Hello Ashford Property Investors,

Boasting excellent transport links and infrastructure, Ashford is quickly becoming a great place to invest. A crucial consideration when deciding where to invest is assessing the future long-term potential for growth – this is something which is tangibly evident in Ashford!

A major positive indicator is the fact that the Ashford Local Plan to 2030 includes three significant developments making up the South of Ashford Garden Community (SAGC) and creating 7,250 brand new homes. One of the three developments (Chilmington Green) has been confirmed and two (Court Lodge and Kingsnorth Green) are at the proposal stage. This will lead to almost 6% increase in the total population of Ashford!

The community covers a significant geographical area, illustrated with the map below.

All About Chilmington Green

Outline planning permission for Chilmington Green was granted in early in 2017 and 40 homes have been completed so far. The scheme includes 5,750 quality homes, a district centre, community infrastructure and will create over 1,000 jobs over the 20 years it will take to fully build.

The site is being developed in four phases and the first residents moved in during 2020. A full download of the design code, outlining the high standard of building can be viewed here.

The development consists of 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom properties and prices range from £284k – £700k. The images below provide some helpful visual illustrations.

All About Court Lodge

A submission for outline planning permission for the Court Lodge development was submitted in December 2018 and a public consultation ended in March 2019. It is interesting that no final decision has been made on granting planning permission according to the planning portal!

This suggests that there have been several questions or concerns raised regarding the plans. It’s worth noting that points such as access and infrastructure raised 60% of the points at the public exhibition. The plans for Court Lodge include the following:

• Construction of up to 1000 new homes
• Local centre comprising retail uses (up to 450 sqm A1-A5)
• Flexible office space (up to 350 sqm B1)
• Community facilities including a primary school
• A combined community hall and site management suite (up to 650 sqm D1)

The plans illustrate how the scheme could look. I have included this below and will keep you informed of further developments as this passes through planning!

All About Kingsnorth Green

As with the Court Lodge development, it seems that planning permission is yet to be granted. A submission for outline planning permission was lodged in June 2015 and it went to committee in November 2018. Interestingly, a decision is yet to be made (over two years after the committee date!).

The scheme proposes:

• Up to 550 dwellings in a mix of size, type and tenure
• Provision of local recycling facilities
• Provision of areas of formal and informal open space

A review of the documents on the planning portal indicates that there is still a lot of activity going on beneath the surface, so hopefully we will see an outcome soon. There does, however, appear to have been much objection to the scheme so it will be interesting to see how it progresses!

As with the schemes at Court Lodge and Chilmington Green, the focus appears to be on green, open spaces and creating that ‘garden’ feeling.

I trust that you found this article helpful! I run tailored discovery sessions to provide property investors with all the tools they require to either make their first investment, move into a new area, review, or expand their portfolio.

Sessions last two hours, cost £147 and have proved extremely helpful to both novice and experienced investors alike. I also hand out a copy of my book the HMO Crash Guide (currently at 13,000 words). I’ve conducted around a dozen of these since I launched this service around this time last year. You can find out more and book a session here.

Hasan