Kentish Express Ashford & District
‘Overbearing’ plan to build 14 flats is rejected
Plans for a ‘bulky’ apartment building in the town centre have been rejected by councillors.
Ashford Borough Council planning committee meeting last Wednesday saw members follow recommendations to reject plans for the site at 23 Tufton Street, which would have involved demolition of the existing building and the construction of 14 apartments and an office unit.
The former Ashford Christian Fellowship building, which is close to the listed St Mary the Virgin Prish Church, has been empty since July 2013 when the group moved to the Centrepiece Church in Bank Street.
LBSH (Ashford) Ltd submitted the plans in November last year, which was met with opposition from residents living around the site.
Simon Harris, from the applicant LBSH (Ashford) Ltd, said at the meeting: “The feedback received from the planning officers has been carefully considered.”
The council noted that the company was provided with the opportunity to submit amendments and address issues, but only made slight alterations to the existing plans and did not take into account issues which needed to be addressed.
Cllr Bernard Heyes commented that the plans were “one of the worst applications [he has] seen for the town centre for quite some time.”
LBSH (Ashford) had also not entered into talks for Section 106 contributions to fund facilities such as libraries, sports pitches, children’s playgrounds and other services.
The plans brought forward were consequently deemed too bulky and overbearing for the historic town centre site, would be harmful to the setting of the nearby listed buildings in the Church Yard Passage and neither enhanced nor preserved the character of the area.