A long-held ambition to create a car-free town centre with plazas for al-fresco eating and drinking could become a reality due to Covid-19.

Plans to pedestrianise Earl Street, between Pudding Lane and Week Street, in Maidstone go back to 2013, when similar schemes for the High Street and King Street were taking shape.

In 2014, Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) got close when a £3 million regeneration plan highlighted improvements needed to enhance the town centre. These saw Earl Street as a destination for people to sit, relax, and eat and drink.

But while Week Street and Gabriel’s Hill also got a new-look upgrade in 2018, featuring granite-style paving, the Earl Street plans were postponed, before featuring on an infrastructure plan, unveiled last year.

More stores were allowed to reopen last week, as lockdown eased, and pubs, restaurants and hairdressers are preparing to trade from Saturday, July 4.

To cope with more people, Maidstone council installed temporary road closures using new gates on Earl Street and Gabriel’s Hill.

These control traffic at peak times and give more space to pedestrians.

Now the temporary closure is in place, the council hopes to bring the plan forward.

It has applied for the scheme to be considered in the Government’s Covid-19 active travel fund.

More than £70m has been set aside nationwide to help restart local economies and make roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Kent County Council hopes to receive £8m of this with the first round currently set at £1.6m.

From this, MBC requested changes to Earl Street and a pop-up cycle route on King Street to be considered.

It is estimated the changes to Earl Street alone will amount to £972,000. If given the go ahead, it would involve using an experimental traffic order to limit vehicle movements.

Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone