News Victoria moves
on from castle LEEDS Castle’s chief executive is moving on after holding the fort for 10 years.
Victoria Wal-
lace (left), who will leave in Octo- ber, says her time at the castle had been a wonderful experience.
She said: “I am so grateful to the
charity’s trustees for putting their faith in me. I will miss the castle and its amazing staff enormously.” During the past 10 years, the cas-
tle’s visitor numbers have grown, with a programme of events and new initiatives including a glamp- site, bed and breakfast business as well as Go Ape! and Segway con- cessions. The chairman of the Leeds Castle Foundation, Niall Dickson said: “Victoria has done a first class job for Leeds Castle. Thanks to her vi- sion, we have an exciting pro- gramme to build on her legacy, which will make the most of this very special place.” He wished her well in her new
role as director general of the Com- monwealth War Graves Commis- sion.
downsmail.co.uk
Borough ‘obstructed affordable homes plan’
MAIDSTONECouncil’s planning department has been accused of “actively frustrating” efforts to build affordable homes for young adults in the countryside. Nowfinished, it has taken nearly
seven years towin permission and build the eight properties in The Street at Stockbury. Such has been the frustration at Maidstone Council’s “persistent obstruction” in providing the “first class – and much-needed – asset”, that the parish council has written to the council’s leader and every parish in the borough. In it, Cllr Chris Porter relays the
events surrounding the complaint, including the selection of the site by a planning officer and the sub- sequent refusal of plans. Cllr Porter said: “In order to
avoid any conflict of interest, MBC’s planning department was contacted and asked to come to the village to select sites that were likely to receive planning permis- sion for such a development.” The parish council did not par-
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The parish council has also criti- The new homes in Stockbury
ticipate in the selection process. He continued: “The planning de- partment then changed its mind and recommended refusal of the submitted plans, claiming that the developmentwas inappropriate in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Thiswas in spite of the fact that they had chosen the site in the first place. “As you will imagine, an enor-
mous amount of time and money, including public funds, was wasted during this extremely frus- trating process.” The proposal was finally al- lowed on appeal.
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cised the process for selecting ten- ants, particularly those with a local connection, which it says was not transparent, inconsistent, and failed to accommodate any of the parish council’s concerns. The council states in its letter: “Stockbury Parish Council will ac- tively publish its conclusions to all other parishes in Maidstone,warn- ing them of the inadvisability of such developments in partnership withMBCin view of the lack of co- operation they are likely to receive. “Wewould strongly recommend
that they investigate external funding and develop their own al- location process in conjunction with their chosen housing associa- tion.” It concludes: “We are doubtful
that any housing association that understands the ethos behind af- fordable rural housing would be willing to take on similar develop- ments within the borough faced with MBC’s policy and process as it currently stands.”
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