Opposition hopes to topple ruling Tories at ballot
Parties go head-to-head in local elections
Sixty-eight people have put their names forward to become Maidstone borough councillors in the local elections.
Voters will go to the polls on Thursday, May 5, in 18 of the town’s 26 wards. It will be one of the last times that the council is elected by thirds, with a full council ballot scheduled for May 2024.
Councillors voted in this year will serve for only two years, instead of the normal four.
The Conservative party is fielding the largest number of candidates, with one in every ward. Leader of the Tory group, and Maidstone council, David Burton, will be contesting his seat in Marden.
He said : “We’ve been in control of the council for nearly a year now and we’ve made a great start - pushing ahead with the provision of affordable housing, putting the green agenda at the heart of absolutely everything we do and developing an ambitious plan for the town centre with measures to regenerate key sites and take a refreshed look at access, transport and parking.
“If we are judged on our performance locally, we could do well, but if we are tarred with the same brush as the national party, it’s anyone’s guess.”
Maidstone Greens will be fielding 16 candidates.
Leader Stuart Jeffery felt his party’s policies to alleviate uncertainty caused by war, climate change, ecological and economic issues would be popular.
He said: “We have an excellent chance of winning in Bridge Ward, and also in Coxheath and Hunton and in Headcorn where we have very strong candidates who are very well known locally.
“It’s likely we will have our best year ever and finally be able to influence the council in a way we haven’t achieved before - from the inside.”
The Lib Dems will be looking to capitalise on discontent over house-building with their 15 candidates. Group leader, Clive English, said: “We are hoping to re-take East Ward and we are pushing hard in Boxley where there is a lot of anger over the Tories’ Local Plan Review and their proposal for a garden village at Lidsing.
“We will be working for a Local Plan that is actually deliverable.
“Before the last election, the Lib Dems proved we could provide good local government and showed we were willing to work with other groups, unlike the current Conservative administration which seeks to exclude everyone else - sometimes even its own members - from the debate.”
Labour group leader Paul Harper described the elections as the “most strategic in years”.
He added: “It’s a chance to remove the Conservatives from running Maidstone council.
“We believe we have a particularly good chance to win in five seats which we are targetting. That would increase the size of the Labour group from three to seven and would mean that Labour will hold the balance of power on the council.”
The party has 13 candidates. There are also four independents and one from the British Democrat Party. The Maidstone Independent group, which broke away from the Liberal Democrats in October last year, has one member seeking re-election.
Until her mayoralty this year, Fay Gooch had been leader of the Independent group. She said: “I hope people will take a long hard look at the candidates and chose the man or woman whose ideas on local issues most accord with their own.”
The Conservative group currently have a three-seat overall majority on the council but are defending in seven seats.
There is also a by-election for a seat on Bearsted Parish Council.
‘It’s a chance to remove the Tories from running Maidstone council’