Millions of reasons to be cheerful
MAIDSTONE is bucking the trend in the face of gloomy economic news elsewhere. A total of £200m is being invested in the County Town's cultural, leisure, education and hospital infrastructure. Also, the town centre has far fewer empty
shops than the rest of Kent - an average of 10%. The national rate is 14.5%. And in recent weeks the borough council has been seeking residents' views on how to
Aldi store edges nearer SUPERMARKET chain Aldi “means busi- ness” over its planned move into Maid- stone, according to a borough council’or. In April, Aldi was given permission to
build a new store in Well Road after a pre- vious permission expired. It now wants to overturn one of the conditions and be al- lowed to have goods delivered to the planned store two hours prior and three hours after its Sunday opening hours. Cllr Malcolm Robertson told Maidstone Business Forum: “With a detailed planning application like that, it looks like theymean business.” Maidstone Council will rule on the planning application.
Firm’s mark of excellence MAIDSTONE solicitors, Gill Turner Tucker, have obtained the Law Society’s quality mark for outstanding residential conveyancing. The firm, based in Colman House, King Street, was among the first – along with Gul- lands, which also is in the town – to receive the accreditation. PartnerMichael Smith said: “The CQS is awarded to firms who demon- strate integrity along with a strong technical skill and commitment to achieving the highest of practice standards and personal service.”
make Maidstone even better, in terms of jobs, housing, regeneration and transport. Cabinet member CllrMalcolm Greer, who
is deputy leader of the ruling Tory group, said Maidstone is the envy of other local au- thorities in Kent, which are being forced to put a stop on big capital projects. Cllr Greer said that at a recent KCC leaders meeting, a couple of them came up to him and said: "You are clearly ahead of the game.”
Major schemes include:
Maidstone Museum's £4m East Wing ex- tension opening soon High Street improvement underway - £2m Mote Park major facelift - £2.5m, backed by the Lottery Library and History Centre - £10m KCC project part-finished Leisure Centre - £6m upgrade completed Mid Kent College - £23m on planned new
Vanessa Eliscupides (far left), AllisonWatts, Shirley Sime, Keiron Cutler, Heather Cook and, in front, re- serve DaphneWright
Cobtree ladies come third
– against all odds THESE Cobtree Manor Park Ladies nearly beat the odds in a national golf tournament. They eventually finished third in the WhiteWebbs matchplay competition in Yorkshire. Cobtree has only 22 members, while some clubs
they played have up to 300. The local team first won through to the South East area final. The national fi- nals were then held over two days at Crookhill Golf Club, near Doncaster. On the Saturday, Cobtree lost a closely fought semi-
final 3-2 to Hoebridge. But on the Sunday they took third place with a decisive 4-1 win over Tapton Park.
facilities Future Schools Trust - £62m investment in two academies (Cornwallis and NLL) St Augustine’s Academy - £12.5m new build planned at ex-Astor of Hever site Senacre vocational skills stu- dio - £1m Private hospital planned near Newnham Court - £78m. Meanwhile, the town now has
a high-speed train link to Lon- don. Take-up of the Maidstone West to St Pancras service has been "good". And the council has been consulting the public on how to bring 10,000 jobs to Maidstone in the next 15 years as well as delivering thousands of new homes.
Council leader Chris Garland
said “Maidstone really is buck- ing the economic trend and is becoming the place for busi- nesses, residents and local au- thorities to invest in. Maidstone is now moving ahead after many years of inactivity.”
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