"We have done Maidstone proud."

That was the response of the council’s deputy chief executive Trevor Gasson to Radio 1''s Big Weekend.

He said: "I think it’s gone extraordinarily well, we’ve been blessed with good weather, we’ve had enormous crowds and everything has gone extremely smoothly which has vindicated the extensive planning that we put into it.

"People have clearly taken the advice in the information leaflet that was given out with the tickets.

"They’ve used park and ride, they’ve used the car parks that we’ve suggested, there’s been no gridlock and there’s been no real congestion.

"The crowds who left after Madonna got away extremely quickly and extremely easily and indeed there’s been space in some of the town centre car parks all weekend."

The council had around 30 complaints from residents by yesterday afternoon.

Mr Gasson said: "We’ve had a few and I think that’s inevitable, most of them have been about noise and some have been about matters which frankly are nothing to do with the Big Weekend.

"The noise has been kept within acceptable levels and environmental health officers monitored the levels to make sure they were within the limits that the licence states.

"Once or twice it got a little bit close but it never exceeded it and we were able to make sure that it remained at a level which was not too intrusive to residents."

He said the clean up operation by council workers had been a success.

"There was a massive clean up effort after each night and that’s ensured by first light the next morning all of the litter had disappeared so they’ve done a super job" he said.

Preston council estimated that last year’s event boosted the economy by £1.3 million pounds.

Mr Gasson said: "I think we’ve made Maidstone extremely proud, the level of national and international publicity that we’ve got, frankly we could not have bought.

"It’s been absolutely superb and Maidstone is now well and truly on the map.

"Every hotel was full, businesses have prospered, but more importantly I think in months and years to come people who have seen what a super place Mote Park and Maidstone is will come and visit the town, whether as a tourist or a potential business which wants to relocate here.

"I think the benefit of this weekend will manifest itself not necessarily immediately but over months and years to come."

Supt Ian Hall of Kent Police echoed Mr Gasson’s views.

He said: "I’m absolutely delighted with the way the events unfolded and the operation.

"We put plans in place, we haven’t had to use those plans.

"The policing was low key, in the background, giving reassurance to people coming to the concert to give a positive image of Maidstone and I think we’ve achieved that.

"That’s really in great part down to the crowd attending here because the crowd dynamic has been absolutely fabulous."

He said the way the tickets were allocated prevented large groups of people going to the festival together and may have been why there was not much trouble.

He said there had been a few people trying to get in without tickets but they were asked to leave without police having to use the dispersal orders.

By 4pm yesterday no dispersal orders had been used.

Supt Hall said police were tough on under age drinking at the festival.

He said: "The event organisers and the people who have run the bars have been extremely professional, they’ve been challenging individuals who look under 21 and we are delighted with the way the whole operation has gone."