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Schoolgirl’s death inquiry
POLICE are still piecing together the events surrounding the death of 16- year-old Zoe Georgiou as shewalked along a road at Coxheath. Officers want to hear from anyone
who may have seen Zoe and her boyfriend as they walked along the B2163 Heath Road, near to Georgian Drive, at about 6pm on Saturday, Jan- uary 11. Shewas involved in a collision with
a silver Mazda travelling towards Boughton Monchelsea and died at the scene. Police have made it clear that this
was not a hit-and-run incident, nor was the driver of the Mazda arrested. Friends of Zoe’s, many from the
sixth form at Invicta Grammar School where she studied, left messages and floral tributes (pictured above) at the place where she died. Pages of prayers, expressions of condolence and outpourings of grief were tucked into the dozens of bou- quets lining the pavement in Heath Road. One friend wrote: “I am heartbro-
ken.”
Another said: “We will miss you so much.” Anyone with any information
about the accident should call Maid- stone police on 01622 798538.
College link-up
ACONNECTIONwith the media de- partment at MidKent College could prove invaluable, the AGM of Maid- stone & Mid-Kent Neighbourhood Watch heard. The Home Office has announced it
will no longer be printing and dis- tributing booklets and leaflets for NeighbourhoodWatch groups. Maid- stone & District already used the col- lege students for design and for input to a blog, aimed at connecting with younger
people.The link is likely to be further strengthened as traditional sources of literature dry up.
Improving council play areas
MAIDSTONE Council is to spend £1.75 million improving its play areas in the next 18 months, under a scheme that will see communities being asked to get involved. The council manages 54 of 85 play areas identified as being “strategically
important” for investment, to ensure a decent play area is within walking dis- tance of most residents. The remaining playgrounds are managed by parish councilswho will be able
to apply for up to £10,000 of match funding to improve their facilities. Cllr John Wilson, cabinet member for community and leisure services, said:
“This is a significant boost to current funding arrangements, with investment currently at £100,000 per year for council play areas, and no Maidstone Coun- cil funding for parish play areas.” At present, some parts of the borough are better served than others and the
draft play area strategy is designed to even out the inequalities. It also identifies 20 “non-strategically important play areas” which will be
offered to the community, if groups want to take on their management with council support. If they don’t take up the option within a year, the play equip- ment will be removed and the area maintained as an open space. Consultation dates for the scheme were due to be posted on
www.maid-
stone.gov.uk as the Downs Mailwent to press. All upgrades to Maidstone Coun- cil play areas should be complete by summer 2015.
Social media ‘key to spreadingword’
SOCIAL media plays a vital role in the life of Kent Police and its Neigh- bourhoodWatch. West Kent Divisional Commander
Chief Superintendent Steve Corbish- ley told the AGM of Maidstone & Mid Kent Neighbourhood Watch: “Social media allows us to engage with people in a different way. “We are able to reach people in far
more creative and far more effective ways.” The chief superintendent said it
was important to maximise use of so- cial media, especially at a time when
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the force was facing swingeing budget cuts. Its operating budget was already
down from £350m to £300m – equiv- alent to the loss of 500 police officers and 1,000 support staff. He said itwould be impossible not
to lose more officers in years to come, but hoped that closer working with partner agencies would help min- imise the impact. Ch Supt Corbishley said the force
had seen a rise in retail theft – food, meat and alcohol – and remained concerned at the sale of discounted
Maidstone Town February 2014
alcohol by large pub chains. Alcohol remained the biggest sin-
gle factor in cases of domestic vio- lence – another area of increased activity. He appealed to younger people to
get involved in Neighbourhood Watch and said: “We have to be cur- rent and relevant and reach out to younger members of the community, by social media, tweeting and so forth. “It is imperative we get informa-
tion out about people who target the elderly.”
Council seizes control of community hall
A POPULAR community hall in Maidstone is to be taken back from a charity and put back into council control
Heather House, in Bicknor Road,
Park Wood, is the focal point for nu- merous organisations, providing sport and social events, meeting rooms and private hire. Operated by the Fusion Healthy
Living Centre, the hall raised almost £26,000 last year through private hire, with 70% going to the council and 30% to Fusion. The charity,whichworks alongside numerous several multi-agency groups in ParkWood, had hoped the council would increase its share to 40% or pay a set monthly manage-
ment fee on top of the present 30%. But the council’s cabinet member
for community services Cllr JohnWil- son has decided the council cannot af- ford to make any extra payments and will instead manage the facility itself after March. Fusion had hoped to secure a long-
term lease for the hall for up to 20 years, but the council felt Fusion might not be able to sustain such an arrangement, given the extent of the maintenance costs which were likely to arise. In a report to the cabinet, Ms Rob-
son said: “A large proportion of the current 70% rental income the coun- cil receives from the Heather House hiring fees has to be spent on the planned and reactive maintenance and utility costs.” In 2012/13, the hall made a profit of
almost £26,000, of which the council received just over £18,000 – and al- most all of this was spent on repairs and maintenance. The remaining income has been
used to assist in subsidising the use of the facility by local community groups.
Store targets town mums
MAIDSTONE mums have been la- beled Lidl’s new target customer in the discount supermarket chain’s lat- est expansion drive. The referencewas made by the Ger-
man firm’s UK boss Ronny Gottschlich, who described Lidl’s new target customer as a “Maidstone mum”whowas no longer ashamed to shop in the discount retailer. Despite his reference to Maidstone,
the company, which has stores at Far- leigh Hill and Broadway Shopping Centre, says it has no plan at this time to open more in the town. A Lidl spokesman said: “The term ‘Maidstone mums’is in relation to the demographic of customers we now see shopping with us, with over 24% of our total customer base being ABs (middle and uppermiddle class). “With Maidstone being an affluent
area, we felt this term illustrates this Lidl customer basewell.”
MP’s car perk
MAIDSTONE and the Weald MP Helen Grant was the third greatest user of chauffeur-driven cars in the Government. There arewell-over 100 ministers. The MP used so-called “top-up”
cars 155 times last year, in addition to the number of chauffeur-driven jour- neys she was allowed using cars run by her own department. The revelation comes from a Free-
dom of Information request to the De- partment of Transport. There are over 100 ministers in the
Government and sports minister Mrs Grant came third only to LibDem for- mer justice minister Lord McNally (293 journeys) and Lady Hanham (176), a minister in the communities department.
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