43 new homes
PLANNING permission has been granted for the creation of 43 res- idential units at a transport yard in Bunyards Farm, Beaver Road, Allington. Maidstone Council objected to Kingsway Properties’ application, claiming it would involve a sig- nificant erosion of the Strategic Gap to the north west of the town, making it harmful to the charac- ter and setting of Maidstone. A Maidstone borough state-
ment added: “In this council’s view, the submitted layout fails to demonstrate high quality design and the landscaping provision would appear to be wholly inad- equate given that this scheme rep- resents an expansion into open countryside.” However, the site is just out-
side the Maidstone boundary, and members of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s plan- ning committee voted favourably on the scheme. The decision notice said: “The proposal would nothave anunacceptable adverse impact on the residential amenity of neighbouring properties, nor on the character of the building and street scene. “Any demonstrable and signif-
icant harm to interests of acknowledged importance can be satisfactorily mitigated by the imposition of the stipulated conditions.” Seventeen of the units are scheduled to be affordable hous-
Councillor laid to rest
ing. There will be a mixture of two and three storey buildings that will be flats, terraced, semi detached and detached houses. A total of 91 parking spaces will be provided. According to the supporting statement: “The visual impact of development on the site should be reduced by the layout of the proposed housing so that some dwellings face the open land to the west and there is not a con- tinuous line of rear garden fences. “The proposed shared open
space can be used to create a strong landscape feature between the housing and the open land with the planting of native trees and shrubs. The site is separated from Beaver Road by being some 4mlower and by trees and shrubs on the banks up to the road. “The design provides a sub- stantial visual improvement in the areawhile removing the pos- sibility of amore intensively used and intrusive transport yard. Re- development of this site will re- sult in a small increase in vehicular traffic but will remove a significant number of lorries.” Kingsway has lodged a further planning application to create a new access road from Beaver Road. Subject to Maidstone Council consent, it would be lo- cated near the Park and Ride bus turn. A footway will be provided along the north west side of Beaver Road.
COUNCILLORS from both Maidstone and Kent lined the funeral route as former Mayor of Maidstone Cllr Malcolm Robertson was laid to rest. All Saints’ Church, in Mill Street, was packed for a thanksgiving service for the leading LibDem councillor, who died suddenly, aged 67, at his on August 10. Representatives from dozens
of town organisations attended the service, along with busi- ness leaders and members of the police force. Cllr Robertson, whose wife Cynthia is also a borough councillor, represented Alling- ton. Born and bred in the town, he attended Shepway Boys School and Oakwood Park technical college before joining the BBC as an engineer. He worked for TVS in Maid-
stone before retiring 10 years ago, to devote his time to poli- tics.
Tributes were paid to the long-serving councillor by members of his family and his colleagues. His technical background helped him get to grips with the finer points of complex po- litical agendas, while he had a love for the arts – but an even greater love forMaidstone, ac- cording to his brother Gra- hame.
Tax offenders thought to be in USA TWO of Britain’s most wanted suspected tax cheats are believed to have fled from theMaidstone area. Gordon Arthur (60) and Emma Tazey (38) are suspected of ille-
gally importing cigarettes and alcohol, evading £15million in duty. Both are believed to be inAmerica, having broken their bail condi-
tions and absconded in
2000.Awarrant for their arrestwas issued at Maidstone Crown Court in 2002. They are among 20 fugitives listed by HMRC Customs and Excise in a bid to track them down.
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