwillhave to make a journey ofupto 20 miles to Pembury on very unsatisfactory coun- try roads. We have been saying for years this whole arrangement is unsafe – but NHSman- agement thinks it knows better. Just howlong will the new Maidstone unit survive? It is no more than a sop for the 250,000 population of Maidstone area. We now await proof that the Pembury op-


tion is seriouslywrong forMaidstone women. It will not take long. Dennis Fowle, chairmanMASH


(Maidstone Action forServices in Hospital)


Lenham Society help needed Dear Sir - I wondered if anyone knows what happened to the Lenham Society? I was gen- erously given a map of Lenham by Mrs Don- aldson, themapwas produced by the Lenham Society. If you were a member of the society and


could offer somememorabilia from the 1950s for the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, which will be held at the Tithe Barn on June 4, 2012, Iwould like to hear from you. Contact me on 01622 859682 or email margo.mcfarlane@btinternet.com Margo McFarlane, Lenham parish clerk


To contact Downs Mail just phone 01622 630330


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