Ashford Borough Council
travel times in half with Ashford
taking just 37 minutes to London.
For those in charge of delivering
these plans, the blueprint for
success is simple – to make
it the best-placed town to work,
live and do business. The ‘Ashford
best placed…..’ brand reflects
the confidence of a town
which is optimistic about the
opportunities ahead.
The agency tasked with assisting
‘the growth town of Kent’ to
become a reality is Ashford’s
Future, a partnership between
Ashford Borough Council and
key government agencies and
others from the public and
private sector including Kent
County Council, SEEDA and
English Partnerships. ≥
Ashford. Best Placed
in Britain
In 2001 Ashford was identified as
the ‘growth town of Kent’ when the
Government included it as one of
four key growth areas in the South
East. The town is realising its
potential thanks to an ambitious
£650 million investment programme.
Ashford is on course to double in
population by 2031, creating 28,000
extra jobs and 31,000 new homes.
Ashford’s growth potential is built
on its strategic location, affordable
land prices, readily available
development opportunities, skilled
workforce and improving rail links -
the introduction of the new 140mph
high-speed link in 2009 will slash
Kent’s market town of Ashford is entering an exciting and
challenging new era. Ashford is seeing dramatic changes
and is now the fastest growing town between London and
the Continent.
Ashford has excellent rail links
The remodelled Stour Leisure Centre
Aerial view over Ashford
district
focus
49
district
focus 50
The radical scheme will open up
the town centre to make it more
attractive to residents, businesses
and visitors. The project will be a
major contribution to the town’s
revitalisation and will unlock other
commercial development in the area.
Ashford. Best Placed
for Business
Ashford has 16 established
business parks and is home to
5,000 businesses, from microcompanies
right through to major
global corporations like Givaudan,
Coty Inc. and Hitachi, the Japanese
manufacturer of the new highspeed
domestic trains.
Ashford offers 2 million sq ft of
planned commercial space and
there are available sites on
expanding business parks. Office
rents are around 70 percent lower
than in London and 40 percent less
than in competitor towns in the
South East.
From corporate headquarters to
start-up premises, Ashford offers
a range of workspace for all types
of business.
Ashford. Best Placed
for Connections
Ashford’s location is critical to
its success as Abigail Raymond,
acting director for Ashford’s
Future explains: “We have
excellent road, rail, air and sea
links providing businesses with easy
access to 360 million consumers
across Europe.
“With a phased multi-million
pound investment in transport
infrastructure and the introduction
of a new high speed rail link in
2009 which will cut travel times
to London in half, connections
are set to get even better.”
Ashford is home to one of Europe’s
most ambitious urban renewal
schemes. Following the successful
conversion to two-way traffic flow,
work is progressing on a major
‘shared space’ project to transform
the 1970s former car-dominated
ring road into a series of
picturesque streets in which drivers,
cyclists and pedestrians can make
better use of the space available to
them all.
Connections are set
to get even better
Eureka Park
Office space to suit all businesses
50
≥ Ashford Borough Council continued...
Ashford is leading the way when it
comes to studying the environmental
impact of its growth plans, launching
an Ecological Footprint study to
ensure sustainability.
Ashford. Best Placed
for Living
One of the most attractive aspects of
Ashford is the quality of life. Ashford
is a thriving town, where people
enjoy the best that life has to offer.
A multi-million pound investment
scheme is rapidly creating a town
centre that will combine modern
shopping malls and pedestrianised
streets with first-class leisure
facilities and popular cultural
attractions that complement
Ashford’s existing heritage.
Beyond the town centre, Ashford
has a wealth of natural heritage
and woodland areas waiting to be
explored. It offers everything from
charming villages to the protected
Romney Marsh which stretches as
far as the coast.
With ready access to rural
countryside; and with Paris just two
hours away, Ashford is the natural
choice to live life to the full.
Contact: Tel: 01233 330812
Email:
investment@ashfordbestplaced.co.uk
www.ashfordbestplaced.co.uk
Ashford is characterised by a stable,
skilled workforce with an historic
level of low unemployment, and
is poised to create thousands of
new jobs.
The planned growth of Ashford will
greatly expand the labour market
potential. This expansion will be
coupled with greatly enhanced
opportunities for skill development
with the establishment of the
Ashford Learning Campus.
A number of major initiatives are
already well underway in Ashford,
covering everything from work,
home, travel and education to
leisure, retail and the environment.
Last year alone saw the opening of
the multi-million pound remodelled
Stour Leisure Centre; completion of
£7 million improvements to Junction
10 of the M20, and completion of
the first 50,000 sq ft of 1.25million
sq ft of development at Eureka
Business Park.
Other key aspects of Ashford’s
investment programme include
a £65m extension of County
Square Shopping Centre which
opened in spring 2008; a multimillion
Ashford Learning Campus;
the development of large scale
residential developments and
a £24m investment to improve
water supplies.
County Square Shopping Centre extension
district
focus
51
district
focus 52
Picture courtesy of Eurostar