Here’s a rare piece of news – a new bus service is starting up.

The No 60 bus will run between Maidstone town centre and Maidstone Hospital and will also serve the new Hermitage Park estate and the Allington area before returning to town.

The service is being funded by Section 106 contributions from local housing developers as part of agreements made when they were given planning permission to build new homes.

The bus will be an hourly service, running Monday to Friday, starting next Monday, November 20.

The route will be from King Street to Maidstone West Station, up London Road, stopping at Somerfield Hospital, onto Poplar Grove, Riverhead Close, and Howard Drive, through the bus gate, into Hermitage Park, for Chapelfield Way and Chestnut Road and on to Maidstone Hospital.

The new bus was welcomed by the leader of the Maidstone Green Party, Cllr Stuart Jeffery, who has long been campaigning for an improved service in the area, but he had reservations about the bus gate which was intended to stop ordinary vehicles using that exit.

He said: “It is designed with a ‘sump-buster’ – a concrete cushion. The idea is that while buses will pass over it with no problem, cars which are lower to the ground will damage their sumps.”

“The intention is to stop traffic from Hermitage Park rat-running through Allington, but of course it won't stop motorbikes, and I suspect some 4x4s will also be able to pass over it.”

The bus service will be provided by the Nu-Venture bus company with the first bus leaving King Street in Maidstone at 7.13am.