downsmail.co.uk Maidstone South Edition


Maidstone & Malling’s No. 1 newspaper


October 2017 ‘£1m win will help care for Charloe’


A MAIDSTONE couple whose baby daugh- ter suffers from a “life-changing but not life- threatening” condition have scooped £1


million on the National Lottery. Adam andAmyPryor’s numbers came up


just when the family ‘s future started to look a bit grim as Charlotte, who is eight months, needs constant one-to-one care and frequent hospital visits. Adam said: "I don’t believe in fate but on


this occasion I think I might, the timing of our win really couldn’t have been better. “Charlotte needs almost constant one-to-


one care and has frequent hospital appoint- ments so we had decided that Amy would not return to work at the end of the month as originally planned.” 3


Firm’s five-yearwait for £50k council bill


HURRIEDefforts are being made to settle a situation that has left an invoice of more than £50,000 sitting on the borough council’s desk for five years.


The companies behind the plush, park-basedAudley Mote House re- tirement facility in Maidstone say they have been eligible to pay busi- ness rates on the bar, restaurant and pool it has opened to the pub- lic since 2012. However, a spokesman for the company says a bill for commercial rates has never been received from Maidstone Borough Council, in spite of efforts to inform it of the omission. He says the amount owing – now estimated at about £56,000 – is sitting in its bank. Confusion at the council contin-


ued this week, with a spokesman adding that the property had not


Audley Mote House


been valued for business rates. It said an independent assess-


ment is being carried out, after “problems were experienced with accessing the necessary areas of the building”, but that the outstanding


payment was being calculated from April 2015. A spokesman for Audley, which operates 12 similar village commu- nities across the UK, including one in TunbridgeWells, said there was no intention to criticise the council The commercialAudley Club op- eration has been in business since 2012, and local borough councillors were even invited to attend the launch. Aspokesman for the council said


it was likely there was “some con- fusion created on both sides” and if the wrong date has been noted then the bill will be back-dated. Audley says it just wants the confusion re- solved.Aspokesman said: “As a re-


01622 690290 YOUR LOCAL PROPERTY EXPERT


maidstone@martinco.com 23 Pudding Lane • Maidstone • Kent


sponsible business,Audley pays all invoices in full and on time. Some- times, a local council can take longer to determine the business rates charge but in such a scenario, as in this case, Audley puts money aside to ensure it can pay the in- voice when it is received.” He added:“We are confident this matter will be resolved soon.”


webexpand.co.uk Obituaries 34 Parish Councils 37


IT HAS been agreed that a CCTV camera owned by the parish council in Tovil should not have been removed from its location in Wharf Road/Church Road.


Crime Reports 37


EIGHTEEN laurel bushes were stolen from gardens in Allington; a bicycle was taken from outside a property in Upper Fant Road; the clutch cable on a motorbike was cut in Hart Street; a rear tyre was damaged on a people carrier in Hastings Road; a car was broken into in Union Street but nothing was stolen; two council bins were stolen in Allen Street; sunglasses and a mobile telephone in Consort Close.


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FREE No. 246


News M2 works planned


MAJOR works to the M2 at J5 have been welcomed but will bring disruption locally. 4


Jason at the Hazlitt


JASON Donovan is to appear at the Hazlitt Theatre next year in a special one-off show celebrating his career.


8 MP lashes far right


MAIDSTONE MP Helen Grant has attacked far right group Britain First. 10


Shop closure


THE popular designer clothes shop, Zee & Co, in Maidstone has closed.


11 


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