Kentish Express Ashford & District
Building garden village ‘to create hundreds of jobs’
Scheme will boost economy, planners say
More than £100 million could be spent by customers every year in shops proposed for a controversial garden community near Ashford, it has been claimed.
Proposals for up to 5,000 homes just outside Lenham have been the subject of much discussion at Maidstone Borough Council (MBC), and campaigners opposed to the plan marched in protest earlier this month.
Fresh details of the scheme, which is being called Heathlands, have been published in documents submitted to MBC’s Call for Sites, where it asks landowners to identify possible plots for development.
In the literature, produced by planning consultants Barton Willmore, it outlines proposals for a host of different services and facilities as well as the homes.
This includes a four-hectare
“mixed-use district centre”, which would include employment, retail, community and other commercial uses as well as three smaller “local centres” to meet the day-to-day needs of those living there.
It claims the district centre would accommodate a full range of shops, services, homes and offices spread out along a tree-lined boulevard, and could be served by a new high-speed railway station and motorway junction. A secondary school, four primary schools and an extensive country park - to act as a “green buffer” to the development - are also all proposed.
Planning chiefs say construction of the homes alone would directly create 459 jobs, plus another 409 indirectly.
It is estimated that potential retail spending at Heathlands could be in the region of £114m per year, bringing in more employment opportunities, plus another £10m in council tax.
However, the Save Our Heath Lands group has voiced strong opposition to the scheme, arguing there would be a loss of green space, more local disruption and claims too many discussions have been held in secret.
MBC is acting as the master-developer for the project, which means it takes a controlling interest in the land, leads the design process, enables the required infrastructure and oversees the stewardship of the new community.