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£6,000 cost of a night on town
AN average Saturday night out in Maidstone costs the people of the borough more than £6,000 – and two thirds of this is the cost of pro- viding CCTV. It costs Maidstone Council £4,327
for CCTV coverage in the town cen- tre on a Saturday night – and a fur- ther £400 is spent on extra street cleansing and a public urinal. The council spends £199.80 on providing licensing enforcement of- ficers, while the cost to Kent Police is averaged at £1,146.08, which covers the cost of police officers, processing suspects and investigating crime. The findings come from a Night-
time Economy Task and Finish Group, with partners from Kent Po- lice and various council depart- ments. It was set up to review the costs of maintaining a safe and clean town centre. The group’s report to the council’s housing and environment commit- tee says that the nighttime economy bringsmanybenefits to the borough, including employment. It creates a vibrant town centre and improves the positive perception and aware- ness of the borough. However it also creates potential
for problems, such as anti-social be- haviour, crime,waste and harm. Although the nighttime economy
is often perceived as being centred on the town’s nightclubs with activ- ity post-11pm, the term also covers restaurants, pubs and cultural ven- ues. There is support for these to be developed further, to offer greater diversity and to attract a wider age range, according to the report. The agencies which jointly fund Maidstone’s nighttime economy each Saturday together spend about £315,785 in a year. Volunteers play an important part,
too, with the taxi marshalls, street pastors and Urban Blue bus helpers providing more than 4,000 hours of voluntary cover each year, dealing with more than 600 incidents and re- ducing ambulance call-outs and A&E admissions due to alcohol. Maidstone has nine pubs and
clubs which open as late as 3am on Saturdays, but the report concludes that these businesses provide jobs and contribute almost £323,000 in business rates, of which the borough council gets 40%, (£129,116.70),KCC 10% and the remaining 50% to gov- ernment.
Back row: Chris Simpson, Steve Pereira, Joseph Scamp and Luke Carpenter. Front row:Maria Pereira, Michael Pereira, Katie Simpson, David Pereira and Finley Lodge.
Karate club’s golden trip
KINGSWOOD’S Katie Simpson (28) was one of three local karate competitors to return from Kimura Shukokai International's European Open with gold medals. Katie, a former junior world champion, retained the European Ladies individual kata (forms) title which she won in 2013, topping a group of 29 ladies. She also won silver in both the ladies’ team kata and team kumite (fighting) events alongside her Kimura Shukokai Karate Kent teammate Maria Pereira (19), from Sutton Valence. Maria’s brother Michael (15)
won gold in his individual kumite and silver in the team kata. Younger brother David Pereira (12)
won gold in his individual kumite event and silver in the team kata. They were all part of the England team for the event in Lucerne, Switzerland, along with their father, instructor Chris Simpson, who was part of the international refereeing team. The youngest member of the England team, Finley Lodge (12), from Hollingbourne, won silver in team kata and bronze in both his individual kumite and kata events and also had the privilege of leading out the England team at the start of the competition. Joseph Scamp (13), from Sutton
Valence also won silver. Chris and the team are pictured above.
News
Maidstone South November 2015
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