Some parish councils could disappear or have some of their areas redrawn in a move to bring better democracy to town centre residents.

Councillors at Maidstone council fear residents will face a “democratic deficit” once Labour’s plan to replace Kent’s 13 district councils and Kent County Council with just three unitary authorities comes into play.

The new combined authorities will each cover an area with more than 500,000 residents.

But most of Maidstone town centre is unparished, so as it stands, voters’ first elected representative would be a councillor on the new unitary authority - which members fear will be too big and too remote to take much concern on very localised issues.

Cllr Paul Harper (Fant and Oakwood Independent) said: “The unparished area of the borough will have literally no representation.”

The answer, put before the council’s democracy and general purposes committee last month, could be to create a new Maidstone Town Council.

Town councils have no greater powers than parish councils, other than the possibility of having their own mayor.

But instead of simply creating a town council to fill the gap that is not already covered by parish councils, the borough is looking at the possibility of a town council to cover the whole of the “Maidstone Urban Area” as defined in its Local Plan Review, adopted last year - a move that will “horrify parishioners”, according to one parish council chairman.

The urban area would include the borough council wards of Allington and Bridge, Barming Heath and Teston, Bearsted and Downswood, Boughton Monchelsea and Chart Sutton, Coxheath and Farleigh, Fant and Oakwood, Grove Green and Vinters Park, High Street, Leeds and Langley, Loose and Linton, Palace Wood, Park Wood and Mangravet, Penenden Heath, Ringlestone, Senacre, Shepway and Tovil.

The problem is there are already parish councils for Barming, Bearsted, Boughton Monchelsea, Chart Sutton, Coxheath, Downswood, East Farleigh, Langley, Leeds, Linton, Loose and Tovil.

And Grove Green is included in the area covered by Boxley Parish Council.

All those parishes would have to be abolished, or for some, such as Tovil and Boxley, that lie partly in the urban area and partly in the countryside, cut back, probably to an unsustainable level.

Cllr Anne Dawes (Ind) warned against altering the boundaries of existing parishes yet again. The last boundary review was carried out only last year.

She said: “The parishes have already been through a lot of boundary changes. They don’t want any more reviews.”

Ryan O’Connell, the council’s democratic and electoral services manager, who presented the proposals for a Community Governance Review to the committee, insisted that at this early stage nothing was set in stone.

There would be two stages of public consultation. The first would be an open-ended invitation to everyone for their suggestions. From those responses, the council would narrow down a preferred option which when then go out for consultation on that specific idea.

He said: “It could lead to the creation of a town council. It could lead to the expansion of some of the existing parishes. It could lead to no change at all.”

But he warned there was an urgency if the borough wanted to introduce any changes before it was itself abolished in a few years’ time.

Mr O’Connell was able to slay one fear.

Concerns had previously been raised that once the borough council was abolished Maidstone would lose its mayor, civic charter and such privileges as the ownership of the swans on the River Medway (a privilege only granted to Maidstone - everywhere else wild swans are owned by the King).

But Mr O’Connell explained there was a legal mechanism to put those rights into the hands of a Charter Trust so the town’s mayoralty could continue even if no Maidstone Town Council were created.

He proposed initially that a working group of five councillors - one from each political party - be set up to work out the terms of reference for the review and determine what form the first public consultation should take.

While not opposed to the concept of a town council, Cllr Claudine Russell (Con) was not happy with the exclusion of parish councils from the initial drafting process.

She said: “My worry is that we have parish councils that have really well-established identities (that are going to be affected by this.)

“I think we need to speak to KALC (the Kent Association of Local Councils) or the parish councils directly, and have a parish representative on the working group.”

Cllr Lottie Parfitt (Con) agreed. She said: “This does feel that this is something being put onto the parish councils, rather than something to which they have been invited.

“Perhaps we should include every parish council.”

However, that was not the decision taken by the committee, which stuck with the proposal of a borough-council-only steering group, by a vote of seven to two, with Cllrs Russell and Parfitt being the opposing votes.

Mr O’Connell reiterated that nothing was determined. “The result would all relate back to the community,” he said.

“It is even possible that the review could lead to the expansion of some parish councils.”

Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) said he had already spoken to Tovil Parish Council.

“Tovil doesn’t want the status quo,” he said. ”They want to expand and take on the Coombe Farm estate which is not currently in the parish.”

Outside of the meeting, KentOnline learned from one councillor that the suggestion to create a town council across the whole of the urban area was a bid to create an area large enough that it might viably take on the ownership of some of the borough’s key assets, such as Mote Park, Whatman Park, the Town Hall and museum after reorganisation.

Otherwise, their ownership would all transfer to the new unitary authority once the borough was abolished.

The unparished area of Maidstone currently has around 60,250 electors.

The urban area of Maidstone would be roughly double that number.

David Hall is the chairman of Bearsted Parish Council which would disappear if an urban area council were created.

He said: “Our parishioners will be horrified by that idea.

“Bearsted has a very strong community identity and the parish council is a part of that.

“I personally would be very, very strongly opposed to such an idea.

“We are small geographically but we have a very concentrated population of around 8,500 people who very much feel that we are a distinct village.”

However, Cllr Hall did concede that some good could come of another community governance review.

He said: “There are arguments to be made. Some parishes have a large area but a small number of houses and they find it difficult to support themselves.

“They might benefit from combining to former larger parish councils.”

Geraldine Brown is the chairman of Yalding Parish Council and also the chairman of the Maidstone branch of KALC - the body that represents almost all of the parish councils in the borough.

She said: “KALC has not yet discussed this as a body, but my personal reaction and that of several other parish chairmen that I have spoken to is that the starter for 10 is wrong.

“Instead of looking at an urban/rural split, the borough council should be looking at unparished/parished areas, with parts of the unparished area to be considered for parishing and any urban parishes who feel they’ve had enough (I hope there are none) could then opt into the town council.

“There may be some urban parishes who might welcome being swallowed up by a Town Council but most parishes have been around since 1894, have a proven worth as being close to their community and have a proven track record.

“I personally feel it is wrong to create a huge town council and to see long-established parish councils disappear.”

But she added: “KALC, however, I am sure will support each individual parish council in whatever they decide is best for their residents.”

One aspect that was not discussed is how a town council would be funded.

Those who live in a parished area pay an extra precept on their council tax for the privilege of having their own parish council.

Residents in the centre of Maidstone, who are currently without a parish or town council, pay no extra.