Future Government policy may be modelled on the way town centre crime is tackled in Maidstone.

Town centre manager Bill Moss was invited to the House of Commons to speak to MPs on the Conservative Party’s Retail Crime Commission, which was set up to develop party policy in the area of crime prevention,

The group included James Brokenshire, the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs .

Maidstone town centre management was chosen above all similar national organisations to give information on beating retail crime after MPs consulted the Association of Town Centre Management on who was performing best.

Mr Moss was joined by a representative from Cambridge Business Against Crime, which recently visited the County Town for ideas on how best to set up its own crime reduction scheme.

Maidstone’s crime reduction partnership includes a full time intelligence manager, a radio network for retailers and extensive partnership work with police, council and other organisations.

Mr Moss said: “Nationally Kent is seen as being one of the best in the field and within Kent, Maidstone is recognised as one of the leaders.

“It was an absolute thrill to be asked to speak and a huge reflection of the professionalism of the team in Maidstone.”

It is not the first time that Maidstone Town Centre Management has been recognised nationally for the way it works.

The town was the first in the South East to receive a Safer Shopping Award, and the first nationally to receive a Safer Socialising Award.

Mr Moss himself is also a former runner up in the Kent Businessperson of the Year award.

Not content to rest on its laurels, Maidstone Town Centre management is now pushing to extend its Maidsafe scheme across the rest of the borough. Under the scheme retailers link up with police, CCTV operators and each other via a series of radios.

Mr Moss said the scheme had been pushed into the surrounding urban areas and was planned to be launched in the surrounding rural areas.

He said: “Ideally I would like to see it covering the whole borough."