The Borough of Ashford is a
local government district
The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...
with
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
status in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It borders five other Kent districts, as well as East Sussex to the south-west.
Ashford Borough Council Ashford may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Ashford, New South Wales
*Ashford, South Australia
* Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia
Ireland
*Ashford, County Wicklow
*Ashford Castle, County Galway
United Kingdom
* Ashford, Kent, a town
* ...
's main offices are in the town of
Ashford. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the then Borough of
Tenterden
Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is not ...
with Ashford
urban district
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
as well as the
Rural District
Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...
s of East Ashford, West Ashford and Tenterden. Covering 58,000 hectares, it is the largest district by area in Kent.
The Borough is divided into 39 civil parishes, centred on the villages as well as the historic town of
Tenterden
Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is not ...
.
From the 1960s onwards Ashford has experienced phases of rapid urban growth, creating new suburbs such as
Stanhope and, more recently,
Singleton
Singleton may refer to:
Sciences, technology Mathematics
* Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element
* Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing
* Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...
. Today's urban growth is partially shaped by the ''de facto'' corridors created by the
M20 motorway
The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long. Although not signposted in England, ...
,
the High Speed 1 line and several other rail lines which converge on the
town's railway station;
this has contributed to particular development pressure on, and the development of,
greenfield sites in and adjacent to the town, especially, but not exclusively, to the south and west—for example at
Sevington
Sevington is a historic village which has become a suburb of Ashford, Kent in England.
History
The geographically small village of Sevington is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ''Seivetone''. It appears as ''Se ...
.
Local government
Elections
There are 43 electoral wards in the Borough; 18 of those cover Ashford town, broadly defined. The
Conservative party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
has held control of the council for much of its history, apart from periods when no party had a majority, and has had a majority since the
2003 election. The council's make-up can change quickly because it is elected as a whole (not one-third at a time) every four years. After the
election in 2011 the council was made up as follows:
As of June 2016 there were 42
civil parishes
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...
within Ashford District, including Tenterden which is the only
town council
A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities.
Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions.
Republic of Ireland
Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...
.
Ashford being
unparished.
Population
Expansion and growth
In 1961, the populations of the districts which make up the present borough were: Ashford U.D. : 28,000, East Ashford R.D. : 10,610, West Ashford R.D. :10,734, and the Borough of Tenterden : 7,626 giving a total of 56,970. Forty years later the population had almost doubled: the 2001 census recorded a population of 102,661. Ashford Borough Council predicts that the population will reach 141,100 by the year 2021.
Th
2011 censusreported Ashford as having:
* 117,956 residents
* 47,787 households (an increase of just under 6,000 since 2001)
* 83% of residents describing their health as 'good' or 'very good'
* 13% of residents describing their health as 'fair'
* 16.8% of those over the age of 16 having no qualifications
* an unemployment rate of 2.6% of all economically active people aged 16–74 (an increase since 2001 of 0.2%)
Economy and Infrastructure
The area's economy, once strongly dominated by agriculture and associated activities such as brewing and food production as well as some quarrying of
ragstone
Rag-stone is a name given by some architectural writers to work done with stones that are quarried in thin pieces, such as Horsham Stone, sandstone, Yorkshire stone, and the slate stones, but this is more properly flag or slab work. Near London ...
and brick manufacture, evolved into a centre for
rail engineering in the 19th century, and is now primarily light industrial and commercial, with the notable exception of Hitachi's rail depot. The borough's local plan ("Local Plan to 2030") continues to plan for new housing in and around the town, such as the development at
Finberry
Finberry is a housing estate located in the south-east of Ashford, Kent in England. The population of the housing estate is included in the civil parish of Mersham. The nearest existing places to the housing estate are Sevington to the north, Wil ...
.
From the historic town centre, roads radiate out in the following directions: NW to
Charing
Charing is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, in south-east England. It includes the settlements of Charing Heath and Westwell Leacon. It is located at the foot of the North Downs and reaches up to the escarpment.
T ...
and
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
and SE to
Hythe
Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to:
Places Australia
* Hythe, Tasmania
Canada
*Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada
England
* T ...
and
Folkestone
Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...
(A20/M20 in each direction); south to
Hamstreet
Hamstreet is a village in Kent, in South East England.
The village is located 6 miles (10 km) south of Ashford on the A2070, the main road between Ashford and Hastings. The majority of the village is in the parish of Orlestone, named aft ...
,
Lydd
Lydd is a town and electoral ward in Kent, England, lying on Romney Marsh. It is one of the larger settlements on the marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Lydd reached the height of its prosperity during the 13th century, when it was a co ...
and
Romney Marsh
Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the ...
and then westwards to
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
(
A2070); SW to
Tenterden
Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is not ...
and NE to
Wye and
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
(
A28) and finally north to Ashford's historic port at
Faversham
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...
(
A251).
Historic buildings and landscape character
There are more than 400 listed buildings in the district. This includes 33 churches listed in the highest grading in the national listing system (Grade I) as well as many
oast house
An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process. They can be found in most hop-growing (and former hop-growing) areas and are often good examples of vernacular architecture. Many re ...
s and
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
s dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, along with some even earlier buildings such as the Black Horse at
Pluckley
Pluckley is a village and civil parish in the Ashford (borough), Ashford district of Kent, England. The civil parish includes the nucleated village, adjacent hamlet of Pluckley Thorne.
Geography
The landscape of the area itself is the edge of a ...
built in the 1470s as a dry-moated farmhouse by the Dering family (see also:
Little Chart
Little Chart is a village and civil parish, situated north-west of Ashford in Kent, South East England. The parish lies south of the M20 motorway.
Geography
Within the parish boundaries is the linear settlement village centre by the old water ...
).
Well-known examples of Grade I listed buildings include:
the Archbishop's palace at Charing,
Chilham Castle
Chilham Castle is a Jacobean manor house and keep in the village of Chilham, between Ashford and Canterbury in the county of Kent, England. The keep is of Norman origin and dates to 1174; the manor house was completed in 1616 for Sir Dudley Di ...
and
Godinton House
Godinton House (also known as Godinton House and Gardens or Godinton Park) is a stately home in the parish of Great Chart, owned by a non-profit-making trust. It is north-west of the centreof the town of Ashford, Kent, UK.
Description
Godi ...
, as well as more domestic examples such as the row of 17th century Flemish weavers' cottages which stretches the full length of the south side o
Biddenden High Street
See also the listings:
Grade I listed buildings in Ashford (borough)
There are over 9,000 Grade I listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotl ...
.
Beyond the town of
Ashford, most of the borough's land area is rural, with fields, woodland and fruit
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...
s. Much of the woodland is
coppiced
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...
. Changes in rural land use over the past century mirror those in the rest of the present County.
The north-east of the borough, including the villages of
Wye and
Chilham
Chilham is a mostly agricultural village and parish in the English county of Kent with a clustered settlement, Chilham village centre, in the northeast, and a smaller linear settlement, Shottenden. Well-preserved roads and mostly residential liste ...
, is within the
Kent Downs AONB
The Kent Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in Kent, England. They are the eastern half of the North Downs and stretch from the London/ Surrey borders to the White Cliffs of Dover, including a small section of the London Boroug ...
, whilst the south-west, including
Rolvenden
Rolvenden is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village is centred on the A28 Ashford to Hastings road, south-west of Tenterden.
The settlement of Rolvenden Layne, south of Rolvenden, is also part of th ...
and the
Isle of Oxney
Isle of Oxney is an area in Kent, England, close to the boundary with East Sussex.
Up to the 13th century, the island was part of the coastline bordering what is now the Romney Marsh. As that silted up, and until the later 17th century, the R ...
, is part of the
High Weald AONB. In addition to these national landscape areas, the borough has many smaller
Local Nature Reserves such as
Hothfield Common
Hothfield Common is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Ashford in Kent. It is also a Local Nature Reserve, and is part of the Hothfield Heathlands nature reserve owned by Ashford Borough Council and managed by Ken ...
.
References
External links
Ashford Borough Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashford, Borough of
Non-metropolitan districts of Kent
Boroughs in England