“We’re focused on the practical aspects rather than petty politics”

What we asked Stuart Jeffery, Leader of Maidstone Borough Council

Stuart Jeffery is the leader of Maidstone Borough Council, having only been elected as a Green Party councillor in 2022. Steven met him at Craft Brewed in Maidstone to discuss the recent Lenham, Harrietsham and North Downs by-election, what he enjoys about being a council leader, and his support for new Green Party leader Zack Polanski.

Stuart Jeffrey

Which ward are you the councillor for?
Allington and Bridge.

Why that ward?
It’s where I live, have done for 13 years.

What is your official occupation?
Leader of the council. Yeah, I’m a politician. I don’t have any other income, well, I don’t have any other paid employment, and technically, I’m not even an employee, but I don’t have another job.

How long have you been the leader of Maidstone council now?
18 months.

How long have you been a councillor for?
Three and a half years. From being the sole Green on the council, we trebled the year after, and we trebled the year after again and became the biggest group on the council. It was a two-year rise from nothing to running the council.

Why did you want to be the leader of the council?
Because it’s the way you get things done. Ultimately, there are some straightforward, pragmatic things that we can do to make life better for people and to enhance nature within our borough. We had a set of good ideas that have evolved, developed and so forth over time, and we wanted to see them implemented, and the best way to implement your stuff is to be sitting at the top table, saying ‘I want to do X, get on with it, here’s the budget.’

Are you still the largest group?
No, I lost three councillors in the summer. We’re now the third largest group.

How are you still the Leader?
Because full council voted me in 18 months ago. Full council can vote me out, but they haven’t.

It’s not just Greens in your group, there are others?
There’s ten Greens, one independent. She is very green, she’s a good ally, she’s a wonderful friend.

Do you have the support of other parties in being leader?
Yes, the Lib Dems have been our coalition partner all the way through. We were bigger than them, they’re now slightly bigger than us. We are jointly focused on delivering our agreed programme, and they seem happy with the set-up we’ve got and are comfortable that they are equal partners in the delivery of it. We’re focused on the practical aspects rather than petty politics, which I’m really pleased about. We’ve got the support of Labour, who we engage with closely, and they help shape our programme each year. The Fant and Oakwood Independents are again engaged in shaping the work we do. We’ve got wider support than just the two parties that form the cabinet, and the maths doesn’t work for any other combination across the council. I think it feels like we’re stable, we’re strong, although we’re not the biggest group. We’ve got good support and good collaboration, most importantly.
I do meet with all group leaders, and obviously, the Conservatives and probably certainly Reform are not supportive, but the others are broadly supportive of our approach, and we make sure they get to input. We’ve just agreed a farmers’ market going into the town centre. It was an idea that we’ve been mulling over for some time. There was a Conservative motion. We liked it. It was a nice motion, and it gave us a bit of knowledge that there was cross-party support, so we’re doing it. Our social housing programme was started by the Conservatives. Fair play to them. Everyone, with the exception of Reform, because I haven’t spoken to them, but the rest of the council is absolutely supportive of it and that cross-party support is really important, so that feels like something massively tangible. We are building hundreds of social homes, for social rent, capped at housing benefit level, so they are truly affordable. They’re not the affordable moniker that the government has.

You mentioned you lost three people from your group. How did that happen?
There was a specific problem out in Lenham. We inherited a Local Plan that was passed two days before the Conservatives lost power. It put 5,000 houses in Lenham. We voted against it. When you have a Local Plan agreed, there is no way of unpicking it. The legal challenges failed. The national government are absolutely backing it. The only person who can overturn it is the Secretary of State. They have no interest. They want to build houses. The last thing they would do is overturn a Local Plan. The housing was going ahead, come what may. The best we could do was to limit the damage. Bring in enhanced policies that try to minimise the impacts.
I think the pressure on the three councillors was horrendous, pressure from their communities. There was a lot of misinformation coming out of both Lenham Parish Council and the Save Our Heaths campaign, to the point of blatant lies at times. That translated into both anger towards the councillors, who then resigned, and that lies and misinformation carried on after and into the election, which meant we struggled. We came second, where the narrative was that we were hated. We weren’t hated that much. I did probably a dozen hours of canvassing in Lenham, I spoke to hundreds of people. People understood what we were doing. I don’t think they liked the situation, but they understood that it was the best of a bad job.

Is there anything you wish you’d known about being council leader before you became council leader?
Bloody hell. Can I have an easier question? I don’t think so. I’ve spent my life in public service. I was a senior officer over in Medway, in the NHS, but I was very much part of the council as well. I spent a lot of time in politics, so no, probably not. I think the thing I wish I’d known is how much fun it is. It is the best job in the world that I’ve ever had.

What makes it fun?
I get to do real, practical stuff. I get to fund and deliver moderately small, multi-million-pound stuff sometimes, but moderately small changes that make a difference to people’s lives, and people start to recognise some of that stuff. Brenchley Gardens town centre park had an awful reputation 18 months ago. People hated it, people were avoiding it. We put a lot of effort into it this summer. Concerts throughout the summer, persuaded the police to enhance their presence, we’ve changed the planting and really put some focus on it. It’s got a Green Flag, it’s lovely. 18 months ago, there were a group of people that were just sitting there drinking, swearing and being very loud. This summer, it’s been full of families, some people sunbathing. It’s fundamentally different. People are coming to me and saying, ‘We should go through the Brenchley Gardens.’ Isn’t that nice? It’s changed. People have said about the town centre, we’ve done some planting. We’ve again given it more focus. People are saying it feels a bit better. It’s exciting to get there. The stuff we’ve done in the town centre has been great. Just putting some plants in the town centre. Moderately simple things like that make a huge difference. Getting Maidstone on the map. For the work we’ve been doing on the women’s trials, where they were murdered 400 years ago, people are talking about Maidstone and I love that.

When you consider that Maidstone is the county town, why do you think it has been left behind or hasn’t got the recognition?
I honestly don’t know. I like to think that the change in emphasis and focus that we’ve bought has made a difference. I can only guess that it wasn’t getting the focus in the past.

Does Maidstone have a tourist community?
Oh God, yeah. We’ve got the prettiest castle in the country. Leeds Castle is phenomenally gorgeous. It’s a huge attraction. We don’t have the fire festivals of Lewes. I’d love to do that. Wouldn’t that be great? We don’t have the Dickens events that go on in Rochester, but we’re starting to do a bit more of that. We’ve got our River Festival, which has become a great fun thing to do. We had Pride last year. We didn’t manage to do Pride this year, but Pride went down a storm. I wouldn’t have expected that in Maidstone. I marched along with 500 people through Week Street, and people were clapping and dancing and cheering to the sides, and I didn’t expect that. We don’t have that core theme yet, but those things will develop, and I’m hopeful. We’ve got a good arts scene, we’ve got a good music scene. I think they’ve got a way to go, but the seeds are there, and I think we can really start to build that culture, because I love the arts.

Do you have a working relationship with Maidstone’s MPs?
There’s three MPs covering the borough. They’ve each got about a third of the borough. Only one of them has Maidstone in their title. Helen Grant and I have known each other for 15 years. I stood against her a few times. We get on okay. Her aide is one of the borough councillors. We disagree a lot on policy, but she’s fine.
Katie Lam, I am disappointed in the recent stuff that’s come from her that feels divisive and not the message that we want in Maidstone. Katie covers the Weald, which is everything to the south of the borough. We are priding ourselves on being inclusive, welcoming. I made sure I got some photos put out in the press of me holding the Pride flag in Pride month in the town hall. We work with the Muslim community here, we’ve got a large Muslim community, we’ve got a large Polish community. I reach out to those diverse communities a lot and I think Maidstone benefits from that diversity. To hear one of our MPs calling for people who are not ‘culturally coherent,’ basically anyone who’s different, to be deported. Frankly, that’s not what I want to hear.
And Helen Wheatley, I don’t get on well with Helen. I’ll leave it there.

Do you have a working relationship with the leader of Kent County Council?
Oh, yes, we’re best friends.
This is a woman who stood up in full council and called me a terrorist.