Families to get Business plan for post office
agency help MOREthan 70 families in Maid- stone have been identified by KCC as being “troubled” and will be monitored by Maidstone Council and other agencies. The families for the first year
of the project were identified through a multi-agency “data- base trawl”, according to proj- ect delivery manager Lucy-Ann Bett, but next year families will be nominated by agencies who work with them. Ellie Kershaw has been ap- pointed as the local project de- livery manager (LPDM) for the Maidstone area. The Troubled Families Pro- gramme is a national initiative aimed at improving the lives of disadvantaged families. Eligible families will include
those where at least one under- 18 has committed a crime in the past year or has an ASBO or similar record; those where a child has been permanently ex- cluded from school, has been given three or more fixed school exclusions or plays tru- ant; and households with an adult on certain benefits. The LPDM will work with parish councils, Maidstone Council, KCC, police, Kent Pro- bation, JobCentre Plus, mental and physical health and sub- stance misuse services, the vol- untary sector and other local partners to help the families.
MAIDSTONE’s old Post Office could be brought back to life – as a business and innovation hub. The borough council is looking at
the cost of refurbishing the 185sqm King Street property (right) to provide flexible office and meeting space for start-ups and small businesses. The council believes there are al-
ready some 2,000 home-based busi- nesses that could benefit from collaboration and networking along- side other like-minded operators.
THE project could be aiming too high, according to one local entrepreneur, who believes young people with potential could be “turned off” by coun- cil and corporate intervention. Jonnie Jensen (pictured), co- founder of Maidstone Jelly, a co-workers’ community which meets twice a month, has been in discussion with the council over its proposals and believes the council and chamber of commercewere still thinking in terms of “old school” sole traders. He thinks they need to broaden their horizons to take in the potential for digital and technological innovation. He said: “There may well be
lots of people working at home, but the problem will be persuad- ing them to pay money to come
The council is hoping to obtain KCC
and other funding to forge ahead with its plan, which would create, accord- ing to a spokesperson, a “small busi- nesses centre, offering flexible space to encourage collaboration and provide professional meeting spaces”. It would offer desk space and flexi-
ble offices alongside business semi- nars and meeting room hire. Rents would vary depending on usage and could form part of a membership scheme.
Project ‘a turn-off’ to entrepreneurs
into town to use the shared space. In other towns and cities, you see people in cof- fee shops, using their laptops, but we don’t have that in Maid- stone. We have a different culture and need to tackle it from a different angle. “In my experience, start-ups
and innovators are put off by shiny white, gleaming build- ings with an institutionalised
Maidstone will be visited by the Start Up Britain bus on July 17, which will be parked in Jubilee Square, offering free advice to residents who are thinking of starting up theirownbusinesses.
feel. Creatives want to work in a funky, vibrant space. “Instead of providing a space
and hoping people will fill it, we need to be looking at the grass roots and encouraging the kids in our schools to go down the technological, digital and creative routes, giving them op- tions which are an alternative to university.” Jelly was set up in New York
in 2006 by two freelancers who were fed up with working alone. They called their group Jelly because they ate jelly beans during their meetings and the idea moved over to the UK in 2009. The Maidstone events are cur-
rently held twice a month at Stepping Stones Studios in Mu- seum Street.
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