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Sensory boost for special school
SPECIALIST sensory equipment will be bought for pupils with profound, complex and severe learning difficulties and disabili- ties at a school in Maidstone. The Friends group of the special
unit at Five Acre Wood School, in Boughton Lane, has received a cheque for £7,495 from the DM Thomas Foundation for Young People, a European grant-making trust in London. Five Acre Wood School provides education for youngsters aged from four to 19 including autistic spectrum disorders. The money has been raised for
the foundation by companies in- cluding the Hilton Maidstone hotel. Manager Leonardo Gagliano visited the school and said: “I re- ally enjoyed having a chance to meet the dedicated staff and won- derful children. “I was pleased to hear more
about their work and the equip- mentwe are helping them to buy. I am delighted that our hotel has been able to contribute to this proj- ect, which will help children in our
Charlotte Pragassa (centre) receives the cheque from Leonardo Gagliano and Jess Pollard
local community.” Jane Gardiner, from the school,
said: “We are thrilled that DM Thomas Foundation for Young People is supporting these costs for the equipment, which will help us continue to provide the best possi- ble education and support for our children.” Simon Sheehan, director of the foundation, said: “Our grants com- mittee was impressed by the spe- cialist support it provides to children with special needs and their families and was unani- mously in favour of awarding funding to buy this new equip- ment.”
Planning service split
A SHARED service between three councils – including Maidstone – designed to save costs and improve efficiency has hit the buffers. The Mid Kent Planning Support Service, a joint venture between Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Swale,was set up in summer 2014. The shared servicewas supposed
to improve efficiency but it immedi- ately ran into trouble, with many planning applications taking longer than the statutory eightweeks to de- termine, with a huge backlog of work building up. A disgruntled Tunbridge Wells council has now decided to pull out of the partnership, leaving the re-
maining two boroughs to share the costs of the service. Officers at Tunbridge Wells claimed87%of its applicationswere registered within five days prior to the merger, but only 34% of them were registered within that time af- terwards.
Maidstone’s applications consti-
tuted 37% of the shared workload, but it only contributed 27% of the cost.
Maidstone officers believe the service has now “bedded in” and works in the way it was originally planned. The council’s share of the cost will now rise by £56,000 to £283,239 a year.
Barclays branch to close
THE Sutton Road branch of Barclays in Maidstone is to close. Mid Kent MP Helen Whately is among those who have ex- pressed concern about the closure, which will take place on Feb- ruary 26, 2016. Customers will have to travel to Fremlin Walk to use the bank’s in-branch services.
Concert helps the homeless
A PACKED house enjoyed a concert organised by the Friends of the Homeless Care Day Centre in Maidstone, featuring the Kent Police Male Voice Choir. The concert, at Coxheath Village Hall, comprised a programme of Christmas songs, sung by the 40-strong choir, supported by the Kent Youth Recorder Group. All proceedswent to support the homeless, hungry and vulnerable. A retiring collectionwas made for the Kent Air Ambulance.
OFFERS INVITED IN THE REGION OF £250,000
Stable Yard, Brick Built Loose Boxes, Tack Room, Hay and Feed Storage Plus Grazing Paddocks and Hay Field
Curtilage of 12 Acres Maidstone South January 2016 5
EQUESTRIAN FACILITY, HOCKERS LANE, DETLING, KENT
FOR SALE
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