Litter definitely feels like it's ignored. More smart thinking is required to tackle littering and fly-tipping, rather than just reactively dealing with it when prompted.
E.g. the takeaways along Sandling Road attracts delivery drivers who sit and smoke outside for hours, littering their cigarette butts everywhere.
A more proactive carrot and stick approach is required here. A project using cigarette bins (installed and portable) should get the businesses involved with giving the drivers alternatives to stubbing out on the street - this should also be backed up by threats of fines or impositions.

This is the first time in 25 years living here that I've been offered a survey like this.

This is the first time I've been asked to take part in a residents survey in 25 years living here.

One of the main problems is controlled by the KCC but is aggravated by MBC and that is road congestion. The expansion of housing in urban Maidstone is not being managed by infrastructure improvements (and any promised, but pathetic, improvements are delayed, or never happen).
Another problem is complete lack of control of house extensions by the Planning Department/Committee.

Good survey

Maidstone is in love with the motorcar and the Town Planners seem intent on keeping it that way. Few other towns would route a dual carriageway along a river as important as the Medway or route one between the Archbishop's Palace and the Tithe Barn. Walking and cycling needs far more encouragement. Dedicated cycle paths in the town centre are sparsely sown and cycling to the centre from the surrounding villages is hazardous and only for the bold or foolhardy. Maidstone can surely do better! How about a cycle route along the A20 from Leeds village to Mote Park for a start?

Easy to read survey

Living in a village on the south side means I do everything I can to avoid the town. There is no encouragement to go there unless necessary. Bus services are rubbish so is the traffic. You wonder why town centres are not thriving and yet you discourage car visitors and fail to solve the through traffic problems. No park and ride anymore. Why?

Thanks for the opportunity to voice opinions.

To all who are bemoaning the lack of inclusion in the survey for things like housing, traffic, crime, NHS services, rural areas etc, and the lack of free text responses, please see the "BIG QUESTIONS" tab right above on this page. That is exactly where you are supposed to air your views about whatever it is that might be bothering you personally.

I imagine that any comments in this thread here will not be read by MBC, but the "BIG QUESTIONS" ones will.

There wasn't an opportunity to comment on the way the roads and traffic have an impact on our lives. The traffic in Maidstone is terrible and pedestrians very much take a back seat compared to motorists. It's a backwards and old fashioned way of thinking that is at odds with what people want and with any chance of achieving climate goals.

This survey deals almost entirely with the town of Maidstone and has a total disregard for the rural towns in the Borough. All the activities for example are in the centre of Maidstone. There is much more to the borough of Maidstone than the town of Maidstone!

I live in the new housing development. I do not enjoy where i live and I do not like the community i live in and it does-not feel nice. It feels crowded with traffic getting worse. It does-not feel safe and the environment is not friendly.
Makes me want to move back and away from where i used to live. Its difficult to get around and i do not like going to town.

I have lived in my lovely village for over 40 years but if I am unable to drive at any time in the future (I’m 78 years old) I would have to move as we have no doctors surgery or chemist, a very small local shop and terrible public transport. We have had two large building developments in the village yet no improvement to the infrastructure. The traffic is appalling with cars speeding through the village despite a 20mph restriction. I very rarely go into the town as Week Street seems to be mostly food outlets with no decent shops. There is far too much development and the houses that are being built seem to be very expensive and out of reach for locals. We’re becoming a place for Londoners to move to as they are the ones who can afford the prices.
Maidstone as the county town is a joke and most people consider it to be Canterbury. We should be making our river frontage a pleasant place to visit with cafes etc rather than a retail park. Closing the park and ride was a big mistake as if we have to drive then we will go to an out of town area with free parking.
Come on Maidstone, buck up your ideas and make Maidstone a place worth visiting.

The town of Maidstone needs to focus on anti social behaviour

What the country needs… my views are that only “local economies” can win the day. The following details my educational programme, and I’ll start with a poem.

IMAGINE
Imagine your child … who would push seeds down in the soft ground, cover them with soil, and then set out to check plants grow. Child will harvest the crops in the fullness of time; crops are brought to the table where meals are prepared and consumed. Rounding this off, the same process is repeated time and over again by placing what is left over back on to the ground to nourish the soil … the educational value of all this would be immense.
THIS IS THE MOTHER OF ALL LEARNING!

The well-being of all peoples and all nations depends on food. Food is uniquely placed to underwrite all agendas. Our task is to establish forms of life amiable to all.

The collapse of the family/social structures however is a symptom of a far greater malaise.
We’re always part of the system we happen to describe.
Actions speak louder than words, but words, too, have a role to play.
The narrative I propose is shown next.

LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE / LET FOOD BE THY KNOWLEDGE

Food equates to life and underwrites all agendas. Let us enter all food/life cycles then. Only the food/life cycles can indicate a clear pathway for they act like a sure and unfailing reinforcement of our actions, a corrective guidance to our learning and an indication of our rightful or wrongful ways of doing things.
Against a background of fear and apprehension, the answers we seek can only be found within a fuller narrative.

We crave learning as much as we crave food. A problem arises:

OUR POTENTIAL FOR LEARNING IS UNMENT VIS-À-VIS ITS ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.

Embracing farming is like turning over a new leaf. Hence,
Local Economies Are Forever (LEAF), and FOOD lies at the centre of it all. Food stands alone. It provides the sought-after focus and perspective. Food equates to Health, Education and Economy.
The solutions we seek—winning humanity over.

Bruce argue would like a bungalow gentleman age is 87

Maidstone is the county town of Kent but it has one of the worst town centre shopping areas & it's parking policy is obviously designed to keep people away from the centre!! Even the park & ride has been abolished to ensure people don't go into town anymore & as for the Haslet, it's not a patch on Canterbury or Dartford because the council can't be bothered to support it!! Having lived in Maidstone for over 40 years it's gone downhill dramatically, over developement & poor planning, (particularly with regard to traffic management), & the inability of MBC to either have the foresight or bother to try to attract major investors has denigrated Maidstone to an also ran when it comes to the best place in Kent to live or why visitors should come to the county town of Kent!!

Survey was very restricted at times, some answers needed more than a tick, needed a fuller explanation. Lots of new housing on the edges of the town with no added schools or doctors' surgeries. Consideration needs to make for these facilities.

Moved to my house because it was in an area with open spaces, but gradually they have been built over, much like the Maidstone area as a whole. Seems that the planning applications are just approved, too much focus on the big developments, without any thought for locals, could be the laws have been altered too far in the favour of developers. I appreciate that times change, but Maidstone seems to have changed for the worse.