RegeneRation

The Victoria Way scheme was finally approved by Ashford Borough Council’s planning committee in the autumn.

It includes plans for more than 250 flats, a new Aldi supermarket, a 120-bedroom hotel and a £1.25 million brewery visitor centre to be opened by Chapel Down vineyard.

The £50 million scheme is set to be the final piece in the jigsaw for the development of Victoria Road, where 600 flats will also be built at the former gasworks near Victoria Park.

Developers say this massive development scheme will bring a £5 million boost to Ashford’s economy each year for 10 years.

Another important scheme for the council is the Commercial Quarter at Dover Place, near the International Station.

The five-storey office block being built by Quinn Estates has already attracted business attention and is being marketed as an alternative to expensive office space in London. It will include a rooftop garden, while the ground floor could become a restaurant or even a fine foods store, with rumours that Macknade of Faversham could be interested. Construction work is set to begin this year.

The Commercial Quarter has already seen the arrival of international firms such as Handelsbanken, which has opened a branch at International House.

Kent Wool Growers is seeking to move from its site in Tannery Lane to a new site near the proposed junction 10a. The move could also prompt Royal Mail to find a new sorting office which could lead to further development between Tannery Lane and Dover Place.

Left, plans for a new office block in Ashford have been put forward by Quinn Estates and George Wilson Holdings; right, the planned Curious Brewery

Above, the planned Aldi shop; below, how the new entrance to Victoria Road in Ashford could look, with the hotel on one side and Curious Brewery visitor centre on the other