Contact your Parish Council

One

Activate and Animate for wellbeing - held in  Brenchley Gardens, Trinity Park, Fairmeadow, Amphitheatre Commit to ongoing spring/ summer Olympia boxing scheme at Brenchley Gardens – outreach to young people supporting Youth Service outreach work.Install outdoor table tennis equipment at Trinity Park and Brenchley Gardens Annual series of Wellbeing Sessions across town location : morning and lunchtime Tai Chi, Mediation, Yoga.  Coaching sessions at new Fairmeadow fitness station – 5pm – 6pm.

E3: Creation of and improvements to local green spaces, community gardens, watercourses and embankments, along with incorporating natural features into wider public spaces.

£200,000

Increased footfall
Increased visitor numbers
Increased use of cycleways or paths
Jobs created
Improved perception of facilities/amenities
Increased users of facilities/amenities
Improved perceived/experienced accessibility

Two

Activity/Outdoor Gym – Callisthenics - Fairmeadow Riverside spaces. Provides a free to use outdoor gym experience – a destination from town centre and for walkers and joggers on towpath; synergy with nearby boat café. Activation of open spaces that have potential to increase footfall, improve health outcomes, provide a focus and identity  for Fairmeadow. If space allows additional provision of interactive equipment that provide an element of competition/gamification of fitness.
Space would provide for coaching and training providers to develop their business. 

E3: Creation of and improvements to local green spaces, community gardens, watercourses and embankments, along with incorporating natural features into wider public spaces.

£106,500

Increased footfall
Increased visitor number

Increased use of cycleways or paths
Jobs created
Improved perception of facilities/amenities
Increased users of facilities/amenities
Improved perceived/experienced accessibility

In Suggested shortlist

Three

Arts Hub - The Project: Community Arts Hub & Maker Space
Utilise an empty unit/building in the town centre and repurpose to provide:
• Low cost exhibition space for local artists and creatives
• Space to deliver arts activities and workshops for the local community
• Retail area where creatives can hire a shelf/unit to sell their products
• Space for community arts groups to meet/rehearse (e.g. local choirs)
• 6 – 8 low-rent studios for use by local artists and creatives
• Mix of clean and messy studio spaces
• Informal meeting area(s) to facilitate networking and collaboration
• Potential to employ an ‘artist in residence’ to lead activities or to work with different artists/groups to deliver
• Focal point for arts in the town
• Base for town centre events and festivals

Artists and creatives can be offered discounted hire rates in exchange for giving some of their time to lead workshops and/or help manage the facility.
If the right premises can be identified there is potential to enhance the offer to include small-scale theatrical productions/music performances/open-mic sessions/comedy nights/poetry readings, etc. which could also contribute to the early evening and night-time economy.

E6: Support for local arts, cultural, heritage and creative activities.

£50,000

Jobs created
 

Jobs safeguarded
 Increased footfall
 Increased visitor numbers

Improved engagement numbers

Improved perception of facilities/amenities
 Number of community-led arts, cultural, heritage and creative programmes as a result of support

Improved perception of events

In Suggested shortlist

Four

Beam - Scheme which enables councils, communities and employers to
support those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness Purchase of a system – BEAM which enables councils, communities and employers to support those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness through a caseworker who works on a support plan and the community supports through donation and support and through this they are supported into work, long term accommodation.  This process removes barriers to sustaining housing.
Employment Support includes
• Budgeting, Identifying a suitable career path and related job training, Support with CV and job applications,  Interview preparation Access to employer partners Laptops, mobile phones, wifi, Clothes and travel Childcare costs
Housing Support includes
• 1:1 budgeting and affordability sessions, Tenancy training, Tenancy search support, Landlord introductions and management for 12 months, Rental deposit, plus 1st months rent advance, Basic home furnishings, Moving van costs

E33: Employment support for economically inactive people:

60,000 - £80,000

Number of economically inactive individuals in receipt of benefits they are entitled to following support

Increased active or sustained participants of UKSPF beneficiaries in community groups (and/or) increased employability through development of interpersonal skills

Increased proportion of participants with basic skills (English, maths, digital and ESOL)

Number of people in supported employment (and) number of people engaging with mainstream healthcare services

Number of people sustaining engagement with keyworker support and additional services
 Number of people engaged in job-searching following support

Project can be funded from alternative sources

Five

Go green info centre - Pop up, walk in community information centre for residents to access information and see real world solutions to help them become more sustainable.  People who are confused, sceptical or don't know where to start can drop by for advice, resources, and to see sustainable solutions, products and services already other there that can help them become more sustainable.  Local sustainable businesses are invited to showcase and demonstrate their goods and services for free to reach local people and create clarity and confidence in makeing greener choices.  Where possible the centre will also be used for events, talks and conincide with other  climate and biodiversity campaigns subject to funding and staff/expert availability

E13: Community measures to reduce the cost of living, including through measures to improve energy efficiency, and combat fuel poverty and climate change.

£150,000 -£200,000

Number of people reached
Number of organisations receiving financial support other than grants
Number of organisations receiving grants
Number of organisations receiving non-financial support
Number of households receiving support
Number of households supported to take up energy efficiency measures

Greenhouse gas reductions
Increased take up of energy efficiency measures

Pilot due to go live, limited link to intervention.  If successful potential to be funded elsewhere

Six

Green Walls for Pride in place and improved mental well being -Enhancing Greenery in Town Centre - Green/Living Walls for Pride in place and improved mental well being. Numerous viable greening initiatives have been scoped in Maidstone Town Centre to improve green aesthetics, create biodiversity corridors, and mitigate the impacts of climate change. For example, two areas have been scoped as viable for large scale green or living walls, and the High Street area of Maidstone Town Centre has been accessed in terms of planting additional urban trees/hedge rows, Installing Large Tree Planters in pedestrianised areas to allow for continued access and flexibility.

E3: Creation of and improvements to local green spaces, community gardens, watercourses and embankments, along with incorporating natural features into wider public spaces.

£150,000 - £200,000

Increased footfall

Increased visitor numbers
 

Increased use of cycleways or paths

Jobs created

Improved perception of facilities/amenities

Increased users of facilities/amenities
 Improved perceived/experienced accessibility

Project can be funded from alternative sources

Seven

Health and Wellness Centre/ developing trinity foyer

TBC

Project can be funded from alternative sources

Eight

Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

147,200

Project rejected across Kent

Nine

Lighting the Town Centre creating a safe space and making the most of our lovely buildings.

E1: Funding for improvements to town centres and high streets, including better accessibility for disabled people, including capital spend and running costs.E5: Design and management of the built and landscaped environment to ‘design out crime’.

TBC

Jobs created
Jobs safeguarded

Increase footfall
Increased visitor numbers

Reduced vacancy rates
Greenhouse gas reductions
Improved perceived/experienced accessibility
Improved perception of facilities/amenities

In Suggested shortlist

Ten

Maidstone’s Green Team; a volunteer programme for people experiencing mental health issues who live in the town centre to undertake practical outdoor activity focused on nature and horticulture. The Team would be supported and led by a professional therapeutic horticulture specialist, providing training and support to build skills and confidence. The Team will maintain and improve green spaces in the town centre (council/ partners/ privately owned) contributing to improved place, sense of pride and belonging. This will be promoted and celebrated to improve wider public perception of new residents.
 

E35: Activities such as enrichment and volunteering to improve opportunities and promote wellbeing.

£60,000- £80,000

Number of people supported to participate in education

Number of volunteering opportunities supported

Number of people taking part in work experience programmes Increased number of people familiarised with employers’ expectations, including, standards of behaviour in the workplace

Fewer people facing structural barriers into employment and into skills provision

In Suggested shortlist

Eleven

To support and promote new and existing arts and culture events in Maidstone Town Centre to help establish the pride of place and create an image of what Maidstone is known for.  Through

• Advertisement of existing planned events for 2022/23
• Support new and existing activities in the Town Centre through the creation of a grant pot for new events
• Purchase of specialist equipment for events in order to be able to support new events and commissioned events
• Hire of Freelance event organiser to plan 3 events for 2023/24 including; Harvest Food Festival and Christmas Market.
• Fund the Light Up Festival in February 2023                                                                         * Working with faith partners to ensure cultural events for all communities year round

E6: Support for local arts, cultural, heritage and creative activities.

£300,000-£400,000

Jobs created
Jobs safeguarded
Increased footfall
Increased visitor numbers
Improved engagement numbers
Improved perception of facilities/amenities
Number of community-led arts, cultural, heritage and creative programmes as a result of support
Improved perception of events

In Suggested shortlist

Twelve

Multi-storey car park roof top Green Space/Park/Events Area (The Mall Car park Maidstone Town Centre)

E3: Creation of and improvements to local green spaces, community gardens, watercourses and embankments, along with incorporating natural features into wider public spaces.

£50,000-£150,000

Increased footfall

Increased visitor numbers

Increased use of cycleways or paths

Jobs created

Improved perception of facilities/amenities
 Increased users of facilities/amenities Improved perceived/experienced accessibility

Concerns regarding limited impact

Thir-teen

Mini Iggy Trail-  a quiet Invasion of Iguanodons! Purpose of this trail is to introduce residents /visitors to the town centre offer of parks , open spaces , town centre features, history with a unique fun, tiny sculptural trail of ‘Iggies’. The trail can be promoted from Maidstone’s ‘Mother Iggy’ at Maidstone East – promotional material available through the Museum and online.  Each park would have a unique resin-bronze mini Iggy discretely placed at each location and definitely not placed in full view ie. Create an element of discovery but the character of the area is retained to the general public. Suggested size 30-35cm tall.Project lends itself to social media posts photos, collecting a full set , education pack. It is accessible , free and inclusive and can be used at the simplest level by small children yet also provide a means to engage with adults  Each Iggy can have it’s own tale to tell about the area , it’s history , or provide a  creative writing platform . They can be utilised for seasonal events too.

E3: Creation of and improvements to local green spaces, community gardens, watercourses and embankments, along with incorporating natural features into wider public spaces.

£60,000

Increased footfall
Increased visitor numbers
Increased use of cycleways or paths
Jobs created
Improved perception of facilities/amenities
Increased users of facilities/amenities
Improved perceived/experienced accessibility

In Suggested shortlist

Four-teen

The One You Kent Service is a health improvement service aiming to help adults across the county avoid future diseases caused by modern day life. One You’ aims to encourage adults to take control of their health to enjoy significant benefits in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. Everyday habits and behaviours, such as eating too much unhealthy food, drinking more than is recommended, continuing to smoke and not being active enough, are responsible for around 40% of all deaths in England.
Healthy changes start with little changes. Whether you want to lose weight, get active, quit smoking, or just feel better about life One You Kent is here to support YOU.

The Interactive Health Kiosk is an invaluable tool to check the health of your workforce, community, organisation or individual. The Health Kiosk is portable, quick, easy to use and delivers immediate confidential results. Taking a Health MOT can take from as little as 8 minutes enabling users to self-test key indicators of their general health and wellbeing and walk away with an anonymous printout of their results with a comparison to medical accepted standards. The Interactive Health Kiosk is effective as an early warning system for potential health problems such as high blood pressure.

The Health MOT Roadshow is a mobile unit designed to deliver health MOTs to individuals. Targeting areas of health inequality, the Roadshow enables members of the community to have one-to-one sessions with trained staff and use of Wellbeing People’s Interactive Health Kiosk.

The Recalibrate Wellbeing® Programme is an online coach-led course that promotes behavioural change.  This 12-week wellbeing programme focuses on 4 key elements that bring about transformational and sustainable results: Mindset, Nutrition, Movement & Lifestyle

E15: Investment and support for digital infrastructure for local community facilities.

TBC

Greater engagement as a result of support
 Improved perception of facility/infrastructure project

Project funded from elsewhere

Fifteen

Promoting the Town Centre to Increase Pride in the Borough - Create and Establish a Brand for Maidstone Town Centre–so that residents, businesses and visitors identify with what Maidstone stands for. To do this we will commission an external expert agency to create a brand and communications strategy e.g. Love Ashford and Love where you live. This will include engagement and reach on social media.

Improve and Increase our digital presence
• Temporarily increase expertise on digital reach – either commission or hire expertise to improve our digital presence and maximise brand impact. It is vital now more than ever to keep the innovative communication going through social media platforms and take advantage of local marketing campaigns to build brand awareness and reach a wider audience both locally and from new visitors to their high street.
• A Digital High Street – create a dedicated website for Maidstone Town Centre to include places to stay, things to do, shopping, food and drink, latest events, venue hire, travel and parking.
Example - first one launched in Ashford (www.loveashford.com)  promotes everything that is happening in the town centre. This type of website that could be created include Canterbury / Herne Bay – https://www.canterbury.co.uk/homepage/48/buy_in_the_bay

Borough Insight - a dedicated edition of the magazine focusing on shopping, food and drink, events, venue hire, travel and parking in the Town Centre. One edition annually
Creating inward investment brochures – Maidstone a premiere town to get people to come in to invest
Promotional Video created– create positive images of Maidstone that can be used online– for leisure, business, communities, homes, shops, restaurants, parks and heritage.  There are a huge number of activities coming up in July 2022 that would showcase the town centre – needs to be captured so it can be used in future years as well as capturing future events so a video that can be added too and clipped as needed depending on promotion purpose.

E8: Funding for the development and promotion of wider campaigns which encourage people to visit and explore the local area. E17: Funding for the development and promotion (both trade and consumer) of the visitor economy, such as local attractions, trails, tours and tourism products more generally.

£150,000

Increased footfall

Increased visitor numbers

Increased number of web searches for a place

Reduced vacancy rates

In Suggested shortlist

Sixteen

Royal British Legion Industries, delivery of the Building Better Opportunities Projects

TBC

Insufficient information supplied – appears out of area

Seven-teen

Targeted financial inclusion projects/targeted community outreach - Targeted project work focused on an identified area of concern – for example looking at financial uptake in certain groups, like pensioners/or families struggling with fuel/food poverty, as well as projects where it is the actual benefit that we are trying to promote/increase, like Council Tax Support or Free School Meals(FSM)/Healthy Start Vouchers.  With this sort of project you can also concentrate on certain areas within the borough, that we know struggle with deprivation, like Parkwood/Shepway.
It would be a great opportunity to work collaboratively with other agencies, NHS/Housing Associations/DWP/Local Schools/Charities and Local Communities.  The dream project if we had resources would be to complete a project where we could pool the data held with our partners, concentrate on a specific area – for example Council Tax Support Take UP, and each resident that we are in contact with is provided with a holistic review of their needs.  So not only are we getting Council Tax Support uptake, but if there is a need we refer for any additional benefits, complete applications for FSM, refer for digital uptake and any other support.

E13: Community measures to reduce the cost of living, including through measures to improve energy efficiency, and combat fuel poverty and climate change.

TBC

Number of people reached

Number of organisations receiving financial support other than grants

Number of organisations receiving grants

Number of organisations receiving non-financial support
 Number of households receiving support

Number of households supported to take up energy efficiency measures

Greenhouse gas reductions

Increased take up of energy efficiency measures

Project can be achieved through alternative means

Eigh-teen

Young Person GREENSKILLS volunteer Programme Work with our project partners at Medway Valley Countryside Partnership to create a supported environmental volunteering and learning programme specifically targeted towards 16-20 years olds .  There is an appetite amongst this cohort of young people to want to take action for their environment and for biodiversity and other drivers such as Duke of Edinburgh Awards and National Citizen Service create a desire to seek out suitable long term volunteering opportunities.

Session would run 40 weeks of the year in sync with academic year – 9.30- 12.30 every Saturday at a location listed above or close environs facilitated by experienced staff from MVCP who would provide tools, gloves , leadership, insurance and risk management.  Tasks would range from litter removal, habitat creation and management, making and installing nest boxes, environmental art, planting trees and gardening.

Engagement with young people to create tangible positive outcomes in the townscape, builds self-esteem, builds connections   and pride in one’s home town and a greater understanding of how to be an active citizen for the ‘now’ and into the future.

E9: Funding for impactful volunteering and/or social action projects to develop social and human capital in local places.

£22,000

Improved engagement numbers

Volunteering numbers as a result of support

In Suggested shortlist