Maidstone Borough Council 7


Save energy, save money


A new warm homes scheme will provide eligible households with energy saving improvements at no cost to the resident.


Enterprise is working with Maidstone Borough Council as part of the Kent and Medway Green Deal Partnership, to offer residents a free home energy assessment.


Improvements could include cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, draught proofing or solid wall insulation. These will help to keep homes warmer and could save money on energy bills. If you are in receipt of particular benefits you could also qualify for funding for heating improvements.


It is worth taking advantage of the FREE home assessment as the assessor can check your eligibility for home improvements. If your home was assessed under a previous scheme and you were advised insulation work could not be carried out, the warm home scheme may now be able to help with your cavity or loft insulation.


Households in Parkwood, Shepway North, Shepway South and High Street wards will be visited by representatives of Enterprise during the autumn to begin the process before the scheme is rolled out across the borough.


For more information or to request a free home energy assessment, visit www.maidstone.gov.uk/warmhomes or call Enterprise on 0800 521 660.


Keep the noise down


Maidstone council’s enforcement team is working with pub landlords to reduce complaints about anti- social noise.


A new noise management scheme, CARES (Community Aware Responsible Establishment Scheme) is helping landlords of clubs, pubs and bars who find it difficult to control noise. CARES is a voluntary scheme for licensees to positively enhance their presence within the community. Each establishment will receive a management toolkit comprising of a noise management plan and guidance on reducing the risk of


complaints. The aim of CARES is to provide establishments with the means to regulate themselves, to avoid any unnecessary visits from the local authority and to manage their establishments in a responsible way.


Councillor Marion Ring, Cabinet Member for the Environment said: “Most establishments are not causing noise related problems but we want every one to sign up and display a CARES window sticker to show their commitment to the scheme and to reassure patrons and neighbours that the establishment is not just thinking


about their business but also their community.”


If you would like to sign up to CARES or would like more information call 01622 602202 or email


enforcementoperations@maidstone .gov.uk


Customer service improvements


Last year more than 500 people responded to a consultation about their experience of contacting the council.


Here are some of the things we found out and how we are responding: You said


We did


You didn’t like the council’s website.


A new website was designed with customers and launched in May 2013. We are increasing the number of transactions that people can do on our website so that customers can do business with us at times and places that suit them.


You do not want to have to contact the council by post.


4 out of 10 people said they had smart phones.


You wanted to be more involved when Maidstone Borough Council makes changes to services.


Not everyone can afford their own computer or smart phone to go online.


Sometimes there was too much red tape and lack of communication between council departments.


We will reduce the amount of post we send out and that we ask you to send us.


Later this year we will launch a version of the website for smart phones and tablets.


We will review all our services and will ask customers for their opinions. We have already consulted customers about residents’ parking permits.


We are working with partners to help local people build their internet skills and to increase availability of public computers.


We will look at each council service to improve the way we deal with information and will cut red tape wherever possible.


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