Maidstone

Local Authority District in England

Kent, South East

§ This page gives an overview of the Maidstone local authority district, bringing together key facts, maps, and data to help you quickly understand the area. One of 361 district profiles on Baseview.

Overview ⁞ Maidstone, in the heart of Kent, is a busy county town on the River Medway, surrounded by orchards, farmland, and villages. The town centre features Maidstone Museum, Archbishop’s Palace, and riverside parks, while the Medway Valley adds scenic landscapes and trails. Leeds Castle, often described as one of the loveliest in the world, lies nearby with its lakes and grounds. The wider district includes rolling hills, hop fields, and fruit farms, forming part of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its geography combines urban vibrancy with countryside and historic estates.

The administrative boundary of Maidstone can be viewed on OpenStreetMap: District Boundary of Maidstone.

Map of Maidstone — Administrative Boundary of Maidstone (Local Authority District)

Key Facts about Maidstone

What region is Maidstone in? Maidstone is in the South East of England, a region within the UK.

What county is Maidstone in? Maidstone is located in the county of Kent.

Is Maidstone a city? No, Maidstone is not a city. (Note: the UK has 76 officially designated cities.)

Who governs Maidstone? The local authority for this district is: Maidstone Borough Council - responsible for district-level services. Since Kent is a two-tier area, county-level services are handled by: Kent County Council.

▶ Official website of Maidstone Borough Council 🔗 maidstone.gov.uk

Which police force covers Maidstone? Policing in Maidstone is provided by Kent Police 🔗 kent.police.uk, which serves 13 local authority districts: Ashford ⁞ Canterbury ⁞ Dartford ⁞ Dover ⁞ Folkestone and Hythe ⁞ Gravesham ⁞ Maidstone ⁞ Medway ⁞ Sevenoaks ⁞ Swale ⁞ Thanet ⁞ Tonbridge and Malling ⁞ Tunbridge Wells.

This district page, Maidstone, is a sub-page of this county page: Kent and this region page: South East. It zooms in to local authorities and parliamentary constituencies, and provides a list of wards in this district. We have this list page for easy browsing of all UK local authority districts: List of Local Authority Districts.

Constituencies in Maidstone

A constituency is a specific geographical area that elects one Member of Parliament (MP) to represent them in the House of Commons. The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary constituencies. We have this list page for easy browsing of all UK parliamentary constituencies: List of Constituencies.

Wards in Maidstone

Maidstone is divided into 22 wards, listed below in alphabetical order.

Allington & Bridge
Barming Heath & Teston
Bearsted & Downswood
Boughton Monchelsea & Chart Sutton
Boxley Downs
Coxheath & Farleigh
Fant & Oakwood
Grove Green & Vinters Park
Harrietsham, Lenham & North Downs
Headcorn & Sutton Valence
High Street
Leeds & Langley
Loose & Linton
Marden & Yalding
Palace Wood
Park Wood & Mangravet
Penenden Heath
Ringlestone
Senacre
Shepway
Staplehurst
Tovil

In the UK, a ward is a subdivision of a local authority area, used mainly for electoral and statistical purposes. Defined by the ONS, wards represent the primary unit for local elections, each returning one or more councillors to the local council. Wards are also used as a key geography for presenting population and census data.

Parishes in Maidstone

Maidstone is part-parished: 41 civil parishes (listed A-Z below) alongside 4 unparished areas.

Barming
Bearsted
Bicknor
Boughton Malherbe
Boughton Monchelsea
Boxley
Bredhurst
Broomfield and Kingswood
Chart Sutton
Collier Street
Coxheath
Detling
Downswood
East Farleigh
East Sutton
Frinsted
Harrietsham
Headcorn
Hollingbourne
Hucking
Hunton
Langley
Leeds
Lenham
Linton
Loose
Marden
Nettlestead
Otham
Otterden
Staplehurst
Stockbury
Sutton Valence
Teston
Thurnham
Tovil
Ulcombe
West Farleigh
Wichling
Wormshill
Yalding

A civil parish is the lowest tier of local government in England, used for villages, small towns, and suburbs. They have their own local authority, either a parish council or a parish meeting, which provides local services like managing parks, allotments, and streetlights, and represents the community's views to larger councils.

Built-up Areas in Maidstone

Maidstone covers 28 built-up areas, listed below in alphabetical order.

Bearsted
Benover
Bredhurst
Chainhurst
Chart Sutton
Chartway Street
Chatham *
Coxheath
Curtisden Green *
Detling
East Farleigh
Forstal *
Gillingham (Medway) *
Headcorn
Kings Hill *
Kingswood (Maidstone)
Langley (Maidstone)
Langley Heath
Lenham and Harrietsham
Maidstone *
Marden (Maidstone)
Paddock Wood *
Staplehurst
Sutton Valence
Teston
Ulcombe
Wateringbury *
Yalding

In the UK, a Built-up Area (BUA) is a continuous urban area of at least 20 hectares (0.2 km²), defined by the ONS as land where buildings are generally no more than 200 metres apart, such as towns, cities, or large villages. (Note: A BUA name marked with an asterisk (*) indicates that the area is situated partly in the district of Maidstone.)

Maidstone compared with other districts in the UK

This section shows how Maidstone compares with other local authority districts in the UK, using a variety of measures and rankings.

Maidstone has 22 electoral wards.

Maidstone compared with other districts — ▮ Smaller: 178 ▮ Similar: 55 ▮ Larger: 128 (compared with 361 districts)

Maidstone has a population of 187,767 (2024 mid-year estimate by ONS)

Population of Maidstone compared with other districts — Population of Maidstone, compared with other districts in England and Wales

More local statistics and data for Maidstone can be found on the ONS statistics for Maidstone.