Ashford on the right path

A lot has happened in Ashford over the last twenty years. Take a look back over the past two decades to see how the town has evolved from a humble market town to one of the fastest growing places in the UK.

1991 - Missing link in the M20 between Ashford to Maidstone opened and Ashford International Hotel opened

1992 – First house occupied at Park Farm

1993 – Chart Hills golf club, designed by Nick Faldo, opened

1994 – Channel Tunnel opened and Eurostar services begin and the first occupier at Orbital Park

1996 – Ashford International Station opened for Eurostar services and first phase of commercial development completed at Eureka Business Park

1997 – The £3.4m international athletics standard Julie Rose Stadium opened

1999 – New multiplex cinema opened at Eureka Leisure Park

2000 – BAA McArthur Glen designer village shopping centre opened

2002 – Ashford is designated a national growth area and the Ashford Youth Forum was created by the council

2003 – CTRL opened with journey times of 2 hours from Ashford to Paris and one of the biggest skate and BMX parks in the south east opened

2004 – Ashford introduces a localism approach to community planning in masterplanning how the town’s growth can be accommodated and a new indoor bowling centre build at Victoria Park opened

2005 – 200,000 sq ft County Square shopping extension under construction

2006 – £17m redevelopment of the Stour Leisure Centre begins

2007 – Hitachi rail dept to support High Speed 1 services opened, £200m Stanhope pfi signed with Chrysalis consortium, Courtside sports facility hub built, speculative 35,000 sq ft office development completed and let at Eureka Business Park, completion of £7m capacity improvement to J10 of the M20 and planning permission given for the redevelopment of the former Ashford Barracks on the town’s largest brownfield site

2008 – 200,000 sq ft County Square shopping centre extension opened including 90,000 sq ft Debenhams, pioneering ‘shared space’ scheme opened, the Core Strategy planning document is adopted and a £1.9m innovative sustainable community/environment centre opened at Singleton

2009 – High Speed 1 services begin reducing journey times to London to 37 minutes

2010 - £24m improvements to the town’s waste water treatment plant completed, a new water supply to enable growth provided by pipeline from Bewl Reservoir in East Sussex and Waitrose store opened widening the food retail offer in town

2011 – The £7.56m Ashford Gateway Plus opened, major improvements to M20 junction 9 with a breath-taking new pedestrian and cycle bridge completed, St Mary’s Church refurbishment completed, permission granted for new £25m K College, £7m 5,390sq m John Lewis at Home store given planning go ahead, £16.5m Victoria Way regeneration area opened up by completion of new through road and a new youth spaces and services created by the council for young people to hang out and access key services including Waterside in South Willesborough, the What Matters HOUSE in the Stour Centre and HANG 10 a street outreach team.

2012 and beyond - Plans for a thriving, sustainable new neighbourhood of up to 6,000 homes at Chilmington Green, development of office space at Ashford’s new business district, the creation of a new country park, water sports and recreation complex at Conningbrook Lakes and development of a 2.6 hectare site in the town centre comprising retail, leisure, residential and office space.