Deputy mayor

Councillor Martin Cox, Deputy Mayor of Maidstone 2023-2024

Martin was born ‘just down the road’ in Pembury hospital in 1966. From day one the council and mayoralty had been all around him. His grandfather, Percy Barden was Mayor from 1966-67 and his late father, Paul Cox, was a Councillor during the 60s. His father attended the election count in 2010 when Martin was elected, it was a very special time to share and to be proud of.

During the following years Councillor Cox was part of the Liberal Democrat Group and has been on different committees, including, planning, heritage culture and leisure, audit governance and standards, and policy and resources to name but a few.

From 2015, he became Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group to Councillor Fran Wilson. This was a very good apprenticeship to have prior to him becoming Leader of the Council in 2018; a post he held until 2021. This period of history saw our borough, indeed our county and country, go through very tough times of COVID-19. We saw the sad loss of life, residents, close friends and colleagues.

Martin is now an independent councillor and is currently sitting in East Ward where he has lived, worked and brought up his two children, Amelia and Benjamin. Their schooling was at East Borough Primary School and then Invicta Girls Grammar and Valley Park. During this time, he had an active role on PTA and helped raise much-needed funds, he even tried his hand at security at school discos.

Other ways in which he has served the community at large has been through service organisations of Rotary International and Round Table for the past 30 years. He very much enjoyed his time as Chairman of the Maidstone River Festival and organiser of one of the special sections of the journey of the Olympic torch through the county town on the river Medway. He now finds himself President of the Chiboozu Community trust in Zambia, and closer to home, Chairman of the Vinters Valley Nature Reserve Trust in Maidstone.

Martin has said that it will be an honour, and a true lifelong ambition for him, to carry out the role of deputy mayor this year.