Maidstone Borough Council

Scored on the two DEFRA-published components — recycling rate and residual household waste, FY 2024-25 final data (England averages: 42.0% / 513.3kg per household) — with the remaining components (missed-bin reports, complaint resolution time, service consistency) pending data ingest. Maidstone recycled 43.9% of household waste in 2024-25 — above the England average of 42.0%, 5th of the 13 Kent waste-collection authorities — with residual waste of 441.5kg per household vs 513.3kg nationally. (The 2024-25 final figure is lower than the 51.1% previously reported for 2023-24 from secondary sources; DEFRA final data is used from this refresh.) Attribution: Liberal Democrat + Green & Independent Alliance coalition (Stuart Jeffery) from 18 May 2024; the first ~7 weeks of the year fall under the preceding Conservative-led minority.

as of 2026-07-02 · source

Small-numbers caveat: district-tier LGSCO investigation counts are tiny (0–4 a year) and a single case can swing the uphold percentage from 0% to 100%, so this score rests on process indicators — upheld volume per 100,000 residents vs the 1.0 district average, remedies offered before the Ombudsman, and compliance with recommendations — across 2025-26 and 2024-25, never on the raw uphold percentage alone. 2025-26 figures precede the LGSCO annual letters (due ~July 2026) and may be revised. 2025-26: 4 investigations, all 4 upheld — 2.1 upheld per 100,000 residents vs the 1.0 district average — with a pre-Ombudsman remedy in 1 of 4 and timely compliance of 67% vs the 75% average; 2024-25 was worse: 7 upheld of 9 investigations at 3.8 per 100k, the highest district volume in Kent that year. The only Kent district materially above the volume comparator in both years. Attribution: Liberal Democrat + Green & Independent Alliance coalition (Stuart Jeffery) throughout both Ombudsman years.

as of 2026-07-02 · source

Weighted across the six published components: revenue budget variance 25%, capital programme delivery 20%, reserves & Section 114 risk 20%, external auditor VfM judgement 15%, council tax positioning 10%, council tax trajectory 10%. The strongest component set in Kent at this refresh: 2025/26 draft outturn £709k (0.6%) under budget, driven by additional investment income; capital programme delivered within 8% of budget — the best capital delivery in Kent — while expanding on social/affordable housing; usable reserves £55.8m ≈ 199% of the net revenue budget with £19m unallocated; auditor: no significant weaknesses (financial sustainability Amber with one improvement recommendation — establish a long-term savings programme). The weak component is council tax positioning: Band D £310.68 is the second-highest of the 12 Kent districts, though the 2.78% 5-yr CAGR is the joint-lowest in its cohort (national district rate 2.64%). 2025/26 figures are draft, subject to audit. Attribution: Liberal Democrat + Green & Independent Alliance coalition (Stuart Jeffery), in office from 18 May 2024.

as of 2026-07-03 · source

Fixed-date website audit (2026-07-03) against the Transparency Code checklist: spending-data currency and format, contracts register, councillor allowances, interests, committee papers, senior pay, open data, FOI disclosure log. Items not individually verified this quarter are scored neutrally and flagged. The only Kent council with no downloadable spending files: payments over £500 sit behind a search-only database, so currency and Transparency Code CSV-format compliance are unverifiable and the £250 threshold is not met; previous years' councillor allowances are available only by email request. A tenders/contracts list, senior-pay and structure pages and live committee papers are published; the transparency-data hub is functional but deeply nested. Attribution: audit conducted under the Liberal Democrat + Green & Independent Alliance coalition (Stuart Jeffery).

as of 2026-07-03 · source

Scored against the England averages (majors in time 91.0%, non-majors 90.8%, major appeal overturns 3.1%) over the 24 months to March 2026 (speed) and June 2025 (appeal quality), from MHCLG designation-regime tables; the enforcement-trend component (15%) is pending and the three measured components are re-weighted pro rata. The national "in time" measure includes agreed extensions of time. 93.5% of major applications (93 decisions — one of Kent's largest major caseloads) and a strong 97.5% of non-majors decided in time, with major appeal overturns at 4.2% vs 3.1% for England. Attribution: Liberal Democrat + Green & Independent Alliance coalition (Stuart Jeffery) from 18 May 2024; the first ~7 weeks of the window under the preceding Conservative-led minority.

as of 2026-07-02 · source

Trust score: 2 judged pledges + 3 categorised public issues, averaged.

as of 2026-09-29

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