News

Illuminites Ashford

14 November 2019 0 Comments

Ashford’s Winter Forest

Friday 6th December From 3pm-8pm
Saturday 7th December From 12pm-8pm
Ashford Town Centre

Come and experience Ashford’s enchanting Winter Forest—a trail of illuminated trees around the town centre. The trees are Ashford-themed, showcasing our rich history, famous landmarks, and illustrious residents for a striking installation that evokes a wintery woodland walk.

On display for two nights only, catch it while you can!

Glow International

Friday 6th & Saturday 7th December
4.30pm, 5.30pm And 6.30pm
International House
Dover Place • TN23 1HU

A 5-minute digital mapping projection on the side of International House, celebrating Ashford’s rich heritage and history with a festive twist. Watch in wonder as the building transforms before your eyes, falling away and reappearing in a kaleidoscope of imagery.

Coachworks will have food and drink, and a small market of local traders.

Carnival of the Baubles

14th December
5.30pm
Elwick Place, Bank Street and the Lower High Street

Starting at Elwick Place, this beautiful procession of giant illuminated baubles will make its way up Bank Street to the Lower High Street. Featuring processional bands, live dance and a giant mechanical puppet, this exciting winter carnival is not to be missed!

Keep your eyes peeled for the illuminated baubles as they pop up in shop windows in the weeks leading up to the event!


Events, News

KCC Budget

12 November 2019 0 Comments

Kent County Council (KCC) provides a huge range of essential services to the people of Kent, spending over £1.5 billion each year. The government’s settlement for next year assumes modest increases in Council Tax together with some additional grants. This will mean KCC have additional funding, however, these increases are still likely to be insufficient to fully fund the rising costs of council services.

There are some big decisions ahead and KCC would value your views before setting next year’s council budget (April 2020 to March 2021).

Give us your views on the 2020-21 budget

You can read more below about council services and spending.

(more…)

Consultation, Finance, Kent County Council, News

J10A East facing sliproad opening

30 October 2019 0 Comments

Click to enlarge

You may have heard recently that there have been some changes to our plan for opening the new junction 10a we are building on the M20 near Ashford, and I wanted to write to you to tell you what our plans are and what they mean for you.

The main thing that has changed is that we are fast-tracking work to have the new east facingslip roads at the new junction and the new A2070 link road open in time for 31 October. This will mean that drivers will be able to use the new coastbound entry and London-bound exit slip roads, and the new A2070 link road from this Thursday 31 October 2019.

Drivers will be able to access the M20 travelling eastbound using the new A2070 link road and M20 J10a. Drivers travelling westbound will also be able to exit the M20 at the new junction 10a and travel towards Ashford using the A2070 link road. Having these new links available for traffic is significant good news that will benefit thousands of drivers every day and improve access to and from Ashford. We accelerated this work to help
lorries move smoothly to and from Ashford Truck stop when the UK was expecting to leave the European Union on 31 October.

Opening these new links will also allow us to move on to the next stage of finishing the improvements. From early November the coast-bound slip road onto the M20 at junction 10 and the London-bound exit slip road will be permanently closed, allowing us to complete construction on the new west facing slip roads at junction 10a.

The A20 will remain on its current temporary alignment for the time being and will be connected to the new junction 10a in phases. The A20 will be connected to the east side of junction 10a on Monday night 4 November and will be open in both directions. Drivers will be able to exit at the new junction 10a and travel towards Sellindge, and will also be able to travel from Sellindge and access junction 10a. The A20 will be connected to the west side of junction 10a, via a oneway system. During this period, there will be no access to the A20 from junction 10a traveling towards junction 10. Drivers seeking to travel to junction 10 from junction 10a, will be directed to use the A2070 link road instead. This temporary road layout is shown in the diagram above.

The final changes should be complete – and the new junction fully open to traffic – in spring 2020.

I hope you agree that this is an exciting time for Ashford, as we take the final steps to open this major road improvement to traffic. We hope this information is helpful and we apologise in advance for any inconvenience this work may cause.

If you have any questions please contact us by visiting our scheme webpage at www.highwaysengland.co.uk/M20J10a.

M20 junction 10a Project Manager




News, Planning and Development, Transport

Extended bin collection times

22 October 2019 0 Comments

  • Recycling bin
  • Waste and food bins

Due to potential disruptions over the next few months Ashford Borough Council are extending bin collection times from the beginning of November. Bins will need to be presented no later than 6am on the morning of collection, if it safe to do so you can leave your bin out the evening before.

Collections are also being extended to take place later in the day so if your bin is not collected at the usual time please leave it out and crews will get to you as soon as they are able. There is a possibility that food waste may be collected separately from your recycling and refuse bins so please leave your caddy out if it hasn’t been collected.

The Council thanks you in advance for your co-operation and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Ashford Borough Council, Environment, News

Amazon Scam Alert

7 October 2019 0 Comments

KCC Public Protection have received reports from Kent residents relating to the following Amazon scams:

Amazon Prime subscription scam

“An automated phone call to her landline advised Mrs Wallace that her Amazon Prime subscription was going to be renewed and if she did not want to renew, she should press one.” Read this BBC article on how a resident in Northern Ireland lost her savings to this scam
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49733823

Amazon ‘brushing’ scam

“At first glance, receiving packages you haven’t paid for might seem like a great problem to have. But it’s likely to be a new scam known as ‘brushing’.”
Read this article on Which? website explaining how this scam works
https://conversation.which.co.uk/money/amazon-prime-brushing-scam-explained/

PROTECT YOURSELF

Check the Amazon website to find out more and information on how to protect yourself from Amazon scams
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_492866_to_201489210?nodeId=201489210

Please warn family members, friends and neighbours.

Report it

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

Contact details

For advice and to report issues to KCC Trading Standards contact
Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06
Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
or https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue/

KCC Public Protection 07 October 2019 https://mailchi.mp/kent.gov.uk/amazon-scam-alert

Consumer, Crime, News

Powergen plots to be sold

5 October 2019 0 Comments

Layout of plots
Layout of Plots on Powergen site. Plots to be sold are those to East of Gasworks Lane

An application to Ashford Borough Council requesting the Council confirms that access works undertaken to Plots 1 and 2 of the Powergen site were undertaken lawfully to implement a start of the approved development of the site. The application has been submitted to confirm that the planning approval has not expired hence allowing the site to be sold with planning permission.

The application has been made Gerald Eve LLP on behalf of Victoria Road Developments Limited, which is in receivership.

ABC approved planning application 15/01671/AS giving detailed permission for 400 apartments on plots 1 and 2 and outline permission for 260 apartments and houses on plots 3,4 and 5 in November 2016. A condition attached to a later approval, 17/00018/AS, required the development of Plots 1 and 2 to be commenced within two years of the approval. The apartments were to be built to rent by Neighbour, a private rental company originating in Scandinavia.

The directors changed the name of the company owning the site, from Neighbour Ashford Limited to Victoria Road Developments, in 2018, perhaps indicating that they no longer wanted the Neighbour brand to be associated with the site. The company appointed receivers in August of this year at the behest of Lendinvest Security Trustees, who it is believed provided finance for the development.

Development of Plots 3,4 and 5 is being progressed by Quinn Estates for GRE Assets, a property company with headquarters in Oxford.

News, Planning and Development

Jemmett Road

5 October 2019 0 Comments

In 2015 South Ashford Community Forum raised the condition of Brookfield Road and Jemmett Road at one of it’s meetings. We were told “There are jetpatching works scheduled for Brookfield Road in coming weeks and Jemmett Road has been patched in recent months. The specific roads referred to are structurally sound and therefore do not require reconstruction as suggested.”

The County Councillor commented that Brookfield Road is the priority due to the sheer traffic volume which includes heavy vehicles. To ensure a more permanent solution the concrete slabs need to be taken out and new surface laid down. The patching work at Jemmett road is not to satisfactory standards.
We pointed out that when Ashford College move out of their site in Jemmett Road, the demolition and construction works on the site could potentially damage Jemmett Road.

At the time we photographed the defects in Jemmett Road.

As the works on the college site are now well advanced we have raised the issue again with the current County Councillor and carried out a further photographic survey. The photographs have been plotted on a Google Map which can be viewed at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MNtG_QOD6T7E_Huinyni6yierYk

  • Photographs taken in 2019 are shown by red markers
  • Those taken in 2015 are shown by blue markers
  • Green markers have similar photographs taken in 2019 and 2015

The photographs show a severe deterioration in the general condition of the road and that repairs undertaken in or before 2015 are themselves beginning to fail.

Kent County Council, News, SACF, Transport

Public Spaces Protection Orders

25 September 2019 0 Comments

ABC Crest

Ashford Borough Council

Opens: 24 September 2019
Closes: 15th November 2019

Introduction

Ashford Borough Council is consulting on the renewal of its Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO) in four areas of Ashford. This will allow the Council to continue to maintain a range of measures to address anti-social behaviour and help to improve community safety and the local environment in these areas.

The four areas have been in operation for the last three years having been identified as necessary by the council and police following reports and complaints received from local residents. Since their introduction the number of anti-social behaviour complaints has reduced. 

The areas covered are Ashford Churchyard Passage, the Coney Bear site (near Torrington Road, South Ashford), the Town Centre itself and Singleton Lake

(more…)

Ashford Borough Council, Consultation, Crime, News