search.noResults

search.searching

dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
Maidstone East Edition No. 1 newspaper Maidstone North Edition October 2017 July 2019 Panto ahoy! County town elects its newmayor


MARIONRinghasbeenelected Mayor ofMaidstone. Cllr Ring, a Conservative


member for Shepway north, has lived in the county town all her life and, with husband Richard, pictured here, has two children and two grandchildren. Marion was elected to Maid- stone Borough Council in 2003.


THE cast of Cinderella, which is to be staged at the Hazlitt Theatre in Maid- stone, took to the River Medway to launch this year's panto. On board The Kentish Lady were national treasure Rustie Lee (Fairy Godmother), former EastEnder Ste- fan Booth (Prince Charming), Eliza- beth Bright (Cinderella), Craig Anderson (Buttons) and, pictured, Stephen Richards and Adam Bor- zone (Ugly Sisters) . They were greeted by pupils from


South Borough Primary School and members of the media. The panto runs from December 1-31. For tick- ets go to www.hazlitttheatre.co.uk.


Council hunt for the secret meeting ‘mole’


MASSIVE housing developments are being mooted for the Maidstone


CCTV call in a bid to stop fly-tipping


area in a drive to find places to build thousands more homes. line of May 24. Without naming Lenham, it states: “This ‘call for sites’ exercise includes a prospectus for ‘garden communities’. We can con- firm that MBC itself intends to put forward a proposal.” After revelations in Downs Mail


CALLS for the installation of CCTV cameras to prevent fly-tipping on a country road have been made by the local borough councillor.


Amid outcry over Liberal Democ-


rat-led Maidstone Borough Coun- cil’s decision to hold a secret meeting to discuss the “call for sites”, which ended on May 24, we have discov- ered two schemes which are high on the agenda. One is a plan for up to 5,000


Burberry Lane, near Leeds and Broomfield, has been targeted by waste dumpers for years, but in re- cent months, the problem has be- come more acute. Constructionwaste, rubble, hard


houses at Lenham Heath with the possibility of a medical clinic or hos- pital and new secondary school. An- other junction could be built on the M20 to serve Ashford and the Maid- stone borough. Another is for 1,100 units in the St


Peter Street and Riverside area of Maidstone. Businessman Rob Schroeder has highlighted a 900 home eco-village


core, windows and household fur- niture is left illegally – often strewn in the middle of the road. Cllr Gill Fort said: “Every month


we are having toilets, sinks and construction waste dumped in the village, specifically in Burberry Lane, where we are now thinking of installing cameras on private land, to oversee the problem area.” A recent event in Burberry Lane


saw a caravan burned out while a torched car remains on a footpath


in Kingswood and two smaller plots at Chartway Street and Langley Heath. A 2,000-home scheme in Marden is “not finding the same amount of favour”, according to one source. MBC is committed to 17,600 houses in the Local Plan and another 8,000 in the review for which the call for sites was made. When Downs Mail published de-


nearby, more than a year after it was dumped and set on fire. The church car park has also seen


many instances of illegal dumping. But it is a problem in many rural


tails of the Lenham Heath proposal online, an MBC official requested we take it down because of com- mercial sensitivities. We declined for public interest reasons. An MBC draft statement seen by


Downs Mail appeared to confirm the Lenham Heath site was on the table before the call for sites dead-


areas including Langley, Otham and Kingswood. Water Lane in Bearsted and Pilgrims Way have also been targeted recently. Last year, Maidstone Borough Council cleared 911 cases of fly-tip- ping and this year more than 163 have been recorded since April. The approaching darker evenings will prompt a rise in illegal tipping. Cllr Fort welcomed a joint initia-


tive by the Environment Agency and the Driver and Vehicle Stan- dards Agency to clamp down on


unlicensed waste carriers, but be- lieves the cost to small firms of dis- posing of construction waste at a transfer station is proving a deter- rent that is costing councils more. Cllr Fort made her remarks as


one of the borough’s closest trans- fer stations at North Farm, Tun- bridge Wells, announced it will be closed for 10weeks. She added: “If you go along the


line of increasing fines, they have to be enforced. A reduction in the charge or offering it free may have the desired similar effect.” Athree-monthly litter pick on the mile-long stretch of road through Leeds village produces an average 32 black sacks of rubbish.


Cllr Fort, who also serves as a


about Lenham, MBC’s lead legal ad- viser, Patricia Narebor, announced a “leak investigation” to establish the source of information from the May 22 policy and resources meet- ing at which the scheme was dis- cussed in secret. MBC’s Lib Dem leader, Martin


01622 690290 YOUR LOCAL PROPERTY EXPERT


In the top 1% of UK web design companies


In the top 1% of UK web design companies www.webexpand.co.uk | info@webexpand.co.uk


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


parish councillor, says teaching children about social responsibility and the issue of litter in schools will help take the issue off the streets. She believes with every household receiving a weekly refuse collection service, there is no excuse for litter being thrown from vehicles or dumped in the road.


Cox, proposed the closed meeting but was opposed by Cllr Jonathan Purle, who said: “Residents in my part of town are rightly concerned about plans for another 1,100 flats being crammed into (Bridge) ward." Cllr Cox said it is necessary for


MBC to act in a “business-like fash- ion” in a call for sites process. The proper time for making de-


tails public would be at the consula- tion stage, he added. Downs Mail recently revealed MBC drew up a list of parks and open spaces it owns which could be sold for housing.


webexpand.co.uk web design google promotion ecommerce


visit www.amiga.co.uk or call 08000 199622 01622 880840


Home Alarms supplied and fitted


FREE No. 246


News downsmail.co.uk


Maidstone & Malling’s No. 1 newspaper


Kate, 107, dies


FREE No. 267


KATE Hart, a resident at an old people’s home in Bearsted, has died aged 107, her son David has disclosed.


News


HELEN Whately asked the government to halt the borough’s housing scheme.


3


Stadiumland deal MP’s Local Plan bid


Plans for Dr Nigel


MAIDSTONE United looks set for a new seated stand after striking a land deal with the council.


4 Killer husband jailed


AMAN who stabbed his wife to death on Christmas Day has been jailed for life.


D-Day flypastJason Donovan date


CROWDS look to the skies as a SecondWorldWar airborne Armada flies over Maidstone.


THE former Neighbours star brings his show to the Hazlitt Theatre next May.


Hunt for attackers


POLICE are hunting teenage boy and girl attackers who tar- geted a homelessman and stole his alcohol.


Obituaries Obituaries


10 26


Parish Councils 34-35


ASH dieback has been discovered in Monks Meadow in Detling; Hollingbourne village fete stall- holder co-ordinator Jean Duffy has resigned; yellow lines are needed for Buffkyn Way, Otham, to allow buses through Imperial Park; rub- bish bins in the sports field in Kingswoodare to be moved over to the picnic area and rear exit.


COUNCILLORS in Loose have said the cost of a zebra crossing at the Walnut Tree pub is extortionate, but the possibility of a crossing would be added to the neighbourhood plan; Loose Parish Council has received complaints about noise at The Chequers when regulars leave the pub at closing time.


Parish Councils 29 32


18 8


THE widow of GP Dr Nigel Minnet will walk the Grand Canyon for charity. 12


6


4


Crime Reports 29 Crime Reports 35


VEHICLES have been driven over farmland in Lenham, causing damge to crops; an attempted break-in was reported in Detling; a vehicle was vandalised in Bearsted Rd, Weavering; pumpkins were stolen from an allotment in Lenham.


Comment 46-47 Comment 38-39


INTRUDERS got into a house using the owner’s lost keys in Hayle Road; a blue Apollo mountain bike was stolen from a secure cycle rack in Week Street; four men and a woman were seen cutting wires to a gate before breaking into storage units in Lower Stone Street; windows were smashed at a caravan site in Park Wood; a brick was thrown through a window at a house in Shepway.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40