Kentish Express Ashford & District
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■ New plans emerge for 20 flats and 19 new houses on wasteland next to army reserve centre ■ Bosses hope to extend housing estate but site is not in council’s Local Plan to 2030
Developers are hoping to build 39 homes next to the town’s army reserve centre - just a stone’s throw from one of Ashford’s busiest roundabouts.
The Persimmon Homes-led plan, submitted to the council last month, will see the homes built near Waitrose off Templer Way, extending the Repton Park estate.
Sited near the Drover’s roundabout, the project includes four two-bedroom houses, two threebed houses, 13 three-bedroom houses and 20 flats across three blocks.
Affordable housing will make up 12 of the residential units planned to be constructed on the brownfield site, and the only access road would be onto Sir Bernard Paget Avenue rather than the busier A28.
The 2.4-acre plot is part of the former Ashford Barracks site, which is now known as the Repton Park housing estate.
It has been cleared having formerly been used as a spoil site during the construction of other phases of the Repton Park development.
Some “challenges” have been identified by the developer, particularly regarding noise.
In the planning application, they state potential issues of “noise from traffic produced by Templer Way and Sir Bernard Paget Avenue” and “commercial noise from Waitrose car park, both through visitors and the running of the store”.
However the development will provide a pathway along the site’s southern border, connecting Templer Way with parkland and the existing homes to the west. The plans initially set out 35 apartments, but this was reduced to 20 to lower intensity and improve residents’ views.
The scheme is not in the Local Plan and the design and access statement submitted with the application heavily highlights that “the borough’s housing requirement includes a requirement for 1,000 ‘future unidentified windfalls’”, of which this new proposal would be one.
In the document, Persimmon Homes states: “With regard to the principle of development, the scheme will deliver a mix of private and affordable dwellings in a highly sustainable location, close to a range of shops and facilities, and making the best use of previously developed land. In addition the scheme will deliver a well-designed, high quality urban neighbourhood, meeting the council’s standards in terms of space, amenity, and sustainability.”
For more information on the application, or to submit a comment before the deadline on Sunday, search 20/00408/AS on the borough council planning portal.