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News Mall hope as retail plan dropped
SUPPORTERS of Maidstone town centre have welcomed the news that a redevelopment plan for NewnhamCourt has been shelved. Land Securities has confirmed the company will not be lodging an ap- peal against the refusal of planning permission for the £85 million rede- velopment of the Notcutts Garden Centre and shops. The decision now opens the door
to a major revampof the Mall, which is already poised for a£4mshake-up early in the New Year, providing two new entrances, new flooring and ceilings. When Mall manager Andy Davy
took up his post in May, he revealed that it had sufficient space to accom- modate an anchor department store, such as Debenhams, and said: “The long-term plans for The Mall de- pend on what does – or does not – happen at J7. “If the Newnham Court redevel- opment does not go ahead,wewant to be in a position to react quickly. Maidstone needs Debenhams – it is the missing department store. ”The following month, Maidstone Coun- cil’s planning committee rejected the Land Securities plan – but it was only in December that the six-month deadline to lodge an appeal passed.
Mr Davy has kept the 57,000sqft
site vacated by T J Hughes “strategi- cally empty” should Debenhams now seek an alternative site. Mark Bourgeois, executive direc-
tor for Capital&Regional, owners of the Mall, said: “We know there is a demand for further retail develop- ment in Maidstone and are currently progressing our own long-term plans for The Mall. “In Octoberwe submitted a plan-
ning application for the first phase of our vision which will see the centre modernised and refurbished andwe arenowworking to submit a second planning application for wider im- provements to The Mall and its sur- roundings in 2015.
FIFTY young musicians staged a con- cert in Maidstone inspired by a view of the world froma different angle. Performing their own pieces,
“This would see extra retail and
leisure space created, including an anchor store and bigger and better stores to house new restaurants and retailers.” Land Securities told the committee
that the development would bring 1,500 jobs to the county town and that it would recruit local people for the development, having already had preliminary talks with Jobcentre Plus and Mid Kent College to dis- cuss recruitment and training op- portunities. Describing it as a “run-down site adjacent to the Next superstore”, Land Securities said: “The exciting scheme would have seen Deben- hams make its debut in Maidstone,
Waitrose add its much-loved super- market brand, Notcutts garden cen- tremove into a larger, more modern site and the addition of a number of smaller high-quality stores.” Lester Hampson of Land Securi-
ties said: “This is a lost opportunity for Maidstone. Together with the Maidstone Medical Campus project on adjoining land, our two schemes would have created about 4,000new jobs for the county town.” Land Securities was proposing to
invest £6 million in highways im- provements. Another £1 million would have been spent on improve- ments to bus links between the town centre and Newnham Court and on town centre enhancements.
Musicians’ own work has new view of life on earth Project manager Sue Marlow said:
prompted by the historic “Pale Blue Dot” photograph of Earth taken by Voyager 1, the showwas the culmina- tion of the OrchestraOne Project 9. Leading the 18-year-old musicians
from across Kent was singer, instru- mentalist and composer Ayanna Wit- ter-Johnson.
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“Creativity is highly-valued and every- one has a way of expressing them- selves through music.” The projectwas held by Kent Music
over four days at the New Line Learn- ing and Cornwallis academies in Maidstone, with backing from KCC, Golding Vision and Rhythmix. Those taking part had the chance
of gaining a nationally-recognised Arts Award.
Some of the teenage musicians
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