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Plan for 80 flats on old Somerfield site


THE former Somerfield Hospital in Maidstone is to be converted into homes, Downs Mail has learnt. The Even Group, the develop-


Greengrocer Kris is back


PROBABLY the best-known face in Maidstone town centre belongs to Kris Van Haeften. He runs the fruit and vegetable


pitch at the junction of Week Street and Earl Street – and shoppers were worried when he disap- peared for four days in June. It has been a tough year for Dutchman Kris (46), but he is get- ting through it and is confident about the future of his stall. Kris’s business partner, James,


moved on in March. Then the virus left town centre trade in tatters and, worst of all, Kris collapsed at the stall after a seizure, which means he cannot drive for a year. He has now taken on a driver to


get him to New Spitalfields Mar- ket, London, to buy high-quality fresh fruit and vegetables in the very early hours and to and from his Wigmore home. He said: “I felt drained but didn’t


realise how pressures were grow- ing. I am more careful now. Cus- tomers said they were delighted to see me back.” l Kris now stocks the free fort- nightly Downs Mail on his stall for easy pick-up.


ers, also plan to knock down an adjacent building in London Road for an apartment block. In total, there would be 80


units on the 2.5-acre site of the former private hospital which shut in April, 2019. The grade ll-listed building


was formerly housing, before the Somerfield opened in 1990. We understand that Maidstone Borough Council’s planners had a meeting scheduled for August 6, as Downs Mail went to press. Local councillor Jonathan


Purle, the Conservative member for Bridge ward, said: “My gut- feeling is that on the one hand, it makes sense to bring an empty building back into use. “There have been issues with having it empty and, indeed, most people prefer using brown- field sites in some form for hous- ing, rather than churning up


ancient woodland and the like. “On the other hand, 80 units


strike me as far too many for the site.


“The existence of the hospital car park should have been a


Lockmeadow to get ‘update’ THE Lockmeadow leisure complex is to be given a makeover, council- lors have agreed. Maidstone Borough Council, which last year spent £19.1m to buy the


lease, hopes to improve the appearance of the building by giving it a lick of paint and removing the car park entrance and cattle market structure and railings to give it a “more modern look”. Cllr Clive English said: “We see that making improvements and up-


dating the appearance of the building and facilities will create a place people will want to go to and spend quality time at, and this first phase of the alterations will be part of that.”


handy feature, but this surely wouldn’t take 80 vehicles? It is not as if the area is known for ab- sence of traffic. “If they are knocking down to replace the adjacent building, the obvious suspicion is that they would have proposed the same with the main building (had it not been listed). The whole thing strikes me as the usual ‘maxing out’ of a site.” A spokesman for the Even Group, based in Finchley, north London, said: “We would rather not comment.” The Even Group website fea-


tures the former hospital but has little detail about the plans for it.


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Editorial Editor Simon Finlay simon.finlay@downsmail.co.uk Editorial team: Online news editor Jade Schopman jade.schopman@downsmail.co.uk Chris Lawson chris.lawson@downsmail.co.uk Lindsay Roberts lindsay.roberts@downsmail.co.uk Obituaries Neil Nixon neilnixon22@gmail.com


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