Heathlands Garden Settlement Consultation
Help shape the development of the Supplementary Planning Document for Heathlands Garden Community.
In March 2024 Maidstone Borough Council adopted the Maidstone Local Plan Review 2021-2038. This document allocates sites for development and policies to manage that development. One of the sites allocated was the Heathlands Garden Community to the east of the Borough.
The Heathlands Community allocation includes:
- 5,000 new homes to be built
- 40% affordable homes
- 5,000 new jobs
- 14 hectares of dedicated new employment land
- One new district centre & two new local centres
- New primary school provision totalling 7 forms of entry (FE)
- New 6 FE secondary school
- New country park
- A new railway station
- 20% biodiversity net gain
- New health care and community facilities
- Due regard given to both on and around the site a range of designated and non-designated heritage assets.
A policy requirement of the Maidstone Local Plan Review 2021-2038 was for the production of a Supplementary Planning Document to facilitate the delivery of the Heathlands Garden Community.
What is a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)?
- SPDs give more detail about how particular Local Plan Review policies should be interpreted or applied in practice.
- SPDs provide further information to guide developers and guide decisions on planning applications.
- SPDs are supplementary to the policies in the Local Plan Review and must be consistent with them.
- SPDs cannot create new policies.
Heathlands Garden Settlement Consultation
The consultation began on Monday 3 November and will end at 23:59 on Monday 15 December 2025.
We invite you to take part in this consultation on the draft Heathlands Garden Settlement SPD and appreciate you taking the time to do this. Your responses will help inform the preparation of a final SPD.
To view the draft SPD and supporting documents, and to submit your comments to the proposed material, please use the link below to:
Our online consultation portal
If you are unable to access/ view the draft SPD and consultation statement, these will be available at the Council’s offices and local libraries.
If you are unable to submit responses through the consultation platform, written responses may also be sent by email to ldf@maidstone.gov.uk or by post to:
Strategic Planning, Maidstone Borough Council, Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone, ME15 6JQ
Heathlands Garden Settlement Drop-in Sessions
Residents and businesses are being invited to drop-in sessions for the Heathlands Garden Settlement on Monday 17 November between 4:00pm to 7:00pm and Thursday 20 November 1:30pm to 5:00pm both in The Function Room at the Dog & Bear Hotel in Lenham, ME17 2PG. These sessions are designed as information sessions for people to drop in and stay for as long or as little as they wish; there will be no formal presentation.
Comments and feedback should be submitted online or via email or post by 23:59 on Monday 15 December 2025.
More information can be found on the Council’s website here.
Consultation closes: 23:59 on Monday 15 December 2025.