Kent County Council proposes a 20mph zone on 14 roads around Bower Mount Road. Objections close at noon on 5 October. The full list, and how to respond.

Kent County Council wants to cut the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph on 14 residential roads around Bower Mount Road, west of Maidstone town centre.

The proposal was advertised on Thursday. Objections and letters of support close at 12 noon on Monday 5 October (Kent County Council notice, Public Notice Portal).

The 14 roads

The 20mph limit would apply to each of these roads for its entire length:

  • Ashdown Close
  • Astor Park
  • Beaverbrook Mews
  • Bower Close
  • Bower Mount Road
  • Bower Street
  • Cornwallis Road
  • Deerhurst Gardens
  • Oakwood Court
  • Oakwood Road
  • Pembury Gardens
  • Penny Cress Gardens
  • Warwick Place
  • Whitchurch Close

The legal change is an amendment to the county’s consolidated speed limit order for Maidstone, numbered Amendment No.12 of 2026.

A second proposal in the same notice: East Farleigh

The same notice proposes a 30mph limit in East Farleigh, a village about three miles south west of the town centre. It covers:

  • Workhouse Lane, for its whole length
  • Stockett Lane, from 25 metres north of the Workhouse Lane junction, running south to join the existing 30mph limit

The deadline for comments is the same, 12 noon on 5 October.

Residents asked for this in 2022

This is not a new idea on Bower Mount Road. Residents petitioned for a 20mph limit on the road and the streets around it, and the petition went to Maidstone’s Joint Transportation Board in 2022.

Kent County Council’s written reply was published with the board’s papers (KCC response to the petition). It gave three reasons it could not simply act:

  • its checks found no pattern of injury crashes on the road over the previous three years, so it could not rank the road for crash-reduction money
  • it had no set budget for 20mph schemes away from known crash sites, and relied on a sponsor, such as the county councillor or a residents’ group, to pay
  • any change needs a formal legal process, taking about three months or more if there are objections

The reply also said a road would normally need traffic surveys, and suited a 20mph limit where existing speeds were between 24 and 28mph.

This week’s notice does not say who is paying for the scheme or what surveys were done. Those answers should be in the council’s statement of reasons, which it says is online from 11 September. We could not open that document today, so this report does not say why these roads have been chosen now.

What it means for you

If you live on one of the 14 roads, or drive through them, this is your chance to have a say before the order is made.

  • Deadline: 12 noon, Monday 5 October 2026.
  • Online: through Kent County Council’s highways consultations page, which also carries the plan and the statement of reasons.
  • By post: to The Senior Parking and Traffic Regulation Officer, Traffic Management Team, Highways and Transportation, Kroner House, Eurogate Business Park, Ashford TN24 8XU.
  • In person: the documents can be seen at Kroner House by appointment, booked through tro@kent.gov.uk.

One rule catches people out. The notice says an objection must explain the impact on traffic in the local area to count as valid. “I do not want it” is not enough.

You can also write in support. Speed limit orders attract objections more readily than support, so if you want it, say so.

For the other traffic orders open for comment in the borough, including Brewer Street and the A228 at Yalding, see our Maidstone roadworks and travel page.

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