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News Crematorium sign ‘bewildering’
MAIDSTONE Council’s planning committee threw out an officer scheme to establish a new entrance feature at Vinters Park Cremato- rium in Bearsted Road, near M20 Junction 7. The 3m-high black stainless steel
letters spelling out Vinters Park Crematorium would have been at- tached to the ragstone walls either side of the main entrance. Two up- lighters to each sign would also have been included. Cllr Tony Harwood was “bewil- dered by advertising for a crema-
The sentence NICHOLAS Gibbs (30), of The Broadway, Maidstone, was sen- tenced to 180 days in prison, sus- pended for 18 months after admitting burglary and theft. Medway magistrates heard he entered a building in Mote Road, Maidstone, with intent to steal. He had previously taken a travel card worth £5 from a man in Maidstone. He was re-sentenced for an ear-
lier burglary for which he had re- ceived a community order. Gibbs was fined £75 with £100 compensation, £85 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.
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torium” and demanded that the lighting be removed. Other committee members ob-
jected to the scheme in its entirety. Cllr Pauline Stockell said: “The en- trance is nice as it is. You don’t need to advertise it as youwould a hotel. This is a complete waste of money.” Cllr Martin Cox said: “Who
makes the decision that money should be spent on this?” The only voice of support came
from Stephen Paine, who said: “Maidstone Crematorium is com-
peting with other crematoriums around the county for business.We need to invest to try and get more custom, which is a sad fact of the situation.” This view was opposed by Cllr
Harwood, who added: “The popu- larity of this site is because of the natural setting, close to wildlife etc. You tamper with it at your peril.” The scheme was refused, on the ground of being out of character with the rural and sylvan nature of the setting, by seven votes to three. There were three abstentions.
Vinters Park Crematorium Failing school ‘making progress’
A CATHOLIC primary school in Maidstone is making “reasonable progress”, but has a way to go be- fore it can be taken out of special measures. That was the conclusion of an Ofsted inspector, following the third and most recent visit to St Francis’ school in Queen’s Road. The school was put in to special measures in March 2013. The inspector found, since the
last review, one member of staff had left and the coordinator for
special educational needs had been released from her teaching commitment. However, the head- teacher remained absent. The inspector said that while
the achievement of pupils was continuing to show improvement overall, this disguised a lack of progress among year two and spe- cial needs students. She welcomed the positive con- tribution being made by the act- ing head in providing guidance to staff, the input by the local au-
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Maidstone Town August 2014 25
thority and a learning consultant and the appointment of new gov- ernors.
However, she said the issue of finding a permanent head for the school was now restricting progress. She noted: “The time taken to resolve the question of the long-term leadership of the school is holding up strategic plans for the future, including be- coming a sponsored academy. This delay is not helpful to the school and is impeding progress.”
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