Town Centre Management update: Maidstone Business Forum


Sign of quality NEW signs will soon be in- stalled to direct visitors to places of interest around Maid- stone. Cllr Malcolm Greer told the business forum that the current signage was “poor” and gave little indication of everything the town had to offer – or where to find it. The aim was to put estimated walking times to venues such as themuseum, theatre and car- riage museum on the signs to help divert visitors around the town. Cllr Greer said he had insti-


gated the removal of 1,500 items of clutter from the town in the past four years. As a re- sult, KCC had recommended Maidstone to the Department of Transport as an example of good practice. Town centre manager Bill


Moss said: “Maidstone leads with best practice in all kinds of ways.”


Sculpture garden OAST house-style sculptures are to be the focal point of a new garden outside the en- trance to the bus station in Romney Place. Town Centre Management


has helped fund a project being carried out by the Blackthorn Trust to rejuvenate a patch of waste ground with trees, hedg- ing and lavender, as well as hops climbing up the cowls. An official opening of the gar-


den is to take place in April. Town centre manager Bill


Moss, whose office overlooks the garden, said: “This is an- other example of how the TCM is good at partnering people to work together.” A similar project is being car-


ried out to create a garden at Heather House, ParkWood.


New website MAIDSTONE Town Centre Management has a new image – and a new website. Designed by local company Sitewizard, the site contains details and images of past events, forthcoming diary dates and information on member- ship and services available to businesses and residents in the town. Visit www.maidstonetown- centre.com


Prayer date THE newly-appointed Kent Po- lice and Crime Commissioner Ann Barnes has been seeking divine intervention. The Commissioner joined the Mayor of Maidstone, Cllr Rodd Nelson-Gracie, atAylesford Pri- ory for the bi-annual Kent Prayer Breakfast. The breakfast took place at The Friars on Friday March 22.


22 Malling Interest grows in King Street site


HOUSEBUILDERS are lining up to bid for a prime development site in Maidstone town centre. At least three developers are believed to be interested in the site of the King Street car park and the adjoining AMF bowling alley. The council has already agreed to demolish the car park and the empty Somerfield su- permarket and had planned to put a temporary surface car park in its place until the site could be sold.


However, several firms have already expressed an interest in the site – particularly since the


neighbouring AMF announced it too was planning to quit and relocate to Lockmeadow, so the car park may never materialise. Cllr Malcolm Greer, cabinet member for economic and com- mercial development, told the Town Centre Management busi- ness forum that one company had even gone so far as to sub- mit concept drawings to coun- cillors of how it would develop the site for affordable housing, complete with underground car parking. Cllr Greer revealed that the council planned to put the site


WORK is to be carried out to clean up the Mill Pond in Palace Avenue. The pond is amagnet for rubbish and de-


bris thrown in by passers-by, as well as fo- liage from the trees that overhang the water, the business forum was told. Maidstone Council hopes to prune back


the trees, cut back the overgrowth, remove the sediment and clean the fish traps before the nesting season starts. The pond, which is home to a number of ducks, is in a conservation area and could be made into an attractive focal point of the heritage area, Cllr Malcolm Greer told members.


Next phase of high street work to start


THE second phase of the High Street regeneration is due to get underway at the end of April. Contractor FM Conway has


been appointed to carry out the work and the granite is now on order tomatch the upper end of the High Street. A number of 10-minute park-


ing spots have been incorpo- rated into the final design to accommodate the wishes of the local traders and facilitate short- stay shoppers, while recent traf- fic regulations will be reversed


to once more allow general traf- fic up the lower end of the High Street to Mill Street, when the work is complete. The subways at the lower end


of theHighStreetwillbeup- graded as part of the project and local artist Jenny Brown has met with members to discuss op- tions for murals in the subway to the left. The council is also asking


KCC if it can improve the light- ing in one of the subways to the right.


PLANS are in progress to renew the mural on the outside ofMaid- stone’s Gala Bingo – but it needs a helping hand from the local com- munity. Emma Whittall, who


Help spruce up bingo hall


runs Stepping Stone Studios, Maidstone’s community art space, off Week Street, has pledged to improve the town as deputy chair of the Town Team’s mar- keting group. Heeding comments


from the town centre management about the shabby state of the Gala Bingo building on Lower Stone Street, Emma has submitted an application to the community develop- ment team’s high street ward fund to finance the repainting. The idea has now been put to a public vote along with six other projects – but people need to go into the Maidstone Gateway and vote by putting a token in the relevant box. Emma said: “We will be holding workshops at the studio in the build-up to it to get young people involved in preparing the sten- cils and so forth.”


The substantial granite blocks


at the entrance to Pudding Lane and Gabriel’s Hill, which formed part of phase one, are to be removed and replaced with smaller slabs, Cllr Greer told members, in line with those being installed as part of phase two. He said: “This is a classic case


of an architect who ‘designs in heaven but prices in hell’. They looked fine on paper but not in reality, so we are going to have them removed.”


Museum award MAIDSTONE Museum’s East Wing extension has received a commendation at the national Civic Trust Awards. The awards recognise the


best in the built environment, looking for projects that are not simply architecturally ad- vanced, exciting, innovative or striking, but also of benefit to their local community. Cabinet member for eco- nomic and commercial devel- opment, Cllr Malcolm Greer, said: “I am delighted that the Civic Trust has recognised the importance of the project to the town and our community.” The museum is open for summer, from April 1, opening Monday to Saturday 10am- 5pm and Sundays from 12pm to 4pm.


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on the market later this month, after which he expected interest to intensify. He said: “Clearly it makes


sense for one building to come down and another development to go up in one move, rather than demolition, the creation of a car park and then building. It will be less disruption all round and much more cost-effective.” Cllr Greer said the council would keep the King Street car park open for as long as possi- ble in the meantime to max- imise its income.


Cleaned-up mill pond could be ‘attractive focus’


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