Our Man in Westminster

It is a good sign when conferences about the economic development of Ashford are repeated, because there is such demand to know what progress is being made. Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce and Wilkins Kennedy came together for another session on this subject last week, and the room was satisfyingly full.

Over recent weeks I have commented about the new Ashford College, so I want to take this opportunity to mention some of the other big projects which were discussed at the development seminar.

The Elwick Place project is a fascinating one because it has been so long in fruition.

It is on the site of the old market, which was demolished 20 years ago, so it is long overdue we make some use of this area.

Building of a new cinema complex has already started and it should be open in time for Christmas 2018.

There will also be a hotel and eight restaurants.

Altogether this will add up to £75 million of investment, part of a total investment of £519m in our town centre.

Another big project is the doubling in size of the Ashford Designer Outlet.

This will add 100,000 sq ft to the size of the outlet, with 35 new shops and restaurants.

Most importantly for the future of the whole town centre, it will expand towards the town, making it more likely that the shoppers who come to the outlet will also provide new customers for the smaller stores in the High Street and surrounding areas.

This expansion is due to open in 2019, so we can see that within the next two years we will have tangible results of many years of hard work behind the scenes, creating partnerships between the public and private sectors to benefit Ashford.