Maidstone Borough Council is working to fight the effects of the recession and bring prosperity to the borough. We help residents with housing and council tax benefits, heating and insulation grants, home improvement grants, free bus travel and by support for organisations which offer money advice.
Parks for People
The Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund have confirmed funding of £1.8million for Mote Park.
The Parks for People grant will be used to create lost vistas and restore the 19th- century pavilion and historic waterfall back to their former glory. Other improvements will include better facilities for visitors with refurbished toilets and three visitor?hubs with improved parking and provision for catering.
Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture, Cllr Richard Ash, said: “There are exciting times ahead for the park and the residents and visitors of Maidstone.
G Forces
Maidstone based international web management company GForces has been granted planning permission to extend its Caring Lane offices, to create up to 60 new jobs, and provide vocational training for students from Maidstone schools and Kent universities.
GForces works with the country’s top auto dealers to turn their websites into key sales and lead generating platforms. Managing Director, Giles Smith, said: “We want to attract the brightest IT talent from Maidstone and Kent.”
Useful numbers
Citizens Advice Bureau — 01622 752420 or 01622 757882 Council tax — 01622 602003
Housing benefit and general housing advice — 01622 602557
National debtline — freephone 0808 808 4000
Heating and insulation grants - 01622 602470
First time buyers’ grants - 01622 602470
Energy Saving Trust - 0800 512 012
Concessionary Travel - 01622 602334
Mote Park waterfall will be restored Waste and recycling
Maidstone residents will be getting a new weekly food waste collection as part of a new more environmentally friendly refuse and recycling service starting in February 2011. The new service will collect food waste every week, along with either a recycling collection or the waste collection.
All of the food waste collected will be composted. In Maidstone up to 40% of waste in bins is food so the new service is expected to increase the borough’s recycling rate from 30% to 45-50%. That’s great news for the environment and great news for residents who don’t want to store food waste for more than a week.
East Wing takes shape
The project will cost £3.7m and has been made possible by a grant of £2m from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Museum will shortly launch a major fundraising push to raise money to finish the job. The wing is due for completion by Autumn 2011.
Maidstone Museum’s new East Wing extension is taking shape. Demolition work has been completed, the foundations have been built, the steelwork has been erected and the extent of the new building is now clearly visible.
It will have more treasures
on display, exciting new galleries and more ‘hands-on’ contact with objects.
If you’d like to sponsor some equipment within the education suite or have a gallery named after you contact David Terry on 01622 602529.
Jobcentre Plus — 01622 702700
Cabinet Member for the Environment, Ben Sherreard, said: “We know that many waste bins are only half full every week and we also know that residents want a weekly collection of food waste. So this is the best of both worlds.”
The new service is environmentally friendly because it separates food waste from the waste stream, increasing the number of items recycled in the borough.
“That will put the council in an
excellent position to save money when the council goes out to tender for the next recycling and waste collection contract;” said Cllr Sherreard.
The council estimates that the saving could be more than £100,000 a year.
E-Citizen benefits
Housing benefit applicants, who sign up as E- citizens, can ask for letters by email, saving time, paper and postage. Landlords can go online for details of payments made to them and receive notification letters and payment schedules by email.
E-citizen saves time for everyone and saves the borough council the cost of paper and postage.
E-citizens can also access non domestic rates and council tax records online, just like many people manage bank accounts and other bills. If you pay by Direct Debit you can ask for an electronic bill, so why not try this free, environmentally friendly and easy to use service?
Visit
www.maidstone.gov.uk or call 01622 602574 for more information.
01622 602000
customercare@maidstone.gov.uk www.maidstone.gov.uk Maidstone Council, Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone ME15 6JQ
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