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As part of our ongoing place-based engagement, in April, Healthwatch Kent spoke to 44 residents living in Maidstone 88% of whom mentioned how their local environment affected their health and wellbeing. This included issues around green spaces, litter, general cleanliness and building development.
More specifically there were 16 mentions of litter and cleanliness from people overall. The key issues highlighted were fly tipping, dog waste, and general cleanliness of the residential areas.
“There's a lot of litter on Pitt Road. Its a road through a woodland with lovely flowers and its full of litter. Beautiful area but its just full of litter”.
“The estate used to have a bad reputation. We're trying to turn it around but now its just an eyesore because of the dumping... It's soul destroying for us that are trying to keep it clean”.
“The other issue is people tipping rubbish in the streets and fields. I find it stressful because it is so noisy too... it affects my sleep”.
National context
As part of the government’s waste crime action plan, new legislation, coming into force this summer (2026) will increase the maximum fine for fly-tipping waste to £5,000 – a 400% uplift from the previous level of £1,000. The top fine for littering on streets will also be increased to £750 – up 50% (YouGov UK).
It’s hoped that the increased fines will “act as a stronger deterrent and help reduce cases of littering and fly-tipping. Local authorities will be able to hand down harsher penalties, reflecting the real harm that waste criminals cause to the communities and environment” (YouGov UK).
Deprivation
Research from Keep Britian Tidy also found that in the most deprived communities, 77% of people say they notice litter in their area every day, a figure that drops to 63% in the least deprived areas. Again, this shows that, while litter is a problem for every community, those living in the most deprived areas are impacted by litter the most.
Similarly in qualitative research by Holmes and Perzel 2024, “nearly all the participants were keen to point out that the worst areas in their boroughs for fly-tipping were those which were most deprived. Households which may not have the means to pay for bulky waste disposal or additionally may not have access to transport to move excess waste to local recycling facilities, therefore resulting in more pressure to fly-tip”.
As well as the physical and biological hazards that littering has there are wider impacts too. Research has found that well maintained and clean communities experience lower levels of crime. This is linked to ‘broken window theory’, which suggests that environments that are run down or appear not to be well maintained promote crime due to a perceived lack of social control. In Maidstone, alongside comments on the environment, 36% of residents also raised concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour.
Reaching into communities
Engaging with people in granular neighbourhoods is important to being able to understand specific issues and design solutions to those issues. Within our engagement we heard about steps being taken to try and improve the situation but these initiatives do not appear to be long term).
"Fly tipping and rubbish is a real issue on the estate (Parkwood Estate). There used to be a free lorry for big stuff (rubbish) around the estate. You could take stuff to it. Since that stopped, people are dumping it everywhere. They aren't encouraging people because they can't afford to drive or get a skip."
Virtually every conversation (almost 9 in 10) brought up views on the local environment, illustrating its impact on health and wellbeing for Maidstone residents.
“I think we need more green spaces. Just somewhere nicer for people to sit with their families. It would make people living in Maidstone much happier and it would improve mental health”.
“The high street is dirty and it is terrible for the community. I think it just makes everyone feel so depressed”.
With wider research recognising the importance of the environment on health and wellbeing, and the ongoing work to make areas of Kent a Marmot place, lived experience is key for considering the impact of the local environment, and identifying ways to improve health and prevent inequalities.
Bias and limitations
Residents we spoke to were those who were available and willing to speak to us at the time and location of each engagement event. Therefore, the sample is not representative of the Maidstone population. These findings should be interpreted as indicative trends rather than conclusive evidence.
