Dear Editor,
What great news it is that around 50% of our businesses are locally owned, however we don't really know how this compares with other areas and single statistics such as these are not really helpful.
Two years ago the survey by the New Economics Foundation found that Maidstone was indeed a clone town with the same chain stores in the main shopping areas as many other towns across the UK. Since then Fremlin
Walk has opened giving Maidstone even more chain stores - hardly an improvement in our Clone Town status!
The Clone Town survey is being repeated, this will give us a real indication of how we compare to other towns and whether things have improved over recent years.
Stuart Jeffery
Maidstone Green Party
Green Party campaigner in Kent. Also a nurse, academic, former manager, writer, Druid, husband and father...
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