Maidstone & district · Local news you can trust
The 13-member board deciding how up to £20m is spent in Park Wood, Senacre, Shepway and Mangravet is named. Its 10-year plan goes to government by 30 November.
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Planning
Maidstone Planning Call-In Ends 31 October: Who Decides Now
Parish and councillor call-in to Maidstone's Planning Committee ends on 31 October. Two people will decide in private which applications get a public hearing.
Events
What's On in Maidstone: LitFest, Then the Half Marathon
Maidstone LitFest runs to 11 October and the half marathon is on the 18th. Then half term, four fireworks displays and the lights switch-on, 19 November.
Environment
Maidstone Pocket Parks Open on 3 Town Centre Streets
Three pocket parks with trees, planting and rain gardens are open on St Faith's Street, Brewer Street and Union Street. What changed, and why the council built them.
Crime
Maidstone Town Centre: 13 Shops Shut Over Illicit Tobacco
Kent Police says 13 Maidstone town centre businesses were closed or evicted in six months, with nine arrests and cocaine, cannabis and cash seized in the raids.
Council
InfoZone Maidstone Family Hub Faces Closure: Say by 17 Nov
Kent County Council wants to shut the InfoZone Family Hub at 3 Palace Avenue, citing £450,000 of repairs and signs of subsidence. Comments close 17 November.
Housing
Maidstone Council to Vote on Housebuilding Halt Over Water
Councillors vote on Wednesday on asking ministers for a housebuilding moratorium until water firms guarantee supply. Residents can put questions until Monday.
M20
M20 Fatal Crash Near Junction 9: Kent Police Witness Appeal
One person died when a black VW Polo left the coastbound M20 between junctions 8 and 9 at 5.56am on Wednesday 23 September. Kent Police want dashcam footage.
Housing
Maidstone Springfield Library Flats: £37m Deal, £219m Notice
Hill's contract for 103 council flats on Maidstone's Springfield library site was £37.45m in February. A notice filed on 22 September puts stage one at £219m.
Council
Maidstone Dog Rules Renewed, £100 Fine Cap Removed
Dog rules run on from 20 October, but the £100 cap on fixed penalties has gone from the new order. Maidstone town centre had no begging order for three weeks.
Planning
Invicta House Maidstone: Flats Need Permission From 30 Oct
The Article 4 direction on five town centre office sites is signed. From 30 October, turning any into flats needs planning permission. Comments close then.
Planning
Loose Neighbourhood Plan: 51 Green Spaces, Comment by 23 Oct
Loose Parish Council's draft plan to 2038 protects 51 green spaces and 18 views and sets terms for 300 homes at Pested Bars. Comments close 23 October.
Maidstone
Remembrance Sunday Maidstone 2026: Sunday 8 November
Maidstone's Remembrance parade is on Sunday 8 November. Last year it stepped off at 10.30am, silence at 11am at The Broadway, roads shut 9.45am to 12.30pm.
Maidstone Live covers the county town and the villages around it, from Barming, Allington and Tovil out to Bearsted, Hollingbourne, Lenham, Headcorn, Marden, Staplehurst and Yalding. County Hall sits in the middle of Maidstone, so plenty of what is settled here reaches well past the ring road, and town business and village business are usually tangled together.
We follow it through the paperwork. Planning applications and decisions, licensing notices, food hygiene inspections, crime figures, council spending: it is all public, most of it is dull, and somewhere in it is the answer to what is happening at the end of your road. We write up what the documents say in plain terms, with a link to the original so you never have to take our word for it. The everyday pages get the same care, because they are the ones you will use again next month.