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Manifesto delivery tracker

Maidstone Borough Council

Pledge-by-pledge tracking of what the controlling party committed to at the most recent Maidstone election against what has actually been delivered. Scored per the Kent Council Scorecard methodology — KEPT, PARTIAL, BROKEN, PENDING, or OUT_OF_SCOPE — with full right-of-reply for the council.

Initial publication 2026-05-18. This pledge set is the first KLN-curated tracker for Maidstone. Per the published methodology, Maidstone has a 14-working-day right-of-reply window to flag factual errors before scores are treated as settled. Closing date for the initial right-of-reply window: 6 June 2026. Council responses received in this window are added verbatim to each affected pledge. Contact the editor →
100 Band A 2 judged pledges
2 ✅ Kept
0 🟡 Partial
0 ❌ Broken
5 ⏳ Pending
0 🚫 Out of scope

Tracked pledges

  1. ✅ Kept

    Adopt Rights of Nature framework — give nature legal standing in council decisions

    Source
    Maidstone Liberal Democrats / coalition commitment
    Date promised
    2024-05-18
    Last reviewed
    2026-05-18

    KLN judgement

    Maidstone became the first UK council to formally adopt the Rights of Nature framework, in May 2026, per the coalition partner Lib Dems' announcement.

    permalink

  2. ⏳ Pending

    Establish a new Maidstone Town Council with 22 councillors across 10 wards, first elections May 2027

    Source
    Maidstone Liberal Democrats / coalition commitment
    Date promised
    2024-05-18
    Last reviewed
    2026-05-18

    KLN judgement

    Proposed structure with first elections targeted for May 2027. Subject to Community Governance Review process and LGR uncertainty.

    permalink

  3. ✅ Kept

    Cut town-centre night-time car park season tickets to £90 annually for residents

    Source
    Maidstone Liberal Democrats / coalition commitment
    Date promised
    2024-05-18
    Last reviewed
    2026-05-18

    KLN judgement

    Pricing change delivered per the coalition partner's announcement.

    permalink

  4. ⏳ Pending

    Prepare the borough for climate change and improve its resilience

    Source
    Green/Lib Dem coalition agreement May 2024
    Date promised
    2024-05-18
    Last reviewed
    2026-05-18

    KLN judgement

    Broad qualitative commitment; specific climate adaptation programme + measurable resilience targets to be reviewed.

    permalink

  5. ⏳ Pending

    Reduce pollution across the borough

    Source
    Green/Lib Dem coalition agreement May 2024
    Date promised
    2024-05-18
    Last reviewed
    2026-05-18

    KLN judgement

    Broad commitment; air quality and water quality benchmarks need to be measured against the May 2024 baseline.

    permalink

  6. ⏳ Pending

    Deliver affordable housing, particularly social housing

    Source
    Green/Lib Dem coalition agreement May 2024
    Date promised
    2024-05-18
    Last reviewed
    2026-05-18

    KLN judgement

    New build social housing delivery has long lead times; net additions over the term will be the test. To be reviewed against MBC housing-completion data.

    permalink

  7. ⏳ Pending

    Reduce inequalities across Maidstone borough

    Source
    Green/Lib Dem coalition agreement May 2024
    Date promised
    2024-05-18
    Last reviewed
    2026-05-18

    KLN judgement

    Qualitative commitment; baseline indices needed (ONS deprivation rankings, ward-level comparisons) before progress can be judged.

    permalink

How KLN tracks pledges

  1. Curate each council's pledge list from manifesto + election material at the most recent election.
  2. Each pledge gets a permalink, source citation, date, KLN's judgement, and supporting evidence.
  3. Council leadership receives the preliminary tracker 14 days before publication for factual correction (longer than the 7-day window for data metrics).
  4. Council's response published verbatim alongside any pledge where they choose to provide one.
  5. Pledges re-evaluated quarterly; status changes logged.

Full methodology including categorisation criteria + score formula: Metric 9 — Manifesto delivery.

Spotted a pledge we should track, or have evidence on one we're assessing? editor@kentlocalnews.co.uk.