CCTV staff facing cut in hours after move
STAFF who moved to Medway along with Maidstone’s CCTV security service have been sold down the river, it has been claimed. Six staff who moved from the county town to the new control centre in Strood when the serv- ice switched in April are now facing swingeing cuts in their hours and wages. Supervisors could lose £800 a month if their hours are cut from 58 to 37 each week, ac- cording to Paul Alcock, chair- man ofMaidstone’s town centre management committee. He said: “This was always one of our fears.” Mr Alcock claimed thatMed- way’s bid for the town centre
Council takes
over dog waste MAIDSTONE has cancelled the contract to have dog waste bins emptied by outside contractors. As predicted in the Downs
Mail in March, the council has given RIP Cleaning of Chatham notice that its contract will come to an end on July 31, after which emptying will be taken back in house. The borough has 350 desig-
nated dog waste bins, but has been encouraging people to use any type of litter bin for their dogmess, provided it is bagged. Cllr Derek Mortimer (Lib-
Dem) who is also a member of Tovil Parish Council, launched an attack on the ruling Tories when the proposals were first put forward, saying dog waste was not appropriate for regular bins, especially near children’s play areas. Cllr Marion Ring (Con), cabi-
net member for environment, originally claimed no decision had been taken, but this week admitted: “We are taking it in house. It is more economical to do the job ourselves.”
music classes MOTHER-of-three Paula Ray is celebrating after her classes for pre-school children were voted the very best inWest Kent. The Musical Playtime scheme, which started in 2001, won the top prize in the na- tional awards from the UK’s biggest parenting site, Net-
mums.com. The group beat off competi-
tion from dozens of other classes in the area, and will be listed as the area’s best on the Netmums website. The classes run throughout Maidstone at Grove Green, Detling, Allington and Barm- ing. Mums praised the class for being friendly and the highlight of their children’s week. For information, call Paula
Ray on 07901 712510 or go to
www.musicalplaytime.co.uk
Top award for
CCTV monitoring, which came in 20% under the TCM’s own price, was based on a reduced service. Since taking on the contract, staff have been work- ing up to a third more than their contracted hours in order to deliver pre-existing levels. Contracts manager Vikram Sahdev confirmed that several staff were working between 56 and 58 hours aweek, but claimed not all of themwanted to. He said their contracts were
for 37 hours, with provision for overtime. More staff were being re- cruited, explained Mr Sahdev, and terms and conditions were being negotiated individually. He said it was likely the
hourly rates would increase, so, even if hours were reduced, the staff would not feel the full financial force. However, Mr Alcock said: “Potentially, we are saying workers could lose 80 hours a month – which would be £800 for a supervisor and £600 for the others.” Mr Sahdev stressed: “We are looking at individual cases, not our workers as a group. Some have said the long hours have affected their personal lives and they would prefer to work less.” He said: “They are all very val-
ued members of staff and we do not want to lose a single one.” But Mr Alcock maintained:
“The TCM will be accused of sour grapes, but that is not the case. “It was patently clear that Medway could not deliver the same level of service for the fig- ure they provided in their bid. We were assured the staff would not be out of pocket when they moved to Medway and that they would be reim- bursed for their travel ex- penses, but that has never happened.” Both Mr Alcock and Police Sergeant John Marshall said they had experienced difficul- ties getting a response from the control centre, although Mr Sahdev said the desk was manned at all times.
Vision for new academy classrooms
MAIDSTONE’s Invicta Gram- mar School is to receive £1.8m for a new English block. The school, which has just completed its first year as an academy, applied to the De- partment for Education for funds to replace the “pods” and “podlet”, which currently house the department. Head of School Julie Derrick
said: “Although we have made a concerted effort to maintain the teaching area, it is clear that our staff and students have had to cope with an environment that is both hot in the summer and cold in the winter and poorly sound-proofed.” The new English block will house 11 classrooms, a library,
media suite and drama area. Mrs Derrick said: “We are working with the architects on the design, but initial drawings have provided us with an ex- citing new academic year to look forward to.” The head said the latest stage
of the school’s improvement confirmed the school had
A NEWbuilding is also proposed for neighbouring Valley Park Com- munity School. Thiswould be built on part of existing tennis courts to the south of the school. Temporary classrooms to thewestwould be removed, and turned into play space. Valley Park has secured £3.4m for the building, which will have additional classrooms to accommodate the school’s growing num- bers. Building is due to start in the autumn, for comple- tion by Christmas 2013.
School takes Kwik Cricket title MADGINFORD are Maidstone Council’s primary schools’ Kwik Cricket champions after defeating Barming by14runs in the final at The MoteCC ground. Sixteen schools en-
tered teamsof eight (in- cluding at least two girls) for a long after- noon of cricket, which kept the ground busy. The plate competi-
tion was won by Loose, with a final victory over Roseacre (Bearsted). Local cricket develop- ment officer Phil Pass kept thehecticday run- ning smoothly. Maidstone’s deputy
mayorCllr CliveEnglish presented trophies and medals.
made the right decision in moving to academy status. In June, DownsMail reported
that the two-storey building would be placed on the site of current tennis courts, which would then be re-laid on the site of temporary classrooms that will be demolished. It is scheduled for comple-
tion in December 2013 and the school hopes it will be able to refurbish its design and tech- nology block at the same time. The school then hopes to im-
prove its sports facilities and wants to build a new sports hall. Planning permission has been applied for. The school’s academy fund-
ing has also enabled it to make improvements to its staffing, and a further 20 teaching staff will join the school in Septem- ber.
New curate to
lighten load THE Archbishop of Canterbury, DrRowanWilliams, has ordained a new curate for the parish of Bearsted with Thurnham. The appointment should lighten the load for Rev John Corbyn, who has been running both churches since the previ- ous curate left in September. Alan Pinnegar, who is mar-
ried with three grown-up chil- dren, has lived for the past 24 years in Cranbrook, but hopes to move to the parish shortly. A lifelong Charlton Athletic
fan, Alan said: “My passion is for the church to go out into the community and to demonstrate God’s love by the actions of its members.”
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