News Meat thief


sent to prison A WOMAN admitted six counts of shoplifting in Kings Hill when she appeared at Medway Magis- trates’ Court. Among other offences, Kellie Hiscock (38), of BlighWay, Strood stole meat and alcohol worth £115 from a supermarket in Fortune Way. On another occasion she stole


meat valued at £80 from the same store.


Hiscock was sentenced to 150


days in prison and ordered to pay a total of £276 in compensation, a £180 criminal courts charge, £85 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.


downsmail.co.uk


Ticket deal means longer hours for park and ride


MAIDSTONE Council is trying to boost its evening economy by ex- tending the hours of its park and ride facility. Until August 15, travellers using


the park and ride site in London Roadwill be able to stay intownlater in the evening. In a bid to get more workers and visitors to enjoy more of the attrac- tions of the town centre, the council has negotiated that park and ride users can use anyvalid park andride ticket to get back totheir car atAlling-


ton via the Arriva 71 and 72 services. After6pm,Mondayto Saturday,mo- torists canuse their ticket to catch the regular bus to the stop at Sir Thomas Wyatt on London Road, just a short walk from the parkandride car park. If successful, the two-month trial


could become a permanent feature. Ilsa Butler from Maidstone Town


CentreManagementsaid: “The night economy has always been crucial to the economic health of the town cen- tre and, as such, car parks can be busy particularly on weekend


Greens branch


A BRANCH of the Green Party has been established in Tonbridge and Malling. It is one of three new branches


to be formed inWest Kent in a bid to meet growing membership which, the party claims, has more than doubled in the past six months.


Members want to reduce litter


and speeding on rural roads and increase cycling, community gar- dens and recycling provision for electrical equipment.


New law used to keep peace


A MAIDSTONE housing associa- tion has used a new piece of legis- lation to silence an unruly tenant whowas causing a disturbance. Golding Homes is believed to be


only the second housing association in the country to use the new law to take out an injunction preventing a tenant from annoying neighbours. The housing association took the Maidstone town centre tenant to court, after he had repeatedly dis- turbed his neighbours over two years with drunken outbursts, noise and swearing. It gathered evidence from resi-


dents to apply for the injunction, which came into being last year. The injunction powers are


awarded under the Anti-Social Be- haviour, Crime and Policing Act of 2014, and include positive require- ments alongside restrictions. While the injunction prevents the


tenant from causing nuisance and annoyance, it also requires him to at- tend a community detox pro- gramme for alcohol addiction. The tenant will be monitored and


14 Malling July 2015


any breaches could risk a potential prison sentence and eviction. Golding Homes’ neighbourhood advisor Sam Oborne said: “We are pleased to have support from the court for the positive requirements in this injunction. “We feel that if we can put meas-


ures in place to help the resident overcome his alcohol addiction, it should go hand in hand with pre- venting nuisance and annoyance. “We alsowant to thank the neigh-


bours for being willing to get in- volved and go through this process.” Golding Homes was advised and assisted in obtaining the injunction and an accompanying suspended possession order by housing law service LLP. Partner Julie Allen said: "The abil-


ity for social landlords, such as Gold- ing Homes, to legally impose positive requirements on individu- als is a significant advance in the on- going challenge to tackle and resolve anti-social behaviour. Any step that avoids the ultimate sanction of evic- tion must bewelcome.”


Picnic protest over homes


PROTESTORS showed you canmake your point while having fun at a pic- nic organised by the Protect Her- mitage Lane Campaign. The campaignerswere at Barming


Heath, on the junction of Hermitage Lane and Heath Road, to demon- strate their opposition to proposals for hundreds of homes in the area. These included residents of Oakap-


ple Lane, where permission has been given for80houses and an allocation forafurther240homesto thewest is on Maidstone Council’s draft local plan, and the New Allington Action Group, which has been fighting plans for 500 homes east of Hermitage Lane that would slice through the an- cient Bluebell Wood. Appeals for these applications have been heard and decisions are expected soon. Event organiser Lizzie Hare, of Her- mitage Lane, said: “Residents are fu-


rious about the proposed develop- ments and the lack of infrastructure to support the extra traffic .” The campaign group wants to see


fewer houses, better road technology and a crossing for pedestrians at the busy junction next to Barming Heath. Cllrs Bryan Vizzard and James


Willis were also present. Ms Hare ral- lied picnickers, calling on them to at- tend Maidstone’s Joint Transport Board meeting at the Town Hall on July 22, where a 1,000-signature pe- tition from campaigners will be dis- cussed. She asked them to arrive at 4.45pm for a pre-meeting demon- stration. She told the crowd: “We need peo-


ple to attend to demonstrate our op- position to these housing plans and the impact it willhave on our roads. If we don’t make ourselves heard we will not be listened to at all.”


evenings. “With that in mind, Town Centre Management is very supportive of the borough council’s trial of a late night extension to the park and ride service at the London Road site. “We will be keen to hear the out-


come of the experiment and see if it has a significant uptakebycustomers and consequently a benefit to the town centre venues.” Valid tickets include regular day


return tickets, 10-trip ticketsandpark and ride season tickets.


Orchardwalk


JOIN a walk through the apple or- chards on Sunday, August 30 and help Malling District Lions Club raise funds for Prostrate Cancer Re- search and Support. There will be routes to suit every-


one and dogs arewelcome. Registration is from 9am to 11am


at East Malling Research, ME19 6BJ.For more details, visit www.mallinglionsclub.moon- fruit.com or call 01732 841078. The club, which has 28 members,


has raised more than £10,000 for the charity in the last three years.


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