News
National prize for town’s park
MOTE Park has taken the silver prize in the Green Flag People’s Choice Awards, beating last year’s winner and moving one place higher than its 2013 result. The awards, organised by Keep Britain Tidy, give the public the chance to vote for their favourite park in the UK from those awarded Green Flags during the year for their exceptionally high standards, facili- ties and community involvement. Arecord-breaking 1,482 parks and
green spaces received a Green Flag award this year, making MotePark’s achievement even more impressive. Only Victoria Park, east London, re- ceived more votes. Mote Park is one of the largest
urban parks in the South East and is managed by Maidstone Council. It contains: 11 sports pitches three play areas a pitch and putt course a café miniature railway water sports centre a model boat club
Council leader Annabelle Blackmore with Cllr John Perry, officers and Mote Park Fellowship volunteers.
angling on the lake. A£2.5million restoration project in
2012 – part funded by a £1.8 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund – saw improvements to parkland, paths and car parking areas. Thewa- terfall and pavilion dating back to the 1800swere also restored. Maidstone Council’s cabinet member for leisure, Cllr John Perry, said:“With such strong competition, this is a fantastic achievement, and testament to our volunteers and staff who work exceptionally hard all year to keep the park at its best.”
downsmail.co.uk Work to stop sewage leak
A TEAM of workmen worked round the clock to stem the flow of sewage after a collapsed sewer near Mote Park. Staff at the Maidstone day nursery kidsunlimited noticed amanhole
cover had blown off and gallons of sewagewere seeping down the hillside near its premises in Turkey Mill. In little more than
an hour a fleet of vehicleswas on site, with more than a dozen workers pumping away the waste and trying to find the fault. As the DownsMail
went to press, engineers fromClancy Docwra and staff from SouthernWaterwereworking to find the source of the problem and stem the flow. Nursery managerAmy Barr said: “We noticed the manhole cover was off and sewagewas seeping out sowe reported it straight away. It hasn’t really affected us as the problem is away fromthe nursery in the field at the foot of Mote Park, but the workmen have been brilliant and kept us informed of developments at all times.” Lib Dem borough group leader Fran Wilson claimed the problem was
Workers at the scene of the leak near Mote Park
caused by developers being allowed to plug into an already under-pressure sewage network. Shewarned that the system would struggle to cope with proposed development inMaidstone Council’s emerging local plan. “We have beenwarning for years that this would happen,” she said.
“Developers are allowed to plug into a sewage network that is scarcely adequate for existing needs, let alone for an additional 18,600 additional houses.” The owner of Turkey Mill has offered to pay for improved pipe work
locally to their site, but Cllr Wilson, who represents High Streetward, feared that this would simplymove the problem further into the centre of town.
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Maidstone Town November 2014
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