The Ashford Times is an independent news and information site for the borough of Ashford in Kent. We report what the public record shows and keep the practical local pages accurate.
The borough
Ashford town holds around half the borough’s 143,000 residents, with Willesborough, Kennington, Kingsnorth and Singleton around it. Beyond the town the borough is rural and spread out: Charing, Hothfield, Bethersden, Wye and Aldington to the north and east, Hamstreet towards Romney Marsh, and Tenterden, Biddenden and Rolvenden in the Weald, which are a different sort of place altogether. One council covers all of it, and we cover all of it.
What we do
We read the paperwork nobody else has time for. Ashford Borough Council’s planning register and committee papers, licensing notices, police.uk crime data, HM Land Registry sold prices, Food Standards Agency hygiene ratings, Environment Agency flood warnings for the Great Stour and the East Stour, and company filings in The Gazette. Kent County Council runs roads, schools and social care, and we make clear which body a decision belongs to. Every fact links back to the original document.
Reorganisation, paused
Ashford Borough Council was due to be abolished in April 2028 and replaced by a new Mid Kent unitary authority covering this borough together with Folkestone and Hythe and Swale. Ministers paused that plan on 7 September 2026 and are reviewing it, with no date set for a decision, so no merger date currently applies. See Mid Kent Council paused, Ashford votes in May 2027. We will report whatever follows from the published documents and keep our reference pages pointing at whichever authority is responsible when you read them.
Tips and corrections
Email hello@ashfordtimes.co.uk. Tips about a planning row, a closure, an opening or an event are welcome and treated in confidence, and if we have a detail wrong we will correct it quickly and note the correction on the page.
The Ashford Times is part of the GOB Media Group. We are independent of the council and of everyone else we cover.