News

Plan for 6 House Loose Road Garden Development Rejected

Posted by Georgia Harvey | Updated 2019-02-25

A back garden housing scheme for 6 homes at 466 Loose Road has been rejected by Maidstone Borough Council’s Planning committee following a proposal for refusal made by Cllr Brian Clark. At the meeting Cllr Clark agued that the plan was contrary to the North Loose Residents Association’s adopted Neighbourhood Plan, the Loose Road Character Assessment Special Planning Document, Maidstone's Local Plan and National policies. He followed by making a proposal to refuse based on the cramped form of development which would result in 6 houses shoehorned into the space and the lack of ability to screen the housing with good quality structural landscaping to reduce the impact on neighbours. The proposal was supported by all members except one who abstained.

Lib Dems welcome proposed new payment arrangements for Young Persons Travel Pass

Posted by Georgia Harvey | Updated 2019-02-10

After several years of sustained pressure from the Liberal Democrat opposition, Kent County Council has finally agreed to accept monthly payments for the Young Persons Travel Pass (YPTP) in the coming year. This will come a massive relief for parents faced with an inflation-busting £60 increase in the cost of the pass to £350 next year.

Emergency planning report details catastrophic effect of no-deal Brexit on Kent

Posted by Thomas Adams | Updated 2018-12-11

Food supplies disrupted as safety testing becomes impossible
Schools, social care, transport and business will face severe disruption
County Council forced to spend over £20 million on reinforcing Kent's roads and hundreds of thousands of pounds to employ more staff to cope with chaos

Lib Dems call for Kent County Council to use at least half of new Government highways repair funds for dangerous pavements.

Posted by Thomas Adams | Updated 2018-11-08

On Monday the Chancellor announced that he was providing £420m extra to councils for pothole and other urgent highways repairs. Kent can expect to receive about £10 million. Kent Liberal Democrat Group are calling for at least half of this extra money to be spent on long overdue pavement repairs.

The backlog for pavement repairs in Kent has hit £84 million, leaving more than a third of paths and pavements across the county in a poor and potentially dangerous condition.

Highways England refuse to answer questions as Brexit roadworks gridlock Kent

Posted by Thomas Adams | Updated 2018-10-30

Highways England officials have been accused of ignoring the people of Kent after refusing to face councillors to account for the traffic chaos caused by multiple roadworks on the M20 and M26.

Further delays to travel pass direct debit payments

Posted by Thomas Adams | Updated 2018-10-30

Parents buying Young Person's Travel Passes still have no choice but to pay upfront, or in two large payments following further delays to a direct debit system proposed back in February.

Government commits to bringing Thameslink Services to Maidstone in December 2019 after Lib Dem pressure

Posted by Thomas Adams | Updated 2018-10-22

The Government has promised that Thameslink trains will be running from Maidstone via West Malling to Central London from December 2019, following sustained pressure from Maidstone Liberal Democrats.

Kent Test results day

Posted by Thomas Adams | Updated 2018-10-11

More than 16,500 children who sat the Kent Test last month will find out whether they have been assessed for a grammar school place this week.

Families who registered online for the test will be sent an email from Kent County Council after 4pm on Thursday, October 11 with their child’s assessment result. However, the volume of emails sent out means some internet service providers may delay the delivery of the emails to personal email accounts; this is outside the control of the county council.

Families who registered online can also log on after 5pm on Thursday, October 11 and view their child’s results and test scores if they have retained their log-in and password details.

Letters will be sent to all 16,656 families on Thursday afternoon, to arrive on doormats from Friday.

Parents need to submit an application for their child’s secondary school by Wednesday, October 31 and can name up to four schools in order of preference.

Roger Gough, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, said: “We understand that this can be a stressful time for families and we try to make the process of deciding on the most appropriate secondary education for their children as straightforward as possible.

“Kent has a rich and diverse mix of schools, and parents should consider all options when choosing the schools they would like their child to attend, in priority order. It is also important that parents carefully consider how their child will get to school, before applying for a school place.

“We anticipate the 4,641 Kent children who have been assessed as being suitable for grammar school will, in most cases, enjoy priority for the 5,214 places available in the county over pupils from other authorities.

“Although many of the 3,065 pupils from outside Kent will name our schools among their choices, experience has shown that most of these children ultimately secure places in their own local authority area.”

Details of secondary schools in Kent and how to apply can be found here: https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/school-places/secondary-school-places#tab-2

KCC’s policy on home-to-school transport allows parents to see whether there is any help available for their child. Details can be found here: www.kent.gov.uk/schooltransport

March For Our Future - October 2018

Posted by Thomas Adams | Updated 2018-10-06

On October 20th, the Liberal Democrats are demonstrating in London – marching for our future in the EU.

Lib Dems make impressive gain in Headcorn

Posted by Thomas Adams | Updated 2018-09-14

On the 13th of September 2018 there was a by-election in Headcorn ward following the resignation of the sitting conservative councillor. Maidstone Liberal Democrats selected local resident Merilyn Fraser as their candidate and fought an impressive campaign.

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