Policy information sourced from the Maidstone Borough Council Local Plan 2021-2038

LPRCD1: Shops, Facilities, and Services.

Main Town Centre Uses

1. Maidstone Town Centre is the principal town centre in the borough. Proposals for main town centre uses will be directed sequentially to within the town’s Primary Shopping Area (as defined on the Policies Map) but then to the wider town centre. After Maidstone, priority will be given to improving the retail, leisure and community facilities in the District Centres then Local Centres, as defined in the retail hierarchy (policy LPRSP11(C)).

2. Proposals for retail, leisure and other uses (including entertainment, cultural and tourist uses as well as other mixed-uses) that would support the vitality and viability of the centres in the retail hierarchy below Maidstone Town Centre will be directed sequentially to the District Centres, Local Centres, then to edge-of-centre location and, only if suitable sites are not available, to accessible out-of-centre locations, provided that:

  • i. By means of an impact assessment it is demonstrated that the proposal would not result in a significant adverse impact, cumulative or otherwise, on the vitality and viability of an existing centre or undermine the delivery of a site allocated for the use proposed (see criterion 5); or
  • ii. The development is in the countryside and is in accordance with criterion 6 of this policy or policy LPRCD6; or
  • iii. The development is designed to only serve the needs of the neighbourhood.

3. Proposals located at the edge of an existing centre or in out-of-centre locations should not lead to unsustainable trip generation from outside their catchments. They should ensure the provision of specific measures to improve the quality and function of sustainable connections to the centre, in particular walking and cycling routes and public transport links and specific measures which will mitigate the impact of the proposal on the identified centre or centres. The nature, extent and permanence of the measures will be directly related to the scale of the proposal.

4. Proposals for leisure, community and other such uses should, wherever possible, establish or maintain an active frontage onto the street.

Impact Assessment

5. Where an impact assessment is required, the following gross floorspace thresholds will apply:

  • i. Proposals over 2,500sqm within the Maidstone Urban Area as defined on the Policies Map;
  • ii. Proposals over 400sqm beyond the Maidstone Urban Area as defined on the Policies Map.

District and Local Centres

6. In seeking to maintain and enhance the existing retail function and supporting community uses in the District and Local Centres, new non-E or F class uses at ground floor level within the defined centres will generally be resisted.

Elsewhere in the Borough

7. Outside of the defined network of centres, the following types of retail provision will be supported:

  • a. Small-scale ancillary uses within employment sites (see policy LPRSP11(A));
  • b. Small shops within residential areas to serve the local area; or
  • c. Sale of fresh produce at the point of production (or originating from the farm holding) where:
    • i. A significant proportion, based on annual turnover, of the range of goods offered for sale continues to be fresh produce grown and sold on the farm holding in question;
    • ii. The range of any additional sale goods would be restricted to local farm/holding produce and the offer for sale of other goods, including packaged or preserved food products, would not exceed a minimal level;
    • iii. The proposal would not demonstrably damage the viability of district centres and village shops; and
    • iv. Re-use or adapt appropriate farm buildings where they are available; new buildings will only be considered exceptionally.

8. In granting planning permission for farm shops under criterion 7.c), the council may impose conditions and/or Section 106 obligations to restrict the amount of produce which originates outside the farm holding in which the proposed development is located and also to restrict the proportion of non-food and other items to be sold, unless the proposal provides for a more sustainable alternative for the local community.

9. Where proposals involve or require the loss of existing post offices, pharmacies, banks, public houses or Class F2 shops selling mainly convenience goods outside local and district centres, consideration will be given to the following:

  • i. Firm evidence that the existing uses are not now viable and are unlikely to become commercially viable;
  • ii. The availability of comparable alternative facilities in the village or the local area; and
  • iii. The distance to such facilities, the feasibility of alternative routes being used, and the availability of travel modes other than by private motor vehicle.

For more information, please visit Maidstone’s Local Plan Maidstone Borough Council Local Plan 2021-2038