THE proposals announced this week which could mean some services for expectant mothers are moved away from Maidstone are a case of deja vu for some.

Maidstone Borough Council leader Cllr Mick Stevens (Lib Dem), who was a member of the council four years ago when similar proposals were put forward by health bosses, said: "We thought they had listened to reason.

"There is a sense of de ja vu. We had this debate in the council chamber four years ago when everybody said 'this is crazy'. It didn't happen, but now we are back to square one again."

Cllr Stevens said the debate council members had gone through four years ago -- when proposals were put forward to move maternity services from Maidstone Hospital to Pembury Hospital -- was the most hotly debated he had experienced in 15 years as a councillor.

"It was the first time the council held that type of debate about services provided by someone else that was so passionately debated."

He forecast that there would be a similar surge in public feeling and that similar debates would be held again.

Cllr Stevens said he felt strongly that it was vital for childbirth services to be local.

"I can understand in budgetary terms, wanting to concentrate one service in one area. But with birth, that would seem to be the most basic of services that should be provided locally.

"For mothers, it will mean the facilities aren't going to be on their doorsteps."

Cllr Stevens said he was concerned that the extra travelling could pile further pressure onto mothers already stressed and vulnerable.

"If a mum is taken to Maidstone, but has to be moved to Pembury because there are complications, it is hard enough sometimes for ambulances to get out of the Maidstone hospital site at the best of times, but with the roads between Maidstone and Pembury, it will be extremely difficult."

Councillors would expect to meet trust representatives to hear full explanations of the proposals and give their views formally, he added.