14 Streets in Maidstone's Fant and Oakwood Ward Could Drop to 20mph - Have Your Say by 5 October

Fourteen residential roads in Maidstone's Fant and Oakwood ward could see their speed limit cut from 30mph to 20mph, under a Kent County Council traffic order now open for public comment. The roads affected: Ashdown Close, Astor Park, Beaverbrook Mews, Bower Close, Bower Mount Road, Bower Street, Cornwallis Road, Deerhurst Gardens, Oakwood Court, Oakwood Road, Pembury Gardens, Penny Cress Gardens, Warwick Place and Whitchurch Close.

As the local highway authority, KCC's own published reasoning for the order covers three grounds: avoiding danger to people or traffic using these roads or others nearby, preserving or improving the amenity of the area, and helping pedestrians and other traffic move through it more easily. It's a standard justification for this kind of 20mph zone, not specific to any one incident on these streets.

The consultation opened on Friday 11 September and closes at 12 noon on Monday 5 October 2026. Residents can object to or support the order through KCC's online response form on the Let's Talk Kent website, and the full Public Notice, Statement of Reason and a site plan showing exactly which stretches of road are covered are available to download there too. KCC says it will review responses before deciding whether to make the order permanent, amend it, or drop it altogether - so a live 20mph zone here isn't guaranteed yet, whatever the initial proposal says.

This is one small part of a much wider pattern: KCC has been working through a long list of similar borough-wide speed limit amendments across Kent over the past year, and this is only the latest round for Maidstone specifically. Anyone on or near these roads with a view either way has just under three weeks left to make it known. Source: Kent County Council, Let's Talk Kent