News


MAIDSTONE accounting company, Nash Harvey, has celebrated its 25th anniversary with amove to newly-re- furbished offices. The premises at Hermitage Lane,


Maidstone, were officially opened by the patron of the Heart of Kent Hos- pice, Lady Monckton, and Pat Gal- lagher, chairman of the Gallagher Group . Lady Monckton and Mr Gallagher


Nash Harvey partners David Smith (left) and John Alder, LadyMonkton, and Gallagher Group chairman, Pat Gallagher (right)


cut a silver ribbon to the premises to kick off an evening of celebration, during which £1,800 was raised for the Heart of Kent Hospice. Nash Harvey spokesman John Alder said, “Ourmove coincided with


Opportunitymissed to secure developer funds


A CHANCE to significantly boost funding from developers for Maid- stone’s flagging infrastructure needs has beenmissed, it is claimed.


With just weeks before the intro-


duction of the government’s Com- munity Infrastructure Levy (CIL), Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) admits its demand on developers will leave the borough £18.2mshort of what is needed to keep commu- nity resources androads in linewith newdevelopment. The funding shortfall from the


levy, which comes in on October 1, is “still to be identified”, say MBC planners. County councillor Shellina Pren-


dergast, while welcoming the CIL – because it allows parishes a share of developers’ cash to cope with infra- structure pressures in their commu- nities – says the low CIL rate is a “missedopportunity” forMaidstone. The charge set for newhousing in


Maidstone per square metre is £93 for urban development, £99 for rural, £77 for the Springfieldsite and


£45 for care homes. It is £150 for re- taildevelopment and£75 for outside the town centre. Cllr Prendergast said: “As one of


the fastest-growing regions in Kent, our rate should not be among the lowest. To suggest that KCC or oth- ers will make up the difference when budgets are so stretched is lu- dicrous.” She says more work is needed to


calculate a realistic and consistent rate that reflects theupgrading of fa- cilities in urban and rural areas. She cites a 1,000-home develop-


ment at Invicta Barracks in Maid- stone with a corresponding development in Lenham, both re- quiring a school, adding: “At Invicta it says the school would be eligible for section 106 funding, but at Lenhamitwouldhave to come from the CIL. This inconsistency ... will see communities bearing the brunt


of investment failings if this is not looked at again.” KCC expressed similar concerns


during preliminary talks, saying: “The county council considers it es- sential thatprior to the adoption of a charging schedule, the borough council clearly identifies both how the overall loss of funds per new dwellingwhen compared to the ex- isting S106 (developer contributions) regime will be recovered, and how the CIL receipts that are raised will be directed to where they are needed.” Aspokesman forMBC said: “The


amount of CIL which will be se- cured from development for Maid- stone is about 20%. “It has never been anticipatedthat


CIL would fund the whole cost of the infrastructure requiredandS106 money will continue to be avail- able.”


Open space lacking in housing scheme


A HOUSING scheme for 48 homes in Lenham has been deferred by the borough council’s planning com- mittee. Members were concerned the scheme at


land north ofOldAshfordRoad is too inten- sive, lacks open space andhas inadequate ac- cess. Local objectors said that the development


is “incongruous” and of poor design. Little thought had been given to neighbours or thosewhowould live there. Cllr Denis Spooner said he was “disap-


pointed” the application had got so farwith suchdisagreement between the borough andtheparish councils, while Cllr Martin Round (pictured) com-


8 Maidstone East October 2018


plained of a “lack of clarity”. Cllr Round added: “We need to know what we are letting ourselves in for.” The Maidstone Borough Council officers


recommended approval for the scheme, which was submitted by the Broad Oak Motor Group, saying it is in the Local Plan. The village is in line for 1,000 homes in the plan. Cllr Tony Harwood warned: “When we


have all the extra houses, Lenham will be- come a small town…that means having de- cent open spaces.”


Officerswere instructedto take theplanaway towork on the areas causing concern tomembers.


downsmail.co.uk Accountancy firmcelebrates 25 years – and a newhome


this silver milestone anniversary and presented a perfect opportunity to acknowledge our achievements. “We wanted to celebrate with our


friends and clients while also being able to give something back to a charity thatworkswith incredible dig- nity during circumstances that can be challenging on a day to day basis.” Mr Gallagher said: “Heart of Kent


Hospice is our nominated charity and the generosity of our guests will go toward providing exceptional care for people facing the challenge of living with a terminal illness in Maidstone, Aylesford, Tonbridge,Malling and sur- rounding areas.”


Expansion at farmon hold


“GINORMOUS” fruit storage plans at a farmnearHollingbourne have been put on hold amid resi- dents’ concerns. ACGoatham&Sonwant to put


a controlled atmosphere store, hard-standing, reservoir, engineer- ing operations and access track on the site, Swanton Farm, at Bicknor. Objector Peter Moore said the


application by the fruit processing plant amounted to a “ginormous warehouse”. But he claimed the “vast major-


ity” of the fruit the business will store “will not be grown in Bic- knor”. He echoed the suggestion of oth-


ers ofmoving theplant closer to the company’s entrance to “allowpeo- ple to sleep at night”. B o r o u g h


councillor Pa- trik Garten (left) said Bic- knor was just a hamlet would


and be


“swamped” by the farm.


Members ofMaidstone Borough


Council’s planning committee felt while there were so many out- standing issues with the applica- tion, it should be deferred. Officers had claimed the scheme


“represents an exceptional formof development…and therefore plan- ning permission should be granted”. Eighteen objectors raised con-


cerns about the size, scale and sit- ing of the application. Among themwere fears of an ex-


panding rat population, smells, in- adequate sewerage, mosquitoes and light pollution. One resident told the committee


that his home had been flooded eight times in two years.


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