Council leader urges positivity for borough’s future
Councillors have been urged to radiate positivity about the future of the borough as it looks to attract greater inward investment.
Maidstone Borough Council leader Cllr Martin Cox struck an optimistic note as he welcomed the draft economic development strategy. However he cautioned against lapsing back into negativity about the County Town’s challenges, on issues such as traffic, when meeting with new contacts from outside.
Praising the work by the consultants who drew up the plans, he said: “It is a great document to have,
a great document for us to use, and I hope it will reiterate the ambition and positivity that we have to have as a borough.
“It is important that when we interact with our partners, when we interact with new people coming to the town to look and consider whether to move their business here. “Whether it be a new B&B or a new med-tech company coming to see whether it will bring its future and prosperity and bring it to the town, I think it’s very important that we remain positive when we interact as councillors with people.”
At its meeting on April 20, the council’s economic regeneration and leisure committee approved plans for an eight- week public consultation programme on the economic strategy, to take place following the local elections in May.
The document will be reviewed following comment from the public, before being brought back to the committee for full adoption later in the year. Cllr Cox told the committee he wanted to make Maidstone the number one choice for those starting a business. He said: “Yes, we are in the middle of Kent, that’s why we are the County Town, we want to be the ‘business County Town’ as well. People should think of this as the go-to place to set their business up.”