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centre over the next five years? Be prepared for significant changes. On-line shopping and banking are


Our town centre in five years MailMarks


WHAT is ahead forMaidstone town


revolutionising business for somany retail giants and their exodus fromour high streets is set to escalate. Closures: Latest to announcemass


closures are Royal Bank of Scotland/ NatWest Bank – and RBS, High Street, Maidstone is listed among the 162 branches to shut doors in England and Wales in late summer (August 8 for Maidstone). The NatWest branch in the High Street survives this cull. House of Fraser has hit troubled times


and it seems certain several big stores will go. I have always beenworried that the local store, the star of the Fremlin Walk galaxy, has been too quiet for its own good andworry itwill not survive a major cull. What ofMarks & Spencer? It has


exciting plans for amajor newstore at our Eclipse Park, rumoured to come close tomatching Bluewater in its offers. M&S has said itwill keep one of its two


Week Street shops open – but for how long if the newbranch dominates its local trade? Maplin store is closing and Linens


Direct has nowmoved on. Many retail businesses arewell-suited


to confident on-line shopping and by offering tighter prices and next-day home delivery they question the need for an expensive high street presence. Increasingly, they face tough trading conditions and for the second straight quarter they have experiencedweakening demandwith 1%falls nationally. The big hike in business rates and growing staff costs (wages and pension contributions) add alarmingly to rising compliance, marketing and other budgets. But there aremany businesses not best


suited to on-line shopping. Food and health/beauty outlets, smaller niche shops, some fashion shops and the discounters are among those still seeing encouraging results. I have justmade a thoroughwalk of the


town centre shopping streets and am impressed by the small number of empty premises and an overall encouraging buzz, at least on the shop fronts. Only TheMall seems to have significant vacancies. Our cars: The other big factors are use


More to life than potholes


GOOD to read DownsMail continues to prosper (many congratulations) but the lead article in yourWeald edition on potholes. Really? Iwould like to react to this and some


other recent topics. We have dozens of borough councillors –


instead of the constantwhingeing the borough councillors should be pictured


40 Malling June 2018


DENNISFOWLE President dennisfowle28@gmail.com


of cars, parking and traffic chaos. Faced with increasing serious traffic congestion, Maidstone Borough Council is trying to force us into a ‘modal shift’ away from our cars towards their council tax-costly park-and-ride system,walking and cycling. I think this is a forlorn hope. There is amassive hike in town centre parking charges and some council car parks are closing – and a significant change in payment systems at our very limited park-and-ride sites,which is upse�ing bus pass holders –mainly pensioners and the disabled (seeMail Marks,May edition). Office conversions:Another significant


factor is conversion of office space to residential apartments/flats.Maidstone had somany empty offices and developers are taking advantage of a government policy to exempt from planning requirements their conversion to residential use. InMaidstone, about 300 homes have


been created,withmanymore set to follow. The latest reports suggest there is nowa shortage of office space in the town centre! Some retailers fear thiswill lead to a further loss of trade fromoffice workers – but otherswelcome the increase in town centre population. Maidstone council is decrying the heavy loss of income fromdeveloper contributions towards local services not nowpayable for these conversions under government rules. What now? As retail giantsmove out,


whatwillmove in? I think it could be encouraging news for small businesses and a return closer to the type of Maidstone shopping scene of 80 to 100 years ago. Landlordswill not be able to demand the huge rents paid by the departing giants andmake themmore affordable to niche businesses – and business ratesmay have to followsuit. We could also see a further growth in


town centre residential accommodation as shops and stores are converted,which will bewell supported across the board by national politics and, perhaps, by


with their yellowjackets filling potholes themselves. I amsureWickeswould welcome the trade ifwe all provided a temporary fix in our own li�le patch. If Brexit denotes thatwatershed in


a�itude that bureaucracy has had its day thenwe are doing an excellent job in bucking the trend locally. It starts in less than 12months, sowhere are our global intentions to venture across theworld seeking newbusiness opportunities?Who


remaining local retailers. I also think bigger businesseswill


continue to favour out-of-centre stores withmassive car parkswherewe can drivemore easily and park for free. Supermarkets have led theway and big players like Next andM&S have the same thoughts forMaidstone. Maidstone council and others have


beenworried about the future viability of our town centre. But thisworld is changing fast and could it all turn out for the be�er?Willwe enjoymore a newmix of shops in themiddle of town andmotor happily to retail giants on the outskirts? Will the desiredmodal shiftwork out


in a very differentway?Willwe just drive our cars in different directions, taking some of the pressure off the approach roads to the town centre? Given the choice betweenMaidstone c ouncil’s current policy and amore


comfortable driving experience, I think I knowthewinner. I do become increasinglyworried about


the banking sector.We have seen so many branches outside the centre of Maidstone close in recent years, causing great concern and inconvenience to so many. Nowthe RBS/NatWest decision willmean the loss of another town bank. Will others followsuit? I fear so. Could there be a single bank surviving


inMaidstone in five years’ time? I think public opinion, good sense of the bankers and government pressurewill ensure there is – but do not bank on it!





Castle – at last FEW inMaidstone have viewed one


of itsmost historical treasures –Allington Castle. But nowthere is an opportunity thanks to co-operation between resident owner Sir RobertWorcester and the Medway cruiser Kentish Lady. Pre-booked excursions for about 60


depart fromMaidstone Bridge for the 20- minute journey and a 100-minute guided tour of themoated castle, the delightful gardens and the two lakes. The large, restored 13th-century castle


has a remarkable history,withmany royal visitors isworth researching before a visit. The tour of the castle itself includes the


stately courtyards and fascinating Great Hall. Iwould have liked to see one or two more rooms – but this is a treasured private home.


atMaidstone Borough Council has the role to lead us into newtrading possibilities? If there is an access problematHeadcorn


rail station then the locals need to start raising funds locally to fix it. Our national and personal debt remains


at record levels andwe keep looking to a third party to bail out a very small minority.What about starting a volunteer service to assist those that need help to use Headcorn station.Havewe lost our ability


downsmail.co.uk


to think around a problem other than chucking huge sums at it? As for voting at 16, let’s be positive. Give


16-year-olds the vote and put government and politics on the school curriculum – it might improve our nation. If the younger generation vote Green, for example (as I did at 18), then it doesn't affect the status quo. A green Prince of Wales hasn't affected the nation either. Global warming is certainly here; the dumping of plastics and waste in our hedgerows, as well as our seas, is not affected by the colour of politics. What are you afraid of, a wrong decision? The rest of the electorate has made plenty of wrong decisions at every age! Richard Maryan, Coxheath


Surgery views conflicting


THE Downs Mail article about a Coxheath surgery to be built in Linton, has grabbed my a�ention in a way that few page threes ever have! It’s on a site that Firmins have frequently


tried to convert from agricultural to residential use, but have always met with MBC refusal on landscape, convergence, and other planning grounds. Next came an a�empt to turn it into a


park-and-ride site, which was similarly defeated while the Local Plan was in preparation. The idea of having a surgery there is


initially seductive. Personally, living in Linton, I would certainly find it more convenient than my current one in Yalding. But the many residents of Coxheath would either have to drive (ecologically unsound) or get one of the occasional buses because, on average, it is one mile from them. Significantly further than that planned and approved in the Local Plan at Clockhouse Farm. I am mystified as to why the Clockhouse


Farm plan is now “not of sufficient size or layout to provide the facilities identified as being required and, without a solution, offers no way to deal with the additional patients coming into the locality”. The Local Plan has only just been


completed. Brian Mortimer, though he chose to abstain from voting on it, was fully involved in the Local Plan. Coxheath was surely involved in the process.


And increased housing numbers have


been known about for years. So why (and how) can it be, that the


proposed surgery on Clockhouse Farm is inadequate? It would be hard to look a gift horse in


the mouth, and Firmins should be thanked for the generous offer. However, as Brian Mortimer concedes:


"Of course, it would be be�er for a more central site”, though quite why he continues “time is not on our side” is mystifying. Perhaps, when Sainsbury's withdrew


fromtaking over the used car site opposite the (existing) pharmacy, the protagonists should have seized the opportunity to purchase it? Ron Leagas, Linton


Solutions to congestion


THERE was much comment in May’s Downs Mail about traffic, park-and-ride and house building. Maidstone, like many towns in the South


East, has inadequate infrastructure and other facilities to cope with the housing explosions on the outskirts of the town. Not only do we suffer appalling road congestion in peak hours, including school run times, but GP facilities are being stretched to breaking point, there are not enough school places and resources such as water are under pressure. The problem is one of too many people,


as it is in other towns where successive government policy has been to impose new housing in already overcrowded towns. Given that we cannot indulge in a demolition programme, we need to be�er manage the resources we have against a background of restricted funds available. Various correspondents are bemoaning


the increased parking charges in the town, but surely this is a correct move by the council to try to discourage the use of private car use. In London, parking spaces are actually being reduced for this reason. It will not have escaped the notice of


road users and town residents, that during the school holidays, there are few traffic problems. Most schools in the town are primary schools which serve children in the local area. So why drive them to


school, probably from less than a mile away, when a walk could well be be�er for their health? I appreciate those living in rural areas


have li�le alternative than to use their cars, but I would ask all motorists for whom there is a reasonable public transport or walking alternative, to think about the foul air those living on urban, traffic clogged roads have to breath so that they can sit in their cars, probably by themselves. Unless ring roads can be afforded, I can


see no other solution than measures to restrict the use of private cars but, at the same time, substantially improve public transport to make it a viable alternative. Unless there is be�er central government


thinking (applicable to all parties), the South East will sink, Kent first, into the English Channel under the sheer weight of people living here. David Hacke, Maidstone


Relief road is ‘modal shift’


I AM amused and intrigued by the recent conversion by the Liberal Democrats at Maidstone Borough Council to the notion of the Leeds-Langley relief road. You would think that they had been the ones who were campaigning for it! There is an argument that a by-pass around the county town’s centre is a form of the ‘modal shift’ to which the Lib Dems are so wedded. But if a relief road is such a good plan, why wasn’t it in the Local Plan? Just a thought. J Robbie, via email


Profit before pupils?


WHY, oh why, are they building a mental hospital on Bearsted Road when what is so desperately needed in this area is another primary and secondary school? Was it due to the fact that there was more profit to be made from a private hospital? The authorities seem to have their


priorities completely confused. Next thing we hear will probably be that planning permission has been given for even more houses to be built locally, further pu�ing an already overloaded infrastructure at breaking point. Oops, that's already happening at Lilk Meadow! Howard Spice, via email


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