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News Park and ride


lease renewed THE future of the park and ride site in Sittingbourne Road is likely to be safe for another year. The lease for the site was due to


expire on November 8 and Cllr David Burton, Maidstone Council’s cabinet member for planning and transport, was in talks with landowner Gallagher Properties to negotiate terms for a new lease. The council’s draft local plan des- ignates the land as a continuing park and ride site.At present, it can accommodate 600 vehicles. Planning permission has been granted for a new hotel next to the site and Gallagher Properties is cur- rently discharging pre-construction conditions so that work can begin. Cabinet member for transport,


Cllr David Burton, said the council had managed to secure a lease for a further year without an increase in the rent, but with a two-month break clause. But he said: “I have asked for a report to go to overview and scrutiny so that the future of the site can be debated. “Park and ride continues to cost


MBC in excess of £500,000 per year out of our core budget of just £20m. “We need to make park and ride


break even so tax payers do not need to continue to prop it up.”


downsmail.co.uk


Family’s grief as Jade killed in convoy crash


THE Foreign Office is helping the grief-stricken family of Maidstone backpacker Jade Fox,whodied in a road accident inAustralia. Jade (22) had worked at Topshop


and as a clerk for Swinton Insurance in Maidstone as well as at the Chiltern Hundreds pub, Penenden Heath Road, before setting off to Australia at the start of the year. She spent six months in Sydney, working for Australian Credit and Finance to fund the rest of her time travelling across the country. Jade was a passenger in a 4x4 ve-


hicle which was believed to have been overtaking another vehicle when it overturned on Fraser Island in Queensland. She sustained major head injuries and died instantly. She had been on the trip to Aus-


tralia with three friends: Grace Dil- ley and Remmi Sexton, who were both in the vehicle at the time of the crash, and JamieAtkins. It is thought that Jade, who at- tended the Madginford schools and then Valley Park secondary, lived in theWillington Street area. Dozens of tributes flooded social


while three other vehicles are driven by travellers. They are believed to have been heading back to the barge terminal to return to the mainland when the accident happened. The driver and another passenger


Jade Fox, who died in Australia


media when the news broke – both on Jade’s page and those of her mother and sisters, Yasmine and Amy. Jadewas the middle daughter of Mel and Chris Fox. The accident happened on the


final day of their trip to Fraser Is- land,whenJadewas amonga group of tourists travelling in a “tag-along group” – a convoy recommended for tourists after an overhaul of the industry five years ago, after a series of vehicle rollovers. The lead vehicle is driven by an experienced guide


were flown to Hervey Bay Hospital with head injuries, while five other passengers were taken to Gympie Hospital with injuries thatwere not considered life-threatening. Some of the others injuredwere thought to be German tourists. MrFoxwas flying out toAustralia


to help with arrangements to fly homethe body of his daughter as the DownsMailwent to press. The week before her death, Jade posted pictures online of herself with a kangaroo and a koala and spending time atAustralia Zoo. Fellow backpacker Ross Grant


was among the last to see Jade alive, waving her group off from the hostel where they had been staying. He said: “RIP to Jade Fox. So sad.” Queensland Police said its foren-


sic crash unit continued to investi- gate the crash.


18


Maidstone East December 2014


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