News Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople development plan consultation
Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) is seeking views on proposals to meet the future accommodation needs of the borough’s Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople communities, including potential locations for new sites, as part of a statutory consultation.
People can have their say from 27 November 2025 until 5pm on 11 January 2026, when the consultation closes.
The Council is preparing a Development Plan Document (DPD) that will set out a spatial strategy, identify sites, and include policies to assess future planning applications for accommodating Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople.
Councillor Tony Harwood, Cabinet Member for Planning Policy and Management at MBC, said:
We are consulting on our emerging plan to meet the future accommodation needs of our Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople communities across the borough. We encourage these communities, and everyone with an interest in creating a better and fairer borough, to have their say.
The plan aims to deliver high-quality, sustainable and resilient accommodation that promotes better health outcomes, strengthens community cohesion, and protects the countryside.
Cllr Harwood added:
As part of the process, we are seeking views on the preferred policies and, for the first time, the potential sites we might look to allocate for future pitches. We are striving to make sure we deliver well-planned, high-quality sites through good design and layout. The sites should allow everyone to experience a good quality of life, enable access to key services and facilities, all whilst protecting and improving our natural and built environment.This plan recognises their long historic association with the Borough and the unique societal, health and social care challenges often faced by those from the Gypsy and Traveller communities and aims to provide all residents of the Borough with certainty over the provision of future site and accommodation needs.
This consultation is a formal stage in the planning process, known as a Regulation 18 consultation, and will help inform the next stage, the Regulation 19 proposed submission plan, which the Council expects to consult on in summer 2026.To take part and help shape the Plan, please visit: https://maidstone.oc2.uk