Ashford planning: 979 homes a year, new plan due 2028

Ashford’s planning system is in an unusual position this summer. The borough spent 2025 consulting on a new Local Plan, and in 2026 it threw that work away and started again, not by choice but because the Government changed the rules underneath it. The plan that still legally applies dates from 2019. The plan that will replace it is not due to be adopted until March 2028. Here is what happened, what the housing numbers are, and when you can actually say something about it.

The Local Plan restarted in June

On 30 June 2026 Ashford Borough Council published a Notice of Intention to commence preparation of the Ashford Local Plan 2043, superseding all the work done on the previous Ashford Local Plan 2042 (Ashford Borough Council).

The reason is a change in national law. The Government introduced a new plan-making system in March 2026, intended to make Local Plans quicker and more consistent, which requires councils to complete a plan in about 30 months and follow a different statutory procedure. Government guidance does not allow authorities to carry work across from the old system into the new one, so Ashford had to restart (Ashford Borough Council).

Cllr Linda Harman, the council’s Portfolio Holder for Planning, Housing Delivery and Communications, said “Changes to the national plan-making system mean we must now follow a new statutory process”, and that previous feedback “will continue to help shape the new plan” (Ashford Borough Council). She told KentOnline the council “weren’t far enough along in the process to apply for examination by December” (KentOnline, 6 July 2026).

The council has been explicit that the evidence gathered for the old plan, and the themes raised in the 2025 consultation, remain background material for the new one. What has gone is the draft policies and the timetable, not the research.

The timetable, and when you can comment

The published timetable runs:

• September 2026: a three-week scoping consultation, asking residents, businesses and organisations how they want to be involved and what the new plan should cover.
• November 2026 to January 2027: consultation on the proposed content of the plan and the evidence behind it.
• May to July 2027: consultation on the proposed Local Plan itself.
• November 2027: submission for independent examination.
• March 2028: target adoption.

(Ashford Borough Council)

The September window is the nearest and the shortest. Three weeks is not long, and it is the stage that sets what the plan will and will not deal with, so if you want a subject on the table, that is when to say so.

The housing number

The draft that has now been stopped identified a housing requirement of 17,622 dwellings for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2042, which works out at 979 dwellings a year. That figure was not the council’s choice. It comes from the Government’s national “standard method”, which every local planning authority is required to use (draft Local Plan 2042, as reported by South Ashford Community Forum).

The draft’s proposed distribution of new allocations gives a clear picture of where the pressure was expected to fall, and there is no reason to think the geography changes much under the new plan:

Most of the 17,622 was never about new fields. The large majority is already committed: sites that have permission but are not yet built, plus an allowance for windfall sites coming forward unplanned. The genuinely new allocations are the numbers in that table. The new plan will recalculate its requirement under the standard method as it stands when the work is done, so treat 979 a year as the current baseline rather than a fixed target.

Chilmington Green: the scheme that is already here

The borough’s biggest live development is Chilmington Green, a 5,750-home garden town on the south west edge of Ashford, approved in 2014. About 400 homes are built and occupied, along with one primary and one secondary school. More than 5,000 homes, plus shops, healthcare and sports facilities, are still to come (KentOnline).

In spring 2026 the master developer ran into trouble. Administrators were appointed to Hodson Developments (Ashford) Ltd and four associated companies, reported on 31 March 2026, months after the company failed to escape around £50 million of agreed section 106 obligations. A planning inspector had rejected Hodson’s appeal in January 2026, which Kent County Council described as a win for both councils and the community (Kent County Council).

The practical consequence is infrastructure. The £30 million A28 Chart Road dualling between the Matalan and Tank roundabouts was an obligation triggered once 400 homes were occupied, and its funding is now in doubt, along with three planned primary schools and a range of community facilities. Ashford Borough Council’s position is that “We will continue to do all we can, alongside Kent County Council, to ensure these obligations are delivered, subject to the effects of the administration” (KentOnline).

The administration affects the master developer, not the whole site. Hodson Developments (CG THREE) Ltd, Barratt David Wilson and Jarvis Homes are separate and are unaffected, so building at Chilmington continues.

What it means for you: if you drive the A28 into Ashford, the dualling that was meant to relieve it is the single most exposed piece of infrastructure in the borough right now. We track the current position on the road network in Ashford roadworks and travel.

What it means for you

• A site near you being in a draft plan is not permission, but it is close to decisive. Once the principle of building somewhere is accepted in policy, a later application there is much harder to refuse. The plan stage is where to engage, not the application stage.
• The 2030 plan still governs decisions. The Ashford Local Plan 2030, adopted in February 2019, remains the development plan until the 2043 plan is adopted, and every application lodged between now and March 2028 is judged against it.
• Applications do not pause. You can view and comment on any live application through the council’s planning pages at any time (Ashford Borough Council).
• Watch for September. The scoping consultation is three weeks long and is the first and broadest chance to shape what the new plan covers.

We will update this page when the September consultation dates are confirmed.

Sources

• Ashford Borough Council: what is the emerging Local Plan for the 30 June 2026 Notice of Intention and the Local Plan 2043 plan period.
• Ashford Borough Council: changes to the Local Plan timetable and the launch of the Ashford Local Plan 2043 for the reason for the restart, the full timetable and the Cllr Linda Harman quotes.
• Ashford Borough Council: Regulation 18 consultation status confirming the Local Plan 2042 work has been stopped.
• Draft Ashford Local Plan 2042, summarised by South Ashford Community Forum for the 17,622 dwelling requirement, the 979 a year rate and the spatial distribution.
• KentOnline: council restarts plan for 17,000 homes, 6 July 2026 for the restart and the Chilmington Green context.
• KentOnline: Chilmington Green developer enters administration for the administration, the £50m obligations, the A28 dualling and the council’s statement.
• Kent County Council: Chilmington Green section 106B appeal dismissed for the inspector’s decision.
• Ashford Borough Council: planning and development for viewing and commenting on live applications.