Maidstone West Station
Maidstone West Station is located on the Medway Valley Line situated on the west side of Maidstone close to the old market area at Lockmeadow making it ideal for transporting the produce of the nearby woodland and farms to markets in London and elsewhere, and to service the Naval Dock yard in Chatham.
The road entrance is located on the rising ground of Tonbridge Road. This station was opened for business on 25th September 1844 after a 15-year delay in receiving approval from the mayor and local businesses, that had been protective of the transport provided by the River Medway. A footbridge and new roofs were provided between 1897-1898.
What is Station Adoption?
Today, the adoption of Maidstone West Station by Maidstone CAN provides our group the opportunity to suggest and develop actions, improvements and enhancements to the station, and crucially it can be a base for our local climate action.
Station Adoption is not about the railway services; it is about the railway station and community living nearby and those who use the station.
The Community Rail Partnership established the concept of Station Adoption to give communities the opportunity of shaping their station to the own needs. Up and down the country communities have adopted their local station and provided enhancements to the facilities by using the railway assets. There are some wonderful examples of community and railway working together you can find them here: Community Rail Network
What is our Purpose?
The purpose of that Maidstone CAN (Climate Action Network), as outlined in our constitution, is that we are a community association set up to coordinate and manage events and activities in Maidstone that can help address climate and environment issues e.g. Maidstone Repair Cafe.
Under the umbrella of Maidstone CAN, the adoption of Maidstone West is to focus on the idea of wilding and wildlife friendly gardening to support a broader and healthier biodiversity and caring for the environment to improve the biodiversity through engagement with the local community. We see there is potential that Maidstone West could be our community hub offering a range of.
What are we Doing?
At present, the most obvious asset to develop is the Platform One Triangular Garden
adjacent to the footbridge steps. This garden area is reasonably good size and is filled with
plants that attract all types of pollinators. It has kept its wild look to provide a habitat for
pollinators and other creatures that make a diverse environment.
Platform One Wild Zone
In addition, Platform 1 is a larger than usual area, due to a double width platform. It is also a longer platform than required these days with a busy space at footbridge end.
Down at the far end of this platform there is a wild area; caused by the old track bed adjacent to the platform that has become naturally a wild area. This zone has an active wildlife population and in 2026 we intend to investigate it fully and develop its wildlife potential as far as possible.
Wildlife Friendly Gardening
Two further planters have been added on platform 1, and we plan to install 2 raised bed planters this spring, also to be located on platform 1.
‘Wildlife Friendly Gardening’ is the principle we follow, so we tend to ‘leave well enough alone’ by applying ‘minimal intervention’ and it is working! We continue to monitor the plants, insects, birds and mammals we see here, and we look forward a vibrant biodiverse, natural looking environment in the future.
We encourage the use of UK Native plants and those grown locally, as far as possible, as well as keeping the ‘weeds’ in place as natural source of food, and flowers.
What have we done?
Although we are not in a race, we have done quite a lot since last April 2025.
Southeastern in Bloom
Maidstone CAN benefitted from the Southeastern in Bloom event and received funding to dress a couple of existing planters found on the Platform One, creating a visual impact that has been noted by passengers. We want to extend this decorative floral presentation by way of heavy-duty planters placed on the platform at agreed positions.
New Bikes From Old
Friday 29 August 2025 15:00 Maidstone CAN transferred 29 cycles from Maidstone West Station to MADM Charity Shop in High Street, Maidstone. The cycles had been abandoned over several years and stored awaiting disposal. 19 cycles will be disposed of by MADM the remainder will be repaired or serviced by Alex Jibb the cycle repair specialist with Maidstone Repair Cafe.
Litterpicking and Water Testing
Maidstone CAN Litterpickers were Water Testing for you, too. On September 21st, Maidstone CAN Litterpick and Water Testing event 10:00 at Lockmeadow Market Hall, ME15 8TA. Many thanks to Steven, Nick, Karina, Clara, Jackson, Lottie, Enzo, Vincent and Antonio.
181 st Anniversary of Rail Service to Maidstone West Station
On the 25th of September Maidstone CAN presented a framed poster to Southeastern and KCRP commemorating this significant achievement. Representatives of the organisations and community attended a hand over of the poster, which will be hung for the information of railway users in the Ticket Office.
What about the Future?
We are not in a race; only time will tell if the plants we have grown will deposit their seeds and if pollinators arrive to do their job. There are good signs that the first few months of leaving it alone are looking encouraging for a positive outcome.
The comments received from travellers have been positive and we are grateful for the work undertaken by volunteers.
It is always a pleasure to receive good comments and suggestions from station users, and we will take the opportunity to engage with them more often this year to promote Maidstone CAN, its principles, actions and focus.
What about Joining Us?
Now you’ve read a bit about us what about joining us?
We believe strongly that our current environment and biodiversity challenge has reached the tipping point and we could do with some additional support all in all areas.
We are not looking for donations, although they are always welcome, but we recognise we need more help. So, if you are keen to plant bulbs and plants, or prune the shrubs, count butterflies, or if you can write stories, work with social media posts, or design reels, create interesting pages, please get in touch.