Maidstone Council puts £250,000 behind resident-led plan to tackle violence against women and girls

Maidstone Borough Council has approved a £250,000 action plan shaped by 36 local residents, targeting safer streets, youth support, and more women in leadership roles across the borough.

Women and girls in Maidstone could see changes to public spaces, new youth services, and a dedicated council post focused on their safety — after Cabinet signed off a citizen-led action plan on 22 July 2026. The money and the plan both flow directly from a structured deliberation process in which 36 residents, aged 16 and over, spent several weeks hearing from experts and developing recommendations together.

Maidstone Borough Council announced the launch of the findings on social media, posting that the £250,000 commitment would focus on safer streets, youth support, and increasing women’s representation in leadership.

The process started with a Full Council motion on 4 December 2024, brought by Councillor Jenkins-Baldock, calling on the council to develop a VAWG — Violence Against Women and Girls — strategy and introduce practical tools including public awareness campaigns and bystander training. Cabinet then agreed in December 2024 to pursue a citizens’ assembly-style approach, commissioning Involve, an independent participation charity, to design and run the deliberation. Involve recruited participants to broadly reflect Maidstone’s population, and each person who completed all sessions received a £300 “Gift of Thanks” plus travel costs.

Cabinet’s July decision approved three main outcomes: an action plan built from residents’ recommendations, the £250,000 to fund it, and the creation of a new Women’s Safety and Violence Prevention role to co-ordinate delivery. The work sits within the Safer Maidstone Partnership’s Community Safety Partnership Plan 2025–2028, which lists VAWG as a specific priority. Maidstone is also a White Ribbon supporter — a UK campaign that engages men and boys in preventing violence against women and girls.

What the plan covers

Safer streets work is expected to concentrate on Maidstone town centre and Brenchley Gardens, where the council previously secured £565,877 in Safer Streets funding from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for environmental changes and personal safety measures. Youth support is likely to include school- and community-based prevention work, alongside a separate Kent and Medway project already providing £4,744 to support children aged 5–13 in Maidstone affected by domestic abuse.

The council paid £135,864 including VAT for Involve’s facilitation and participant recruitment services.

The case for — and the concerns

Supporters argue that grounding the plan in residents’ lived experience produces more practical recommendations than a top-down policy process, and that ring-fencing £250,000 signals a genuine long-term commitment rather than token awareness campaigns. The new co-ordination role is meant to give VAWG a single, visible point of leadership within the council and its partners.

But critics raise real questions. Some argue that £250,000 falls well short of what is needed to address VAWG at scale — parliamentary committees have called for multi-year, substantial funding for specialist services nationally. There are also concerns that safer streets measures can focus too heavily on environmental fixes and personal safety devices rather than tackling perpetrators or systemic issues such as housing and justice responses. And some observers question whether a group of 36 selected residents, however carefully recruited, can truly represent the full diversity of a borough the size of Maidstone.

A further worry is sustainability. According to participation organisations including Involve, citizens’ assemblies work best when there is clear follow-through and transparency about how recommendations translate into lasting services — not just short-term projects that fade when initial funding runs out.

Key information

• Residents and organisations interested in future VAWG consultations or surveys should monitor Maidstone Borough Council’s engagement platforms and bulletins, where closing dates are published
• Schools, charities, businesses, and community groups interested in partnering on VAWG initiatives may be invited to work with the new Women’s Safety and Violence Prevention lead or the Safer Maidstone Partnership’s VAWG sub-group

The council’s next step is to begin delivering the action plan through the newly created Women’s Safety and Violence Prevention role.