Do not shackle small businesses MailMarks
SIGNS grow that many
local businesses are feeling the pain of these harsh economic times – and they increasingly question the Government’s be- lief that they will employ many from the public sector now doomed to lose their jobs. Levels of current business among local companies sug- gest many will do well to con- tinuetoemployasmanyas they do now, especially with VAT due to increase to 20% shortly. What a time for the Govern-
ment to increase the National Insurance charge on busi- nesses and introduce compul- sory pension schemes for small firms – let alone the move to extend costly mater- nity benefits. The Government needs these businesses to help save the country from the perilous fi- nancial legacy left by ap- palling mismanagement of the
Maidstone. My personal memories go
DENNIS FOWLE - President Kent Campaigning Journalist of the Year 2001 email:
dfowle2011@aol.com
former Labour Government. Businesses need help and sympathy from Government – not extra financial shackles which will help kill off many. It is a perilous situation.
Cobtree gem IT TOOK me so long to
find Cobtree Park, the gem of a legacy which former Mayor Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake left to Maidstone. I have liked the golf course
for years but the piece-de- resistance is the park itself, with its imposing new gates off Forstal Road, Aylesford.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Mobility issue
Dear Sir – On the subject of A- boards in the town centre, yes I feel sorry for blind people, but I would also like Cllr Ian Chit- tenden to get on a mobility scooter and try to negotiate the obstacles, not only in Week Street but on Gabriels Hill. He could also try going on the footpath from the back entrance of the shopping centre towards the former Granada Cinema. Can we get near to shop win- dows? No.
In addition our county town needs more dropped kerbs; I cringe with pain in my spine every time I go shopping.. M. Woodger,
Mote Park, Maidstone.
Concurrent grants Dear Sir – Your paper states that cash for playgrounds, vil- lage halls and play areas is being slashed by the borough coucil’s proposed withdrawal of the concurrent function grants.
In fact, that money has al- ready been withdrawn from the parish council grant payments in previous years along with one-off bids that supported the smaller parishes.
Concurrent functions are not being slashed – they are being removed along with all the es- sential services they provide under an agreed contract that replicates services carried out by the Maidstone Council in the non-parished areas. To
retain these services, parishes will have no alterna- tive but to increase their pre- cepts and the decision to scrap concurrent functions was made in advance of any constructive discussion or evaluation of the effects this would have on the
30 Town
Non-sheltering bus shelter
Dear Sir – The saga of the “backless bus shelter” in West- morland Road, in Shepway, (Downs Mail, October) seems set to continue.
My phone call to Maidstone Council gave me no hope that the responsible department has any plan to carry out the repairs following the disman- tling undertaken in the sum- mer.
It appears the combined ef- forts of the police, the council officers and nearby residents are all unable to solve the on- going problem.
Can it be that the original “problem” – the use of the shelter as a football goal-net by young people – has developed into something more in- tractable, defying the ranks of law and order, the borough’s officers and the residents? Or could it be the fact that the Downs Mail had the temer- ity to report on the officers’ carven decision to vandalise a
community and how it would impact on people mainly in the rural villages of the borough. One expects to look at all op- tions to save money. More clus- tering and shared provision would aid the belt-tightening that parishes would want to be a part of, but to tear up such arrangements embedded in the Parish Charter will remove any incentive to devolve more pow- ers to the parishes. Cllr. Mike Fitzgerald (Ind) Chart Sutton
Discrimination Dear Sir – I am writing in refer- ence to the article in the Update
Mrs Gardner at the damaged bus shelter in Willington Street
public transport amenity, rather than tackle the aggravat- ing youngsters?
This particular bus stop is at the highest point in the Shep- way area; the windiest and most exposed to driving rain. Those using it are mainly from the nearby – about 50 - elderly housing units.
Once again, I appeal through your columns to Maidstone councillors to order the repair or replacement of this van- dalised non-sheltering bus shelter before the real winter weather arrives.
Mrs Audrey Gardner, Willington Street, Maidstone.
section of the Downs Mail (No- vember) Maidstone Borough Council, Annual Report 2009- 2010.
In the section on “Children,
Young People and families”' it states that many have been pro- vided with employment through apprenticeships and work experience programmes. Unfortunately I am still un- employed, though highly quali- fied. The Kent Employment Services as well as the RBLI Employment Services, have been working on my case to get me into work since May 2010 but it seems impossible. I feel that I am being discrim-
It is such a peaceful and beautiful haven of open space and magnificent trees freely open to all – just as Sir Garrard wished. The Cobtree Charity Trust
and Maidstone Council now work in much closer harmony to make improvements. An energetic and enthusiastic ranger is now on site and other additions should see a chil- dren’s play area soon. I would like to see more in- formation and signs for visitors to help them find the treasures and understand better the his- tory of this magnificent gift to
back to childhood visits to the private zoo Sir Garrard once operated on this land with a narrow-gauge rail track from the Chatham Road entrance. There are still a few significant reminders today.
Hospital vultures If the local NHS thought it
could win over public opinion with two new films on mater- nity services at Medway and Pembury hospitals shown in theMall Chequers it was in for another shock. All they did was to encour-
age remarks like “disgraceful” and “appalling” from the angry Maidstone public. It was likewatching two vul-
tures waiting to pick over the corpse of Maidstone Hospital’s women’s and children’s serv- ices our local NHS trust wants to murder.
You can write to us at: Downs Mail, 2 Forge House, Bearsted Green Business Park, Bearsted, Maidstone, ME14 4DT or e-mail:
info@downsmail.co.uk
inated on the basis of my dis- ability, although this should not be the case according to the Equality Act 2010 that came out on October 1.
According to the Act there has to be complete equality and diversity observed in the coun- try but I feel that there is still a gap to be filled.
Nadia Ahmed (via email).
Noise explained Dear Sir – I see in the Downs Mail (October) that something that has been puzzling my wife and me for some time may have been solved.
An article on the front page relates to the noise from the computer data centre, Com- puter Services Corporation at Pegasus Place, off Lodge Road, next to the Maidstone Studios. My wife, who suffers from tinnitus but unlike most suffer- ers has very acute hearing, has for months complained to me in the evening that she is irri- tated by a humming noise (not the tinnitus) but we have had no idea where it emanated from.
From the details in your arti- cle it seems that the cause of that noise may have been lo- cated.
However, unlike those who are already complaining about the noise, we are on the other side of New Cut Road in Weavering so it would seem that the noise pollution is not confined to one direction but is an all-round 360 degree prob- lem. We did not know about the action group or its complaints as they are located on the other side of the centre.
Ian Stuart, Coppice View Weavering.
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