Kent Design Study Tour of the South of Ashford Garden Community

On 9^th June, Kent Design (a forum for good design practice in the built environment) along with Design South East organised a study tour of the South of Ashford Garden Community. Over 40 attendees from across Kent in the fields of urban planning, architecture and real estate took part. This included representation from local councils of Folkestone & Hythe, Medway, Tunbridge Wells as well as developers working on house building in many other parts of the county.

The day was started with a lively presentation by local Chilmington Green resident, Ian Wolverson, who has been actively involved in the emerging plans for the garden community since early on, advocating fiercely for planning proposals that would serve existing communities and the local character of the area. This was naturally followed on by the masterplanner, JTP Architects, with partner Clare San Martin talking through how the proposals were designed with green spaces and community cohesion in mind.

The presentations were rounded out by Ashford Borough Council officer Dan Daley speaking on community engagement activities since 2019 and SallyAnne Logan, land management consultant, speaking on how the principles of garden communities are underpinned by local stewardship.

There was a productive discussion about what worked well and didn’t work well in terms of embedding good design into the plans. On the tour many remarked at the impressive results seen in the Hamlet in terms of landscaping and the quality of materials used in the construction of the houses.

The presentations and a write up based on the study tour will go into a library of reference materials which Kent Design provides to its network of built environment professionals. For more information, please visit their website: Kent Design