Kent County Council has been urged to make 20mph zones the default position for all new housing developments.

Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) told members of the Maidstone Joint Transportation Board that authorities in other areas had adopted such a move.

He said: "How challenging would it be for the highway authority to adopt a policy to set 20mph as the default position, and then if there were reasons why 20mph could not be applied on a particular site that would have to be argued."

Unfortunately, there was no planning officer from KCC present at the meeting to comment on the proposal, but the board's chairman Cllr Paul Cooper (Con) agreed to discuss it as an item at a future meeting.

Cllr Clark's suggestion came as the joint meeting of local KCC and Maidstone Borough Councillors learned how the county council intended to spend the money it had received from the Government under its "emergency active travel scheme" to help counter the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The county had won £1.6m in the first tranche and was hopeful of getting a potential £6.4m in a second tranche yet to be decided.

The downside with the first tranche was that it was a requirement that the money be spent urgently, with schemes completed within 12 weeks. This had left little time for consultation, said Russell Boorman, KCC's capital programme projects manager. So the highway authority had gone ahead and picked projects to progress quickly.

In Maidstone these were extending the pedestrian area in Earl Street down from Week Street to Pudding Lane, to encourage hospitality venues to set out tables and chairs in the street. A second Maidstone scheme was to create a "pop-up cycle lane" in King Street from the A249 to The Mall shopping centre.

In the second tranche, there would be more time for discussion, but KCC had in mind implementing a 20mph zone in Maidstone Town Centre in the region around Fremlin Walk.

Cllr Paul Harper (Lab) suggested that would be difficult when the limit along Royal Engineers Road, the approach to the area, was still 40mph.

He suggested instead that Fant would be the ideal place for a 20mph zone.

He said: "My party has already gathered signatures on a petition that show there is vast amount of support for it among residents."

He was backed by Cllr Rob Bird (Lib Dem) who was also in favour of a Fant scheme. But Mr Boorman was dubious. He said: "We are still awaiting guidance from central government on what will be required from projects in the second tranche. We'll have to see what emerges."

If a Fant scheme does eventually come about, it will hardly have been at the "emergency" pace of 12 weeks, but in fact will have taken over 12 years.

Stewart Jeffery from the Maidstone Green Party first handed in a petition to KCC of 346-signatures calling for a 20mph zone in Bower Place, Upper Fant Road, Gatland Lane and Glebe Lane back in October 2008.

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