News
Plan for homes over new Sainsbury’s store
SOME 350 flats could be built on top of a new-look Sainsbury’s as part of an ambitious £100m plan to breathe new life into The Mall shopping centre. However, co-owner Capital & Regional is unlikely to overhaul Maidstone town centre site if plan- ning permission is granted for Newnham Court to expand off M20 Junction 7. Its proposal for The Mall in- cludes: flagship department store at Gabriel’s Hill, on the former Gala Bingo site, next to a fashion store; 350 flats in separate blocks of six storeys and higher above a re- built, reconfigured and larger Sainsbury’s, with more than 1,000 supermarket parking spaces be- neath the store; leisure area to the east of the shopping centre, containing restaurants and possibly a 12- screen cinema; improvements to existing ceil- ings, floorings, entrances, lobbies and toilets; creation of up to 300,000sq ft of
extra shopping space; newly-located bus station. Mark Bourgeois, executive di-
rector at Capital & Regional, said: “The confi- dence has re- turned to Maidstone town centre and people in Maidstone de- serve this sort of develop- ment. This is deliverable
Mark Bourgeois
and viable; there is a demand for it.
“But if Newnham Court went ahead, it would put a serious ob- stacle in the way of the delivery of this site. There is a certain amount of retail capacity that Maidstone needs; if Newnham Court goes ahead the capacity will go else- where.” A study by DTZ says there is a requirement for 300,000sq ft of ad- ditional retail space in Maidstone by 2023. This figure would be met by The Mall project, but be ex-
ceeded by Newnham Court’s pro- posal, which measures 450,000sq ft andwould include aWaitrose and Debenham’s. Bill Moss, town centre manager,
said: “If Maidstone Council says ‘yes’ to the Newnham Court scheme, then the one for The Mall dies. It is either or.” Capital & Regional hopes the Newnham Court applica- tion is turned down soon, so the first stage of the ear- marked Mall improv e- ments: new ceilings, floors and lighting, can begin by the end of the year. The company also wanted feed-
Bill Moss
back from the public before decid- ing the detail of the other proposals. Legal & Generalwould deliver the scheme with three other landowners, including Sainsbury’s and Gala.
downsmail.co.uk College wins
takeover bid HADLOW College has been se- lected from 30 applicants as the pre- ferred bidder to take overKCollege. The agreement covers further and
higher education sites in Tonbridge, TunbridgeWells and Ashford. K College was formed through a merger between West Kent and South Kent colleges in 2010, but ran up a £16 million deficit, leading to government intervention to stabilise its finances and the decision to split it into two. The institution covering Dover and Folkestone will be run by East Kent College. The enlarged Hadlow Group will
be launched on August 1. Hadlow chairman of governors, Nicholas Coffin, said: “We see this as awonderful opportunity for stu- dents, staff and businesses to create a real pathway to sustainable suc- cess.”
Hadlow College director of fi-
nance and resources, Mark Lums- don-Taylor said: “This is a clear steer from the board ofKCollege that the importance of a local solution is crit- ical to the future of students in Kent. “The development of the new or- ganisation will make a real differ- ence to local and regional communities, business, individuals and the wider landscape of Kent.”
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