She’s boldly going where no town centre management team has gone before.

In the coming year, Maidstone Town Centre Management will join forces with the Town Team to provide a vibrant place full of retailers, interest and arts events, and it’s change co- ordinator Ilsa Butler’s job to make it happen.

It’s thought to be the first time a TCM has decided to amalgamate with a Town Team, which was launched in the wake of Queen of Shops Mary Portas’s push to revitalise towns.

After consultation, Miss Butler hopes by the end of the year to have a blueprint for a reformed organisation covering business, arts and other interests.

It will have board members and representatives from a range of areas, as well as some members of the public.

Miss Butler has been with TCM in an administrative role for the past 10 years.

She said of the group that will be formed at the end of the year: “It will be completely different. It is more research and groundwork. It is exciting and I am really pleased to be doing it. I feel empowered. This is absolutely what we want to be doing and we have everyone’s best interests at heart.”

She said many functions and events were already run in conjunction with the Town Team and council, such as the recent Maidstone Parade through town.

Ken Scott, chairman of the events sub group on the Town Team and of Maidstone Area Arts Partnership, said: “We can’t just focus on retail needs. People live and work in the area and don’t just come here for that but a range of purposes.

“For Maidstone to be a success it has to be a good place to live and work, to shop, to visit.
“It is about making the town as vibrant as possible. This was the logical next step. There’s so much crossover already. How that will happen is the exciting part.”

Fran Wallis, local economy project officer at Maidstone council, added: “Everybody wants a successful town centre, whether you are a resident, the council or a trader. In that respect we have all got the same goal.”

A meeting of the Town Team, which is open to the public, will be held at Maidstone Town Hall on Monday, September 7, when Miss Butler’s task will be discussed.

She is then due to report back with her interim recommendations to the TCM board in January.