downsmail.co.uk ‘Iwant to see town go for growth’


A TOWN centre troubleshooter brought in to change the face of Maidstone believes the county town is full of “untapped potential”.


Paul Spooner (pictured), who has worked on regeneration projects in Manchester, Birmingham and Portsmouth, has been appointed interim director of planning and de- velopment at Maidstone Coun- cil, following the departure of Zena Cooke inAugust.


Mr Spooner has pledged to use


his skills and contacts to create a “square mile” in Maidstone, much the same as that in the City of Lon- don. It would include the redevel-


Wifi in libraries


FREEWifi will soon be available in Kent’s 99 libraries, thanks to funding from Arts Council Eng- land.


Thirty three libraries already offer


free wifi and the rest will be enabled fromApril next year, as part of a gov- ernment initiative to equip all li- braries in England with the facility. The provision will mean more


people can access a vast range of on- line library services, such as free sub- scriptions (newspapers, journals, encyclopaedias, business resources etc) and the online library catalogue which contains almost half a million books,DVDsand CDs, available via a free click-and-collect reservation service.


A BLUEPRINT has been drawn up for the management of Maidstone. As of April 2016, the plan is for the


Town Centre Management and Town Team to join forces as a com- munity interest company, designed to benefit the community rather than private shareholders. A strategic board will join forces


with members of Maidstone council and senior officers, plus representa- tives from Kent County Council, the business and voluntary sectors, to oversee the work of MaidSafe (the crime reduction partnership) and


opment of land at Maidstone East station. He also hopes to influence man- agement of The Mall to bring for- ward their long-term improvement plans for the shopping centre – and get rid of some of the town’s most prominent “eyesore” sites. Born in Folkestone and a former director of economic development at Birmingham City Council, re- sponsible for city centre regenera- tion and major economic development projects, Mr Spooner later served as English Partner- ships’ regional director for North West and West Midlands and di-


rector of the West Midlands at Homes and Communities Agency. Before this, he spent seven years


with Portsmouth City Council as director of development and led the public/private sector partner- ship for the regeneration of Portsmouth Harbour. He told the Town Centre Man- agement and Town Team: “I am confident we can see significant growth in Maidstone in the next 10 years.” A qualified town planner with


an MBA, Mr Spooner says Maid- stone is brimming with untapped potential.


He said: “We have many fantas-


tic assets and many development opportunities. It is time we started to punch above our weight and recognise the importance of Maid- stone to the county of Kent.” A council spokesman said: “We appointed Paul Spooner to ensure that important work continues to improve Maidstone as a place whilewe look at the future shape of the officer structure. Mr Spooner brings awealth of experience of re- generation projects and will carry forward our ambitions especially for the town centre, commercial projects and the local plan.”


Investment plan to boost The Mall


PAUL Spooner hopes he can work with Capital & Regional, the owner of The Mall, to find a way to attract new retail and leisure investment which will allow the re-vamp of The Mall to proceed sooner rather than later. This would also include a major


overhaul of the bus station, which the interim director of planning and development saidwas “a priority for everyone”. He said: “We need to have a bus


station that is fit for purpose for the 21st century. I am determined to find a way forward to lift this end of


The blueprint for success


the town centre co-ordinator. The co-ordinator will continue to organise business briefings and su- pervise working groups covering regeneration, events and marketing, while MaidSafe will work closely with the nighttime and daytime economy forums. Ian Tucker, who chairs the TCM


and TT marketing group, said: “It is good to see we are on the road to achieving one organisation that brings together the best of the TCM, the Town Team and Maidstone Council.”


doctors from every specialty in hospitals, except consultants, and are the backbone of medical care.Without them there would be no expert healthcare for patients and the service would be paralysed. Sadly, Government ministers do not


seem to recognise this. If they did, they would not be trying to force on these dedicated doctors “normal” working hours of 7am-10pm six days aweek with the added insult of a 30% pay cut. In the same shameful package, juniors entering general practice could earn up to 40% less. This is not only unjust, but idiotic in view of the


the town.” Mr Spooner said he was commit-


ted to bring about the redevelop- ment of land at Maidstone East railway station, in conjunction with KCC and Network Rail. He also plans to put a pro-


gramme in place to get rid of eye- sores, such as Wren’s Cross on Upper Stone Street, while making more of the town’s heritage assets. “I intend to do everything I can to


make sure the planners are behind us so we can get high quality devel- opment which fits your aspirations for the town centre.”


Pedestrians at heart of vision


PLANS for the future of Maidstone will make pedestrians a prior- ity. Paul Spooner said the most successful towns were those which provided a good “walking experience”. The new gyratory works, due to commence in May, will place a


strong emphasis on providing a good quantity and quality of pedestrian space, he assured. He said he hoped to improve the relationship between businesses


on both sides of the river, which would include tidying up the shrubbery around the Millennium Bridge and Archbishop’s Palace. He said: “It’s all about improving the environment and putting pedestrians first. “The river is an asset, so let’s use it. We want to create a town which is a relaxing place to spend money and time.”


lack of GPs. Safeguards against working dangerous hours are to be removed and maternity pay affected. Wewere told bankers needed their high


pay and bonuses to stop them leaving the country. Too many junior doctors are already leaving the UK because of Government policies towards the NHS, and this contract will accelerate the exodus. Double standards indeed. We support junior doctors fully in their


fight to retain safe working conditions. Tired doctors make mistakes. Patients and the NHS will undoubtedly be put at risk by


these cynical proposals. The great British public needs to lobby


MPs and show support for their doctors. Everyone will need their services one day. Dr Paul Hobday, Dr Karen Poerton, Dr Ali Abbas, Dr K Bala, Dr Jonathan Goodman, Dr Roger Hart, Dr David Tod, Dr Carol Jones, Dr Akbar Soorma, Dr Amit Saha, Dr S. Renkema, Dr R Blundell, DrM Lile, DrMIronmonger, Dr J Dennison, Dr P Hanrath, Dr G Singh, Dr S Jones, Dr P Gildeh, Dr P Jones, Dr T Cantor, DrM South, DrMHeber, Dr G Hagan, Dr H Terrell, DrA Jones, DrMMoss, Dr N Pile


Maidstone Town December 2015 33


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