MAIDSTONE and Mid Kent Chamber of Commerce is to cease trading after going into the red by nearly £50,000.

The shock decision, which will cost at least two jobs, has triggered a rescue plan that could see the profitable Ashford Chamber running business services in the county town.

The dramatic move follows a series of setbacks in the past four years and is a further blow to the county’s chamber movement that has already seen other groups go bust.

Maidstone was hit by the disappearance of former chief executive Bill Alder following the alleged theft of around £30,000 from chamber funds.

Henry Nydam, the chamber chairman and a partner with law firm Brachers, resigned suddenly a few weeks ago. There have also been repeated calls by rebels for Alan Reading, the long-serving president, to stand aside.

Although the chamber runs profitably from time to time, income has not been sufficient to cover past debts. All the directors, including Mr Reading, have decided they can do more to salvage the situation and will step down.

In a letter to members, they said the board had done its best to overcome the financial crisis. They added: “However, cash flow difficulties have continued to be a problem and your directors are not confident that the chamber - as currently structured - has a long term financial future. Therefore, the chamber has ceased to trade.”

Two staff are expected to leave, although Alistair Moore is staying on under the new arrangement with Ashford chamber. The Enterprise Agency has already moved into new offices at Brachers in London Road.

Members will be asked to back the decision at an extraordinary meeting being held at Brachers on November 14. They will be told that debts amount to at least £46,000.

Mr Reading, who has been involved in chamber life for the past 12 years and credited by some for keeping the chamber alive, said it had been very painful decision.

“I’m pretty exhausted with the situation,” he said. “This decision hasn’t been reached very easily. I’m very concerned about the creditors. I don’t like the decision we’ve made very much.”

He said the chamber, which has a record 430 members, had never properly recovered from losses it made four years ago and the alleged theft.

At times, the ambition of Maidstone chamber had been “bigger than its bank balance.” Directors had worked hard to improve the situation. “Boy, how we tried,” he stressed. "The last 11 years of my life involved in the chamber have come to a very sad end. It’s been a year of immense struggle and there are times when I’ve felt very lonely.”

He did not accept any personal blame. “The blame I would give myself is I’ve not been rich enough to have bailed the chamber out of its problems.”

However, Chris Capron, chief executive of Ashford Chamber of Commerce, has pledged to ride to the rescue. He will take over chamber services and run them partly from new premises in Maidstone, and partly from Ashford Business Point.

He said Maidstone chamber had got into a financial “hole” but the board had been valiant in trying to trade their way out of the difficulties.

“It needs new direction, it needs new management and it needs some successful management, people who have got a successful track record and that’s what we can give from Ashford.”

Chambers were important to business life and it was especially vital for the county town to have a successful chamber. He added: “I believe in the chamber movement. If you cut me in half, it would say chamber of commerce right through me and I’m concerned that we support and expand the membership in the Maidstone area.”

It will take some time to find new premises with the right deal, Mr Capron said, but he hoped that as far as members were concerned, the transition would be “seamless.”

“The services we offer are exactly the same as have been offered to the membership in Maidstone.”

He hoped a new Maidstone chamber could become self-sufficient financially “so that it takes away the fear from the membership that it is a chamber in dire straits.”