Scrutiny asked Cabinet to spare the Tuesday and Saturday markets. On 16 September it approved the same plan again. The consultation closes 19 October.

Maidstone’s Tuesday and Saturday markets are still on course to be given notice. Cabinet reconsidered the decision on 16 September after it was called in, and approved it again in the same words.

The decision record published for that meeting resolves that the Lockmeadow improvements be approved, with one amendment about youth provision, and gives the Director of Finance and Resources delegated authority to procure the works (decision 1750). That is word for word what Cabinet resolved on 22 July (decision 1737).

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had asked for something different. It wanted the market hall separated from the markets so traders could keep trading. That recommendation does not appear in the decision Cabinet published.

A reconsidered decision cannot be called in a second time. The council’s record marks decision 1750 “not for call-in”.

Timeline of the Lockmeadow market decision from the Cabinet decision on 22 July 2026 to the consultation closing on 19 October 2026

What the July decision actually does

The council owns the whole Lockmeadow site: the car park, the market hall and the leisure complex. Its report set out three options for the market hall and the café, and recommended the second one, letting the building to a community organisation.

The approved approach is to:

  • invite community-based organisations to bid for a long-term lease of the Market Hall and café
  • run a structured selection process, in effect a mini-tender
  • judge bids on vision, community benefit, financial sustainability and operational capability
  • offer an indicative 30-year lease, with the tenant responsible for internal repair and maintenance
  • keep the council responsible for the external structure of the building

The report is blunt about the consequence. Adopting this approach, it says, “would mean giving notice to current market hall users and ending the existing Tuesday and Saturday markets”. It points to the separate weekly market the council has started in Jubilee Square as offering “the potential for continuity”.

The rest of the package covers the land around the building. The council plans a new green space along the river edge with species-rich grassland, new tree planting, seating, play facilities and outdoor room for the Love Food traders. If the design work is commissioned, the target for starting construction is spring 2027. Solar panels on the leisure complex roof are planned for later, once the Maidstone House refurbishment is finished.

Cabinet also transferred £250,000 from earmarked reserves to pump-prime the work.

Why it was called in

Councillor Parfitt called the July decision in. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee heard it on 10 August, and three local residents spoke.

The committee’s published reasons were that:

  • there had been insufficient consultation with the market traders
  • no financial information had been provided in the report behind the decision
  • no equality, diversity and inclusion impact assessment had been carried out
  • the historical significance of the market needed further consideration
  • it was uncertain what the market space would be used for after notice was given
  • a new West Kent unitary authority, after local government reorganisation, might take a more thorough approach
  • the council’s own new market in Jubilee Square could be read as direct competition for Lockmeadow

The Leader of the Council answered that further consultation with traders would happen, that financial and equality detail could only follow once proposals for the space came in, and that the market “in its current form” was loss-making. Jubilee Square, he said, was intended to be a farmers’ market.

The Director of Finance and Resources told the committee that traders would be given a deadline of six months after notice, to allow proposals for future use to be developed.

Then came the detail that shaped the committee’s recommendation. Members were told the traders do most of their trading in the car park, not inside the market hall. Separating the two was therefore possible, though the Director said there could be complications because the hall and the market are currently run as a single operation.

The committee resolved to refer the matter back to Cabinet to do three things:

  1. decouple the market hall decision from the Tuesday and Saturday market, so trading can continue until a future decision and a strategy for the town market are finalised
  2. run a public consultation on future options for the Lockmeadow area
  3. bring a future options report through the Policy Advisory Committee system

All of this is set out in the call-in reference report that went to Cabinet on 16 September. The minute it quotes is a draft, due for approval at the committee’s 9 September meeting.

What changed between the call-in and the decision

One of the three recommendations was met before Cabinet sat again. The council opened a six-week public consultation on Lockmeadow’s future on 7 September and announced it the next day. It closes on 19 October, and we have the drop-in dates and what it asks.

The other two are harder to trace. The published decision does not record a decoupling of the market from the market hall, and it does not commit to a future options report through the Policy Advisory Committee system. Minutes for the 16 September Cabinet meeting had not been published when we checked on 18 September, so the debate behind the resolution is not yet on the record.

The one amendment carried over from July concerns young people. It requires that community engagement and events at the site put an emphasis on youth provision, “with the aim of providing a dedicated safe space for young people in Maidstone to access and use”. That wording came from the Planning and Healthier Stronger Communities Policy Advisory Committee, and the Director of Finance and Resources told Cabinet it would be written into the specification for bidders.

The site’s numbers

The council’s report sets out how Lockmeadow performs:

Measure Figure
Net asset value in the council’s accounts £16 million
Budgeted net income this financial year around £1 million
Footfall, year to date against 2025 up 4.4%
Lockmeadow Health Club membership 3,500 and rising
Reserves transferred to start the work £250,000

The report notes that the footfall rise runs against the national and South East trend for leisure venues, which is falling visitor numbers.

What it means for you

The markets are still running. Maidstone market takes place every Tuesday and Saturday from 7.30am to 1pm, in the car park by the Lockmeadow complex, ME16 8LW, alongside a boot fair where a single pitch costs £10.

Nothing in the 16 September decision ends them on a date. What it does is confirm the council will look for a community organisation to take a 30-year lease on the market hall, and the council’s own report says that step means giving notice to current users. The Director of Finance and Resources has told councillors that six months would follow any notice.

If you want a say, the consultation is the route, and it closes on 19 October. It covers events and activities including the Market Hall and the markets, so a view on the market’s future belongs there rather than in a planning objection. The survey and the ideas board are on the Lockmeadow Survey 2026 page.

If you drive there, the site’s car park is the same one the market uses. Our guide to parking in Maidstone has the tariffs and the alternatives in the town centre.

Sources