Lockmeadow Consultation: 5 Drop-ins, Closes 19 October

Maidstone Borough Council has opened a six-week consultation on the future of Lockmeadow, and it closes at the end of 19 October.

The survey went live on 7 September on the council’s Let’s Talk Maidstone platform. The council announced it in a news release published on 8 September, and the consultation page itself confirms the closing date.

This is a consultation about the whole site, not a planning application. No design has been chosen and nothing has been decided.

The five drop-in sessions

If you would rather ask questions in person than fill in a form, the council is running five sessions. Three are at Lockmeadow itself, outside Unit 10, and two are at The Mall.

What the council is actually asking about

The survey covers the outdoor and public parts of the site rather than the cinema or the bowling alley. The council says it wants views on:

• the overall design
• green spaces and planting
• seating and gathering areas
• accessibility across the site
• events and activities, including the Market Hall and the markets

It also asks how you use Lockmeadow now and what matters to you when you visit.

The ideas the council has put on the table are a longer list than the questions suggest. Its own release names more trees, planting and biodiversity; flexible space for events and community activities; new seating and gathering spaces; improved riverside public space; and room for markets, cafes and local businesses. The consultation page adds that the aim is “an attractive riverside destination”.

The council says concept designs are published alongside the survey to show how the site could change.

The Market Hall and the markets are in scope

The line most worth noticing is that the survey asks about “the events and activities, including the Market Hall and markets”.

Maidstone market is a council-run operation. It runs every Tuesday and Saturday from 7.30am to 1pm in the car park beside the Lockmeadow complex, ME16 8LW, alongside a boot fair where a single pitch costs £10. Anyone with a view on how the market and the Market Hall are used has a formal route to say so between now and 19 October, and that route does not come round often.

The one hard number

Councillor Stephen Thompson, cabinet member for healthier stronger communities, said the council wants to “build on that success” and hear views “on everything from biodiversity and public spaces to events, accessibility and community uses”.

Behind that, the release carries one measurable claim: footfall at Lockmeadow is 4.4% higher than the same period in 2025. The council does not publish the underlying counts or say which period it means, so treat it as the council’s own figure rather than an independently checkable one.

The release also lists recent changes at the site: improvements to the health club, the arrival of Love Food @ Lockmeadow, and new businesses including Cycles UK and Cece’s Nursery.

What it means for you

If you use Lockmeadow, the market, the riverside path or the Millennium Bridge, this is the stage of the process where the council is asking open questions. Once a design is chosen, consultation narrows to that design.

• The online survey takes 4 to 7 minutes, according to the consultation page, and there is a separate ideas board for suggestions.
• The closing date is 19 October 2026. There is no indication that it will be extended.
• If you want to raise something about the market or the Market Hall specifically, say so in the survey rather than assuming a separate consultation will follow. None has been announced.
• The drop-in sessions are the only chance to ask questions of council staff face to face, and the last of them is on 1 October, more than a fortnight before the survey closes.

Both the survey and the ideas board are on the Lockmeadow Survey 2026 page.

For other council business in the borough, see our pages on planning applications in Maidstone, parking in Maidstone and bin collection days.