Community Governance Review (CGR) - Unparished Areas & Grove Green and Thurnham West

Why Consult?

Earlier this year Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) consulted residents as part of its ongoing Community Governance Review (CGR) to ask about the community governance for the unparished Maidstone Town, and also for Grove Green and Thurnham West.

Following that consultation, based on the feedback, it has been decided to:

• Not to make any change to Grove Green and Thurnham West
• Put forward a proposal for a Maidstone Town Council

Grove Green and Thurnham West

There will be no further consultation on Grove Green and Thurnham West as the response from the Stage 1 consultation was clearly in favour of remaining as they are. With no other incentive to make changes there are no proposals put forward to Stage 2.

Maidstone Town

There was support at Stage 1 for forming a Town Council, and with Local Government Reorganisation on the horizon and the need for a home for the Mayor of Maidstone, as well as the local representation a Town Council could provide it has been proposed to form a single Town Council for Maidstone. This proposal is being consulted on for Stage 2. Other options for a series of smaller parish councils, or having no parish councils but using charter trustees for the Mayor of Maidstone were also considered. More detail is provided in the Stage 2 survey.

Background

Maidstone Town has seen growth and change over the years, and the area under review currently has an electorate of around 64,000 people, 60,000 in the unparished area, and this review has considered projected growth in the area up to 2030. The CGR also incorporates the potential impacts of upcoming Local Government Reorganisation, including keeping a Mayor for Maidstone and establishing the identity of the Town and the areas surrounding it.

This CGR will consider if a new parish and/or town council(s) should be created to represent the unparished areas of Maidstone Borough. The unparished areas of Maidstone include all or parts of the borough wards of:

You can see the map of the proposed Maidstone Town Council and can check if you live in the area on our website(External link) (opens in a new window, please click on ‘My Maps’ once it has loaded up).

Parish and Town Councils

There are a range of benefits that being in a parish (including town council) brings, including community representation, access to community funding, local project and service delivery, owning assets and greater local accountability. Access to these benefits is funded through a precept determined by the parish/town council and is added to council tax bills. If introduced, this precept would be paid by the residents living in these areas.

Given the scale of the proposed Maidstone Town Council it is anticipated that the precept in the first year could be of the order of £10 (for the year) for a household.

More information on parish councils can be found here: https://www.nalc.gov.uk/about/parish-and-town-councils.html

How to get involved - Stage 2

Stage 1 of the review was completed in October 2025. The Council has now considered the responses to stage 1 of the review and would now like your thoughts on the governance proposals for the unparished, urban area.

It is proposed to create a Town Council for Maidstone. This is a large area but it is the only part of the borough that is not represented at a Parish level. In practical terms, a Town Council will:

• provide a voice for the County Town which is currently the only part of the Borough without parish level representation,
• have the capacity to deliver suitable services to meet the differing needs of a dense urban area,
• be able to own assets of importance to the County Town (for example this could be community centres, parks or other public buildings) and
• be an appropriate home for the Mayor of Maidstone.

Stage 2 Unparished Area - Click here to start the survey and give your feedback on the proposals.

• Survey closes: 1 February 2026
• Survey takes: 4-7 minutes to complete.

What happens next?

The outcome of the review will be decided by Full Council in April 2026.