The fight to keep full maternity services in Maidstone reaches a critical stage next week. On Thursday local county councillors will hold a meeting on the subject at Mote Hall in Maidstone Leisure Centre. They are members of the KCC’s health scrutiny committee, which has a statutory duty to oversee standard in healthcare across Kent. The committee referred the controversial downgrading of services at Maidstone to the Secretary of State earlier who decided not to order another review of the plans. Instead he has asked NHS bosses to demonstrate that they have engaged with and reassured the community and that the changes are supported by local GPs. Well, it’s easy to do the first bit (apart from reassurance). We’ve already reported that rather than support from GPs, there is virtually unequivocal opposition. Today’s KM reports that more than 100 family doctors right across the Maidstone, Malling and even the Weald area are against the proposals.

Our front page story this week was the harrowing story of a child abuse victim and how a poem had brought her attacker to justice. Some might say this falls into the ‘bad news’ bracket but it's actually far from it. This is a good news story. Her bravery has brought the evil antics of former school governor Michael Taylor to justice and in telling her story, including courageously waiving her right to anonymity, has, by her admission, allowed her to move on with her life and while not even totally repairing her has had some sort of cathartic affect. We publish an excerpt of her poem called Real Life Play. Some of it made such uncomfortable reading that I made the decision not to print it in full. Journalists are often accused of being insensitive, hardened hacks, but everyone in the newsroom who read the poem was stunned and moved by the power of the verse.

Last week we ran a story about people hiring out their driveways for people – usually commuters – who can’t find anywhere to park and want to save a few pounds. Town centre manager Bill Moss said it was a nonsense that Maidstone was often ‘full’ when it came to parking spaces. There was plenty of availability, he argued. So we’ve followed this claim up and today have a guide showing every car park in Maidstone, from the Mall with its 909 spaces to the five available at Brooks Place.