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News Anger over park and ride plan


MORE than 100 residents packed a meeting to protest at a plan for a park and ride facility. The proposal is for land on Linton


Hill, belonging to farmer and haulage contractor Alan Firmin Ltd. There was standing room only as


angry locals accused Maidstone Council of making a U-turn after ad- mitting, in its own 2012 draft trans- port strategy, that “the location at Linton crossroads is primarily con- strained due to the setting of the countryside south of the Greensand Ridge escarpment and issues relat- ing to the inter-visibility with the Linton conservation area”. It added: “If the site at Linton crossroadswere developed itwould also lead to unacceptable coales- cence in an area where the character is primarily one of only loosely-re- lated settlements.”


Good rating


for academy OAKS Academy has impressed an Ofsted inspector, who has rated the Mangravet school good overall. The high marks for achievement, teaching and management follow the decision to turn the primary school into an academy in April 2012. The government inspector cred-


ited the new head with much of the progress, despite more than three times the number of pupils needing extra help in class. The Ofsted report said: “Since the


new head was appointed in Janu- ary 2013, she has been uncompro- mising in her drive to make the academy as good as it can be and has dealt withweak teaching effec- tively.” It went on to say that pupils at


the smaller than average-sized schoolwere making good progress in reading, writing and mathemat- ics, because lessons were interest- ing.


“Good teaching is allowing


pupils to make up for previous gaps in their learning,” said the re- port, adding: “Pupils have good at- titudes to learning because teachers plan activities which maintain their interest and enthusiasm.” Behaviourwas also good, with all


pupils aware of whatwas expected of them. However, the inspector sug-


gested that while teachers mark pupils’ work regularly, the school was not yet outstanding because marking did not always give spe- cific guidance to help pupils make more rapid progress. The inspector also noted that fur-


ther effortwas needed to ensure all pupils attended the Oak Tree Av- enue school regularly and arrived in good time for classes.


THE company behind plans to re- develop Newnham Court shop- ping village says if it gets permission this spring, the new- look site will be open for Christ- mas 2016. Land Securities says construction


of the £85m project could begin this autumn, subject to approval by the borough council. The first phase includes building a new, bigger garden centre for


The council still accepts this is a sensitive area and says there will need to be “landscape mitigation” and “structural landscaping”, but opponents argue that concreting over 17 acres of agricultural land will both destroy the rural aspect of Lin- ton and add to the drainage prob- lems lower down the valleys, in places such as Yalding, Hunton and Marden.


Protagonist Ron Leagas, spokesman for Keep Linton Green, has amassed more than 700 resi- dents in a petition opposing the scheme. He said: “I have a message for the Maidstone town planning team: you’ve made a mess of Maid- stone, leave Linton alone. “Linton and Coxheath can barely


cope with the current volume of traf- fic, let alone potentially doubling it. Park and rides are great in the right places – and that maywell be to the north east and west of Maidstone, but it is not from the south, which is served by approach roads that are predominantly single lane.” Maidstone Council’s draft local


plan, whichwent out for public con- sultation on March 21, has ear- marked 17 acres of land, south-west of the Linton crossroads, for a 1,000- space park and ride site. MrLeagas said: “The only support


for this scheme comes from a com- puter-based model. It is not a good model if we are not asking the peo- plewhocome fromYalding, Marden and further afield if they would ac-


tually use it. They are not going to drive as far as Linton, only to wait for a bus and then trickle into town at a snail’s pace. “Park and rideworkswonderfully


in places like Oxford, Cambridge and Chelmsford, where there is an orbital road system – but not in Maidstone, where the Loose Road is already congested.” Representatives of Maidstone Council and a developerwere due to give residents more information on April 15 and there will be a display of the local plan proposals in Cox- heath Village Hall from 1.30pm to 7.30pm on Thursday, April 17. Cllr Denis Collins said: “This is when you get to have your say and come up with alternative ideas.”


Mother plans sky dive to help charity


A PENENDEN Heath mother is to sky- dive in aid of The National Autistic So- ciety.


Joanne Brown (33), who works at


Tones Ties in Bearsted Green Business Park, has an autistic son, Lewis (10). He is a pupil at Sandling Primary


School and will go to Bower Grove School in September. Joanne hopes the jump at Head-


corn Aerodrome on May 18 will raise £500. She can be sponsored online on www.doitforcharity.com/joanne-brown.


Shopping village timetable Thief jailed


Notcutts and some smaller shops. The existing garden centre would relocate to its bigger premises in autumn 2015. Phase two would include demol-


ishing the old garden centre and re- placing it with a Debenhams, Waitrose and more retail units. The applicant says the proposal


will create several hundred con- struction jobs and 1,500 full- and part-time jobs when it opens.


Nursery bid to extend hours


ADAY nursery at St Luke’s Road, Maidstone wants longer hours. In February Busy Bees, which operates from the ground floor


under the name Toad Hall, was given planning permission to es- tablish day care space in a storage area on the first floor to accom- modate 21 additional children to make a maximum of 51. Maidstone Council said this was on condition that operating


hours were restricted to 8am – 6pm weekdays and the garden was used by a maximum of eight children at any one time. The nursery has applied to change these conditions to allow use


between 7.30am and 6.30pm and for up to 16 children to be permit- ted in the garden. A supporting statement said: “By extending an extra 30 minutes at both ends of the day, it gives a greater scope for parents to fit childcare around usual office hours.” Maidstone Council will determine the planning application.


LEE Botten (31), of Camp Way, Maidstonewas jailed for 60 days by Mid Kent magistrates after he ad- mitted stealing a toothbrush and three other shoplifting offences. On February 10, he stole meat


and toiletries worth £50 from a store in Northumberland Road, Shepway, followed on March 17 by thefts of meat and laundry gel of an unknown value from a shop in Northumberland Road and an elec- tric toothbrush worth £49.99 from another shop in the road. The following day he stole fra- grances worth £176 from a shop in King Street, Maidstone.


Tea shop plan


AFARMshop in the Royal Star Ar- cade, Maidstone could be con- verted into a teashop. A planning application has been lodged to turn PJ Farm Shop into Judd’s Kitchen and Tea House, serving fresh leaved teas and tradi- tional teashop items and foods. If permission is granted by Maid-


stone Council, it would seat about 50 guests over two floors, with sales space for related items.


Maidstone Town May 2014 25


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