The council leader's own self-build, an HMO in a listed town centre building and 34 flats on Elwick Road go before Ashford's Planning Committee on Wednesday.

Ashford’s Planning Committee meets on Wednesday 19 August with six applications on its schedule, and an unusual thread running through them. Five of the six are before councillors not because of their size, but because of who is involved.

One is a joint application by the Leader of the Council. One is by a council employee. One is on a building the council owns. Two more were called in by ward councillors. Only the sixth, a set of amendments to a town centre flats scheme, is there for the ordinary reason of being a scheme the committee has handled before.

The meeting starts at 7pm in the Council Chamber at International House, Dover Place, the council’s own offices opposite Ashford International station. That building is also item six on the agenda. The full agenda and every officer report are on the council’s committee pages.

What is on the list

The six items, in agenda order, with the case officer’s recommendation and the reason each one is being decided by councillors rather than by officers:

  • PA/2026/0958, Swanton House and Kent Care House, Elwick Road: changes to an approved scheme of 34 apartments. At committee because the applicant is the chosen contractor for the original applicant, and the report says that continued involvement makes it appropriate to report the application “in the normal manner”. Recommended for permission.
  • PA/2026/1020, land north of The Bungalow, Green Lane, Challock: a self-build house and car barn. At committee because one of the joint applicants is the Leader of the Council. Recommended for permission.
  • PA/2026/0376, Merton House, Hambrook Lane, Chilham: first floor and single storey extensions. At committee at the request of ward councillor Geoff Meaden. Recommended for refusal.
  • PA/2025/1837, Geng House, 11 North Street, Ashford: office to eight-person HMO. At committee at the request of ward councillor Charles Suddards. Recommended for permission.
  • PA/2026/0845, 1 Hope Cottage, Canterbury Road, Brabourne: rear extension and part garage conversion. At committee because the applicant is a council employee. Recommended for permission.
  • PA/2026/1116, International House, Dover Place, Ashford: moving plant machinery from the ground floor to the roof. At committee because the building is owned by the council. Recommended for permission.
Table of the six applications before Ashford Planning Committee on 19 August 2026, showing the reference, location, proposal, why each is at committee and the officer recommendation
The six applications before Ashford Planning Committee on 19 August 2026, and the reason each is being decided by councillors.

The leader’s own application

The Challock application is made jointly by Mr and Mrs N Ovenden. The officer report states plainly why it is at committee: “one of the joint applicants is Noel Ovenden, who is the elected Member for Wye with Hinxhill Ward and Leader of the Council.”

The proposal is a one-and-a-half-storey self-build house with a detached car barn on about 1,100 square metres of a 2.93 hectare equestrian holding known as Green Lane Stables. The site sits outside Challock’s defined village confines and inside the Kent Downs National Landscape.

Officers recommend approval. The report gives “great weight” to conserving the National Landscape, but concludes the house would not cause material harm to its character. It also notes that the council cannot currently demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites.

Challock Parish Council supports the application, while raising a list of concerns about the village:

  • more than 100 dwellings built since 2015 without matching infrastructure
  • unreliable water and electricity supplies, with repeated interruptions and power cuts
  • no mains sewerage system in the village
  • limited public transport and heavy reliance on private cars
  • no safe walking route to village services, because the way runs alongside the A252 with no pavement

Five letters of support were received. The report records no objections from neighbouring or opposite occupiers.

An HMO in a listed building

Geng House at 11 North Street is a Grade II listed former office building in the Ashford Town Centre Conservation Area. The application seeks to turn it into a House in Multiple Occupation for eight people, plus the reinstatement of a bricked-up window at the rear.

It is at committee at the request of ward councillor Charles Suddards. Twenty-three neighbours were consulted and no letters of objection were received.

The council’s environmental protection team did raise a point. It asked for a noise assessment covering the effect of putting housing into an established commercial area, where licensed premises operate into the evening. That was to include extraction noise from the adjoining steakhouse. An acoustic report was submitted afterwards. The council’s conservation officer raised no objection to the window works.

The officer report notes that concentrations of HMOs have caused concern in parts of the borough, and that the problems in Ashford relate mainly to noise and parking. It concludes the scheme is acceptable, with two off-street parking spaces provided.

Thirty-four flats, slightly taller

The Elwick Road application is a section 73 application to vary the approved plans for two blocks of flats, both up to four storeys, on the site of the former Swanton House. Permission for 34 apartments was granted on 5 March 2026.

The changes come from an updated topographical survey and construction build-ups. Officers set out the effect:

  • Block 1: finished floor level up 0.95m, ridge up 0.30m, central flat roof up 0.33m, with the parapet facing Sunnyside Dental cut by 0.58m to offset the rise
  • Block 2: finished floor level up 0.15m, ridge up 0.15m, parapet up 0.25m

The cumulative height increase is about 1.25m for Block 1 and about 0.30m for Block 2. One comment was received from a neighbour, in support. The case officer’s view is that the amendments do not alter the fundamental nature of the approved development.

Approval is recommended, but conditional on an Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats Regulations showing no significant adverse effect on the Stodmarsh protected sites. That nutrient neutrality requirement also attaches to the North Street HMO.

Merton House in Chilham is the only refusal on the list. It was called in by ward councillor Geoff Meaden, and seven letters of objection were received.

Chilham Parish Council supports the plans, considering them sympathetic to the existing building. Officers disagree about one element. The sticking point is the proposed flat-roofed first floor extension above the swimming pool. In the case officer’s words it would be “a dominant and visually heavy addition which would fail to appear subordinate to, or integrate satisfactorily with, the host dwelling”.

The report finds no unacceptable harm to residential amenity, highway safety, archaeology, the Chilham Conservation Area or the Kent Downs. The recommendation to refuse rests on the design of that one extension.

What it means for you

The deadline to register to speak has already passed. The council’s scheme of public participation requires written notice by 3pm on the second working day before the meeting. For this meeting that was 3pm on Monday 17 August.

Registering gives you one of two things: three minutes at the meeting, or a written speech of up to 400 words read out on your behalf. Slots go first come, first served, with one speech for and one against each item.

If you want to follow one of these decisions, the meeting is a public one and you can attend at International House, Dover Place, Ashford TN23 1HU. For future meetings, the practical point is to register early: the cut-off is the Monday afternoon before a Wednesday meeting, and it moves to the preceding Friday when the Monday is a bank holiday. Democratic Services can be reached on 01233 330261 or at democraticservices@ashford.gov.uk.

Decisions taken on the night are not the end of the process. Both the Elwick Road and North Street schemes still need the Habitats Regulations work on Stodmarsh resolved before permission can be issued. A resolution to grant is not the same as a permission in hand.

For background on how applications are handled locally, see our page on Ashford planning applications. Our roadworks and travel page covers current closures if you are travelling into the town centre.

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