News Top 80s bands


to share stage TWO 1980s groups will share the stage for the first time since Live Aid this year – andMaidstone is on their blockbuster tour. Simple Minds and The Pre-


tenderswill play at the Kent Event Centre on Saturday,August 4. When the two last performed to-


gether, their singerswere amarried couple, though Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr and the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde divorced in 1990. Simple Minds’ playlist will in-


clude hits such as Don’t You (For- get About Me) and Alive and Kicking. The Pretenders are best known for their epic I’ll Stand By You and early hit, Brass In Pocket.


Driver banned A MAIDSTONE woman has been banned fromdriving for 18months after admitting drink-driving. Fern Toni Richardson, (28), of


Elmstone Lane, was also fined £450. She was stopped in Bedford


Place on November 11 and gave a breath test of 77 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.


YMCA MAIDSTONE Beat the January Blues


All aspects of so furnishings from curtain and blind making to kni


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downsmail.co.uk


Relief roadsummitnow delayedbytwomonths


APEACE summit to resolve a long- running squabble between Kent CountyCouncilandMaidstoneBor- ough Council over a relief road for the town has been postponed. Leaders of the two authorities


vowed tomeet at the recent rally in support of a Leeds-Langley by-pass onNovember 2. The leaders and chief executives


of the authorities agreed to come to- gether under the auspices of MPs HelenWhately andHelenGrant. Acancelledmeeting inNovember


was followed by a rescheduled date in December, but this was also put back until the newyear. In themeantime, there has been a


testy exchange of letters between KCCandMBCover their respective positions, both past and future. MBC Liberal Democrat leader


FranWilsonwrote toherKCCcoun- terpart,PaulCarter, “concernedthis (the meeting) will prove to be a fu- tile exercise going over old grounds for disagreement yet again”. Relief roadcampaigner Jenny Sut-


ton express her “great disappoint- ment” at the authorities’ decision to postpone themeeting until 2018. She said: “We were all hoping


they’d give us a present for Christ- mas. It’s a great disappointment.” MrsGrant had told 400 local peo-


ple at the relief road rally that she waspreparedto lock the squabbling sides in a roomuntil theywere able to thrash out some sort of a compro-


mise plan for a link between the A274 and theA20. A spokesman for Mrs Whately


said: “Unfortunately, it just wasn’t possible to get a date in December that fitted into everyone’s diary.” No date has been set in 2018 but a


council insider said: “I don’t think this meeting will happen while the government’s priority is housing, housing andmore housingwhether the infrastructure is there or not.” County councillor Gary Cooke


(pictured), who organised Novem- ber’s publicmeeting at theMercure Hotel, saidKCC– saidthe highways building authority –was committed to taking the process forward. He added that around £200,000


had been earmarked in the coming budget to carry out surveys so that a business case for a relief road can bemade. KCC had been hoping that MBC


could have insisted on developer contributions towards the relief road project but members of the ruling LibDems decided against this.


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Unit 2, The Oast, Clockhouse Farm, Coxheath ME17 4PB 01622 744265


www.aquariusso 16 Maidstone February 2018


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