A bid to create a new town council has been questioned after Whitehall hit pause on plans to reorganise local government.
The authority was to be set up to cover unparished areas of Maidstone ahead of a national shake-up that would see the borough council being axed in April 2028.
But Monday’s announcement by the Secretary of State, Angela Rayner, that she was “pausing” Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in Kent, and in many other counties across the country, has thrown the whole issue up in the air.
The idea had been for Maidstone to join with Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, and Tunbridge Wells to create a new unitary council for west Kent.
Cllr Stan Forecast (Con), who had voted against the creation of the town council at the initial debate, said the argument put forward by its proponents had now been completely undercut.
He said: “The main reason suggested for creating a town council was that LGR would create a ‘democratic deficit’, leaving residents too distant from their nearest elected representative.
“Angela Rayner says she has paused the process, but I don’t believe it will ever happen now. So that argument has gone.
“Creating a town council will just create a new level of bureaucracy and add an unnecessary extra tax burden on the town’s residents.”
The new authority, for which elections are due to be held next May, would see council tax bills rise by £22 a year for the average household.
It would have a £750,000 budget and 24 members.
Cllr Forecast said: “There had been no mandate for it in the first place.
“The borough conducted a survey of the voters that would be affected and had only a 1% response rate, and of those, not all supported the town council.”
Cllr Forecast said he had written to the borough’s democratic services officer asking if the process could be stopped.
He said: “If it can, I intend to submit a motion to council asking that we cancel the plan.”
The leader of the council, Stuart Jeffery (Green), said he was seeking legal advice on whether there was any leeway for the council to review the decision.
However, he confirmed that he would still personally be in favour of creating the town council.
He said: “I think having a town council is a good idea anyway, even without LGR, but I agree the key justification for it has been called into question.
“There is a case for the council to look at this again and decide whether it still wants to go ahead, but it may already be too late to stop it.
“The legal orders to create the town council have already been put in place.”
A town council has no greater legal standing than a parish council, except that it is able to elect a mayor.
One of the key arguments for creating a Maidstone town council was the fear that, with LGR the County Town’s long history of mayoralty would be lost.
It had been intended to transfer the mayor’s chains, carriage and regalia, and the office’s ancient rights such as owning the swans on the River Medway to the town council.
If LGR does not go ahead, that won’t be necessary.
The town council was planned to cover all parts of the borough not currently covered by a parish council, which would encompass 60,788 voters and a population of around 89,000 people. It would be the largest town council in the country.
But of the potential electors, only 426 had said they were in favour.
Claudine Russell is the leader of the Conservative group. She lives in Marden.
She said: “I live in a rural area that already has a parish council, so I don’t particularly feel I should be advising town centre residents what they should do.
“But I would say that at less than 1%, it doesn’t seem as though the enthusiasm from residents was overwhelming.
“Parish councils vary enormously from one to another. They have different numbers of staff and councillors and different interests.
“Some play an active role for their communities, others are sometimes not thought of very highly even by their own residents.
“It does seem that the main reason for having a Maidstone Town Council has now gone, so there should be a review.
“But I am also a bit worried that the councillors who are pushing for a town council are the councillors who expect to have a seat on it.”
The difference between town and borough councils, which both raise their money through council tax, is that there is no limit on what a parish or town council may charge.
In boroughs, however, increases are legally capped at 3%.
Maidstone Town Council will consist of 22 town councillors representing 10 town wards.
They are Allington, Bridge, Fant and Oakwood, Hermitage, High Street and South, Park Wood and Mangravet, Penenden Heath, Ringlestone, Shepway, and Vinters Park and Len.
