Decision expected on plans for final parts of the jigsaw

Councillors are set to approve the final piece in the jigsaw for regenerating a former builders merchant’s site into a new hotel and flats.

Plans for the new 120-bedroom hotel put forward by Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners were left off the agenda of Ashford Borough Council’s planning committee when it met last month.

The hotel will instead be considered alongside a plan by Carrington Group, which wants to build two blocks of flats on the former Travis Perkins site in Victoria Crescent, off Victoria Road in South Ashford.

Some residents have objected to the Carrington plans, which include a block of 28 one and two-bedroom flats on the site of a former warehouse, and 31 one and two-bedroom flats across the road.

They say that Carrington’s design is “ugly, bland, rigid and lacks imagination” and say the five-storey buildings are too large in scale.

They also fear the impact of dust from demolition.

Meanwhile South Ashford Community Forum has expressed concerns about the amount of parking provided at the sites, and the impact on the traffic in the area.

But council planning officer Roland Mills has recommended that the committee approves the three plans when it meets next week.

In his report, he states that the Carrington plans “involve the redevelopment of a brownfield site” as part of the “Southern Expansion Quarter”.

He wrote: “The town centre area Artist’s impressions of the new hotel, left, and one of the block of flats action plan identifies that the urban scale and urban form would be appropriate for new development and the proposals respond to that objective.”

If members of the planning committee approve the three applications, it would see the transformation of 14 acres of land in Victoria Road from the former gasworks site to the junction with Beaver Road.

The council approved plans for 600 new apartments at the western end of Victoria Road in June, which formed part of a £45 million property sale to Saudi-backed GRE Assets in August.

The flats could include a new public square, cafes, and a bridge into Victoria Park, and the first residents could be living there within two years.

Then last month the council approved plans for 216 apartments, three shops, a Curious Brew visitor centre and a new Aldi supermarket at the eastern end of Victoria Road.

The planning committee will meet to discuss the plans at 7pm on Wednesday at the Civic Centre in Tannery Lane.

What do you think? Write to Kentish Express, 34-36 North Street, Ashford TN24 8JR or email kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk

The Victoria Road junction in Ashford, above, and how the area could look, below, after development