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downsmail.co.uk Death overshadows home plan


A PROMINENT local planning consultant passed away in the weeks before his proposal for a new home in Hunton was refused by Maidstone Council’s planning committee.


Alan Bishop, who ran Bishop Con- sultancy, applied to build a new home on higher ground within the same site to protect a live/work unit in Beast House,West Street, from flooding. He had been given permission on


appeal in April 2012 to undertake the Beast House conversion, but said an Environment Agency report later that year showed a one-in-20 chance of an- nual flooding. The office would re- main in Beast House, but the residential element was to be built separately. ButMr Bishop died before he could


Homes crisis


A SHORTAGE of social housing for single tenants in Maidstone has been highlighted. The admission, by Maidstone


Council’sheadofhousingJohnLit- tlemore, was in response to a Free- dom of Information request. The borough council said 638


people were waiting for one of the borough’s five one-bedroom proper- ties, while there were 112 people under-occupying larger homes.


argue his case to the committee, who turned down the proposal as it was contrary to a policy protecting the countryside from new housing. Roger Sawtell, chairman of Hunton Parish Council, said: “Alan was a good friend to the parish council and ad- vised us on various planning situa- tions in the past. “It is so sad that it was only a few


weeks ago that he attended a plan- ning application meeting in Hunton to discuss this application. “You can’t see the building so how can it have a visual impact?


“Hunton Parish Council believes it


would be a good application for the village and to maintain the building in aworking situation.” Bill Hall, a planning consultant and longstanding friend of Mr Bishop, said the flooding data had made the residential element of Beast House uninsurable. “Alan Bishop was about to imple-


ment this scheme. Nobody can do that now. His eldest daughter might have lived there.” The committee stayed resolute and voted against the scheme, with eight


councillors in favour of refusal, four against and one abstention. Cllr Tony Harwood, a committee member, said: “This is clearly against policy. If we ran the argument that there are places you cannot see from the public highway we would have houses built all over the place. “We have held a very firm line on


this site and this is not the time to give way when we are faced with un- precedented pressure on the country- side.”  Obituaries - see page 24


Young dancers head for top


A DUO of dancers from Kingswood are heading for some top accolades. Max and Katie Harrison, who at- tend Karen Day’s Grafty Dance School in Lenham, have been dancing for six years – but only as a pair for the past 11 months. Now, aged 14 and 13, the brother and sister from Sutton Valence have beaten off the region’s best opposition to take first place in the ballroom sec- tion of the Suffolk and Essex U16 Dance Competition – and second


place in Latin. In the Kent Titles U16 Dance Competition, they again won the ballroom section and came second in Latin. They are now placed fourth nationally for their age group. They took part in the British Na- tional Championships, in Blackpool, competing against the best U16 dancers from all over Britain, where they attained 13th place in ballroom and 14th in Latin and entered the World Dance Council Championships in Paris in December.


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18 Maidstone South January 2014


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