Site considerations
The Park Farm South East site is a 21 hectare agricultural field to the south of Ashford, east of Kingsnorth village and west of Cheeseman’s Green (also known as Finberry).
The land is to the south of the 2,300-home Park Farm development, and would form an extension to that community.
Ashford Borough Council has identified a need to build 16,120 new homes in the area by 2030 in its emerging Local Plan, and the site at Park Farm South East has been chosen as suitable for residential development. The Draft Ashford Local Plan 2030 gives an indicative capacity of 325 homes.
The council’s plan suggests about 100 homes could be built on land to the south, but this site is not part of our proposal.
Once complete, our development would give easy access to Bridgefields to the north and open space to the north east, and would allow future development to the south.
New open space would give residents plenty of new options for recreation, while a Sustainable Drainage Scheme (SuDS) and new wildlife habitats would retain and enhance biodiversity and bring ecological benefits.
Park Farm South East would be a safe, secure development with a character strongly influenced by the site’s topography - highlighted in the image above (click to enlarge) - and attractive landscape setting.
Ecology and drainage
Park Farm South East is home to a number of protected species, including badgers and skylarks. In order to mitigate the effect of our development on wildlife, our landscape proposal includes an enhanced habitat for skylarks within the eastern side of the site, fenced off from public use, along with other measures.
The low-lying site is in an area subject to localised flooding from a tributary of the East River Stour. But development will only take place in areas that fall within Flood Zone 1 - a nationally-recognised zone that identifies the very lowest flood risk. You can click on the image to the right to see the risk areas.
We have an opportunity to make use of the small areas with a higher flood risk by incorporating them into the landscaping scheme and public spaces.
The development will implement a Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS), which would keep surface water on site within Flood Zone 1. Current levels of water run off from the undeveloped site should therefore remain the same, or less, when development is complete.
This water would be stored within swales (shallow, broad, vegetated channels) and open attenuation basins on the eastern boundary of the developed area. These will be designed to cope with the intensity of once-in-100-year storms.
Transport and access
Our preferred primary access to Park Farm South East would be from two points, one to the north and one to the south of the site.
The northern access is a priority junction with Finn Farm Road and Rutledge Avenue. The southern access is either a roundabout junction with Brockman’s Lane or a T-junction onto Brockman's Lane.
Secondary access would be from a simple priority junction with Cheeseman’s Green Lane to the north east of the site.
These access proposals would close the stretch of Finn Farm Road from the bridge towards the new site access junction to the north. This would mean the existing three-way traffic signal junction would become a two-way junction allowing for access from the bridges to Brockman’s Lane only.
Click on the image to the right to see the access points in full.
Ashford Borough Council’s new Local Plan policy S14 requires us to investigate the possibility of a primary access point from the traffic-controlled junction at Finn Farm Road, in order to improve the overall junction arrangements.
There are a number of issues with the deliverability of this direct access, overall highway benefits and its impact upon the landscape. As a result we favour the option outlined above.
Our application included a transport assessment which focuses on the impact of the development on local roads.
Pedestrian and cycle routes through the site will connect with existing routes to the north which pass through Park Farm East and Bridgefield Park.
A bus route will run through the site, with a stop in the central square, pictured right (click to enlarge).
Parking will be provided according to the Ashford Parking Standards. There will be a mix of on and off-road parking spaces, including visitor parking.