At the Maidstone Borough Council Annual General Meeting of the 18th May 2024 the new leader was elected to serve Maidstone residents for the next 4 years.
The Greens and the Lib Dems have agreed a power sharing arrangement which saw Cllr Stuart Jeffery (Green) being elected Leader with Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) elected Deputy Leader. Remembering that within the Green Group they have independent members as they have formed a Green Independent Alliance.
They lead a cabinet made up of Green, Independent (from the Green and Independent Alliance) and Lib Dem Councillors and there are now 8 cabinet members rather than the 6 that we had, and immediate cost to the public of circa £22,000 per year for the uplift in cabinet member numbers.
At the snap Committees held on the 21st May 2024 the Conservatives hold no Chairs or Vice-Chairs, other than the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny and now lead the Opposition.
The new administration have bold plans which look to include an early review of the newly adopted Local Plan and the creation of a River Task Force amongst other things. Their leadership programme is to be unveiled at the next Full Council meeting in July.
As we end our time in control we reflect on the policies and initiatives that came into being during our time in power;
- 400 sites and houses purchased and developed to provide Affordable Housing for Maidstone people. Due to our work with Homes England, the vast majority of these were able to be provided at Social Rent.
- A new Leisure Centre contract, a makeover of the existing centre during 2024 and a capital programme provision for a new energy efficient centre in 2028/29.
- Delivered the new Mote Park Cafe and progressed plans for the refreshed kiosk on the other side of the lake through planning.
- Produced a balanced budget in the context of rising inflation and budgetary pressures, it is a truly balanced budget, there are no un-costed savings.
- Cracked down on fly-tipping by raising all associated penalties to make sure that the polluters pay.
- Put £1million into the capital budget to start the much needed work to bring the Leeds-Langley Relief Road into reality for residents.
- Held all parking charges in MBC car parks across the board to encourage visitors and economic benefits to our town centre
- Adopted a Local Plan Review through full council, this directs development for the next 14 years in our Borough and importantly it safeguards sites that were not selected from unwanted development, it also contains policies to increase biodiversity on any new development to 20%, well over and above the NPPF national policy of 10%.
- A large amount of grants to help the poorest in our society, to help arts and culture thrive and to help put on events to bring life to our Maidstone Town Centre. All provided via our application that was successful to gain UK Share Prosperity money.
- Awarded CIL contributions to Junction 7 road improvements to bring much needed infrastructure improvements to our town.
- Delivered a new Archaeology Gallery to Maidstone Museum with the help of funders and put in provision for a refresh of the Modern History Gallery.
These are simply the highlights. Now as we retire to the back benches and as opposition we will be scrutinising decisions and the spend to make sure that the residents of Maidstone are fully represented.
