Ashford

Ashford town, given ‘growth area’ status by central Government’s 2003 Sustainable Communities Plan, is expected to accommodate 31,000 additional homes by 2031. Clearly, this doubling of the town’s size will place immense pressure on infrastructure, resources and the natural environment.

CPRE Kent and its Ashford committee have very closely watched the evolving plans for the town’s growth, and contributed in detail to each stage of consultation. In November 2007 we published a 28-page report, Greater Ashford: A Vision in Peril? This report identified the many ways in which aspirations for Ashford’s future were not being translated into reality. In particular, the study showed how jobs growth in the town is falling far below the increase in housing. If this trend continues, Ashford could become little more than a dormitory town by the 2020s, serving London via the high-speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The report also raised concerns that the jobs which are being created in Ashford are mostly in the retail sector, and not the high-skill, high-value positions which the town needs to create a thriving economy.

The remainder of Ashford district contains some of Kent’s loveliest countryside, much of it well protected, although that is not always a bar to development proposals. Most notably, in 2005/6, Imperial College London tried to build hundreds of acres of housing on greenfield land around its Wye College campus, all of it in the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The proposed development was purportedly to raise money for a biofuels institute, turning the village into a ‘world-class’ scientific community. 

Although Imperial College had gained the support of both the county and district councils, the university gave up in the face of extremely strong local campaigning, from the Wye Future Group (assisted by CPRE Kent) and from a highly effective website run by two former journalists.

The Wye Community Farm

Following the collapse of Imperial's development plans for Wye, a local group formed and applied to rent the college land to run a community farm. While the bid was not successful, the Wye Community Farm (WCF) has maintained its determination to develop community agriculture around the village.

In January 2008 an agreement was reached with Natural England which gives the WCF grazing rights on some of the National Nature Reserve above Wye, including the iconic Devil's Kneading Trough. For more details, see the organisation's website.

Greater Ashford: A Vision in Peril? can be downloaded below and is available as a hard copy from our branch office. 

Attachments:

District Issues

• Wye Community Farm
• Ashford
• Tomorrow's Kent
• Operation Stack Lorry Park