Borough of Maidstone the February 2017 the council has 23 Conservative, 22 Liberal Democrat, 4 UKIP, 4 independent and 2 Labour party councillors. The council is based in the town centre having replaced its many small offices with one large building called Maidstone Gateway. The shopfront appearance is intended to make it easier to access information and services. The third tier of local government is the civil parish; in Maidstone some of the parishes have a neither a parish council or a parish meeting, as indicated (1) : The River Medway was the earliest form of transport through the area. It was navigable
Maidstone was reported at the time that inhabitants were bitterly opposed to the railway, the mayor suggesting that "Maidstone will be ruined as a commercial town". It was said that wharfingers and corn and coal merchants would be hardest hit. In 1842, the South Eastern Railway, to reach the Channel ports of Folkestone and Dover, put its main line through Tonbridge and Ashford, some to the south. A station named Maidstone Road was built in an isolated spot called Paddock Wood, from where coaches were run to the county town. Two years later a branch line was built to Maidstone. In