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MBC boss issues official complaint


THE chief executive of the Maid- stone Borough Council has made an official complaint against a Leeds-Langley relief road cam- paigner over a Facebook posting. MBC chief executive Alison


Broomtook issuewith county coun- cillorGaryCooke’s claims on his so- cialmedia site that formonths,MBC blocked cash needed for Kent CountyCouncil exploratorywork to assess the viability of a by-pass. He alleged itwas “reluctance” on


the part of the “Liberal Democrat- controlled” council to release house- building developer contributions (section 106 or S106money) because of a legalwrangle. Aftermonths ofdisputes between


the two authorities, £200,000was re- leasedandTory-ledKCChas begun thework. OnApril 20,Mrs Broomwrote to


KCC’smonitoring officer saying: “I am raising this with you formally, given MBC’s concerns about its ac- curacy and timing (given the local government elections inMaidstone) and request that you investigate it.” CllrCooke’s Facebookposting on


April 19 read: “Am pleased to an- nounce that following a short delay the investigativeworks necessary as part of developing the data to sup- port the Relief Road will now be moving ahead at a pace. “These are theworks thatwere re-


ferred to by the Director of High- ways at the PublicMeeting I held at the Great Danes before Christmas. Disappointingly – thedelaywasdue to a reluctance on thepart of theLib- eral Democrat-controlled borough council to release the funds from S106monies. “This, as well as causing delay,


meant that KCC officers had to spend time and effort in demon- strating and persuading MBC that


Cllr Gary Cooke


the use of these funds for this pur- pose is perfectly legitimate. “Happily now resolved and we


can get onwith thework to demon- strate the benefits of a South East Maidstone Relief Road to not only Leeds and Langley, but also to the wider communities affected by the congestion in South EastMaidstone and with that information we will make the case for theReliefRoadand secure funding fromCentralGovt.” Later in Downs Mail, Cllr Cooke


went furtherwhen he said: “I do not believe that members of the ruling party at MBC have ever demon- strated a real or credible desire for a relief road – quite the reverse.” OfMrsBroom’sactions,CllrCooke


said: “There were no inaccuracies in the posting and I fully expected to be be exonerated, at which point I will look at all my options going for- ward.” We approached MBC at the time


of Cllr Cooke’s claims and received no response.MBC was approached for a comment on the complaint but did not respond. KCC refused to comment.


RBS to close town branch


THE Maidstone branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to close. The High Street branch will


shut its doors onAugust 8. A spokesman said that now


plans to divest RBS as a “chal- lenger” bank have been shelved, the decison was taken to close the branch. RBS claims that theway its ac-


count holders use the service has altered radically in recent years. But customers will be able to


useNatWest,which is part of the same group, for cash with-


drawals, balance checks and paying in. A statement said: “Since 2012


we have seen the way in which people use Maidstone branch change, with 72% of customers already banking in otherways. “Transactions at Maidstone


have reduced by 54%since 2012, with only 25 customers nowvis- iting the branch regularly.” RBS also has an arrangement


with the PostOffice, so that cus- tomers can pay in and take out money as well check on bal- ances.


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