Season's Greetings FROM MAIDSTONE
Town misses out after planning permission confusion
There will be a distinct lackof Christ-mas cheer in the town square this year after bureaucracy left market traders ho-ho-homeless.
Billed as the people’s place, Jubilee Square was designed to host a series of seasonal show-casesintended to invigorate the County Town.
But four months of wrangling has put paid to a grand Christmas market set to mimic those celebrated across Europe.
The news comes the same week vandals ruined a Christmas display in the newly-named Remembrance Square in the town centre.
A large Christmas market that would have been the biggest Maidstone has seen will not be going ahead after confusion over planning arrangements.
Back in August Maidstone Town Centre Management (TCM) applied for permission to run the attraction in Jubilee Square, based on council advice.
Town centre manager Bill Moss said a series of conflicting conversations followed.
In August TCM was told to apply for formal permission, then came a U-turn saying this was not needed.
Later in the year the council changed position again and said planning permission was the correct course.
This week the go-ahead was finally given – but it is now too late in the day to make the arrangements. Mr Moss said he was very disappointed the event – which would have been double the size of last year’s and would have included fake snow – could not be held.
He added: “It was going to be something to be proud of. We really wanted to come back with a bang this year and show what Maidstone can offer.
“The plans were very much advanced before we had to cancel everything.”
11th hour
The attraction, which would have taken place from December 11-22, was poised to feature double the number of stalls.
Mr Moss claims TCM was also told to resubmit supporting documents already sent.
The 11th-hour planning permission included a clause the market should be erected and dismantled each day in just two hours – something Mr Moss said was impossible.
In another blow, while the con- fusion was being sorted TCM had to cancel events including a food, wedding and craft fair between September and November.
The KM has reported on the issues in the council’s planning department since it started sharing services with Swale and Tunbridge Wells in the summer.
However, Mr Moss said TCM had arranged with the council for permission for events in the square for 60 days during 2015, adding that steps had been put in place to ensure greater use of the square.
A council spokesman said the confusion arose because of a rule that planning permission is not required for events totalling 14 days throughout the year, but that when TCM’s quota was checked, it breached this target, so a formal application was requested.
The spokesman added: “The applicant was kept up-to-date with the progress of the application, and the conditions within it, throughout the process.”