Update from Ashford Borough Council

The Rural Planning Practice was invited to Ashford Borough Council Agent’s Forum on 9^th July 2024, for an update on the Council’s planning service. The key updates are as follows:

New Local Plan for Ashford

The Council has approved a revised Local Development Scheme which sets out that it will consult on an early version of the New Local Plan (Regulation 18 stage) between April and June next year.  This will set out the Council’s overarching strategy to meet both the housing and employment needs of the Borough.

The Council is currently reviewing all sites submitted as part of the Call for Sites process and will begin to contact agents and landowners towards the end of this year regarding potential site allocations.

It will be interesting to see how the revised NPPF will impact on the Council’s timescales for the New Local Plan which has already been extended to cover the period up to 2042.

Validation Requirements for Applications

The council has updated its validation requirements for planning applications to reflect the national requirements associated with Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG). It has also introduced a non-mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain validation form to speed up the validation of planning applications.  

While non-mandatory, this is a useful tool to assist validation officers in identifying whether the BNG condition applies to an application and therefore whether it is accompanied by the correct information to allow it to be validated.

Nutrient Neutrality

Ashford Borough Council has had to hold off granting planning permission for many applications for schemes that have been caught by the issue of nutrient neutrality. Figures published last year suggest around 5,800 dwellings in over 170 planning applications have been affected.

The Council has advised that a report will go to Cabinet in Autumn this year which sets out a potential solution in practice to allow for new residential development in the Stour Catchment. This is to be a catchment wide plan, focused on a nutrient credit bank that will allow developers to purchase credits to offset impact, where onsite solutions are not possible.

This represents a key step in delivering homes that have already been assessed by Ashford borough Council as acceptable in planning terms.

Pre-application Advice

Ashford has confirmed the Council is continuing to welcome pre-application advice submissions and has capacity to enter early discussions with landowners and developers on householder, minor and major planning applications.  

Pre-application advice can be useful to understand the Council’s in principle views on development proposals, together with the likely key issues to be addressed in a future planning application.

Please contact The Rural Planning Practice if you would like to discuss a proposal in Ashford.