Home   Ashford   News   Article

Aerial photos of Ashford including Junction 10a, Designer Outlet and Chilmington Green

Dan Wright
dwright@thekmgroup.co.uk
06:00, 08 April 2020  | Updated: 12:06, 08 April 2020

It has become increasingly difficult to keep up with the ever-changing look of Ashford in recent years.

From the £104m Junction 10a project on the M20 to the Elwick Place leisure complex, it seems almost every part of the town is being developed in one way or another.

A shot of the Designer Outlet looking towards the town, with the new Outlet car park next to Asda in the foreground. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough Council
A shot of the Designer Outlet looking towards the town, with the new Outlet car park next to Asda in the foreground. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough Council

To take in just some of those schemes from a totally different viewpoint, photographer Ady Kerry snapped Ashford from above.

The photos take in a huge chunk of the town, stretching from the 5,750-home Chilmington Green construction site just off the A28 to the unmistakable white tents of the Designer Outlet, which has enjoyed a £90m extension in recent months.

While the coronavirus crisis will inevitably delay a number of projects, Highways England is continuing to work on Junction 10a, which is just one of the schemes captured from the sky in the photos below.

Thanks to its links to London on the high-speed rail line, the area around the Ashford International station has become a hotbed for development, with plans being worked on for a 16-storey 'Ashford Shard' as well as construction of the Curious Brewery and Hampton by Hilton hotel.

It's not just the town centre developments which are included in the photos, though, with shots of the 192-home Hinxhill Park construction site and Repton Park housing estate also covered, as well as other built-up residential areas in the town.

Gallery1

A wide shot of Junction 10a and the surrounding area, with the A2070 in the foreground. This photo was taken in November last year. Picture: Ady KerryThe new roundabout on the A2070 close to the Ashford Retail Park junction, pictured in November. It links the Junction 10a roundabout with the A2070 dual carriageway. Picture: Ady KerryJunction 10a - pictured here in November 2019 - opened to traffic last October after almost two years of construction work. Picture: Ady KerryThe new bridges which form Junction 10a were put in during early 2018. In this photo from September that year, traffic can be seen queuing on the A20 where temporary traffic lights sparked delays. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough Council192 homes are being built at Hinxhill Park close to Junction 10a. The land is next to the Pilgrims Hospice just off the A20 and the development includes a new road linking to the back of the William Harvey Hospital. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe £75m Elwick Place development taken from Victoria Road looking towards Bank Street and the town centre. The black and gold building shows the six-screen cinema, with the Travelodge to the right. The land to the left of the cinema is the 282-space Elwick Place car park. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe new Waterbrook Park development in Sevington is taking shape in this shot from mid-2019, but has developed a lot since. The scheme, just off the A2070 Bad Munstereifel Road which can be seen at the top of this photo, has been in the pipeline since November 2017 when developer GSE Group submitted its masterplan for the £150 million project. The Barretts Jaguar Land Rover dealership - which has moved across from Orbital Park - is to the left of this photo, as well as the new Ashford International Truckstop next door, which is double the size of the previous site, offering 600 spaces. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilAshford Borough Council bought the Carlton Road Business Park, which is in the centre of this shot, in 2018. It has seen 28 industrial units built on the former Rimmel site, which had previously sat derelict for 10 years. It is hoped the 43,000 sq ft development will ease pressure on the Ellingham Business Park in South Ashford, although only three units had been filled at the start of 2020. Sackville Crescent and Godinton Road can also be seen in this photo, with Gasworks Lane, Western Avenue and Kings Avenue leading off them. Picture: Ady Kerry / Ashford Borough CouncilThe former Ashford Railway Works in Newtown - which could be turned into an eye-catching film and TV studio complex - sit at the bottom of this shot, while the town's Hitachi depot is on the other side of the railway line. Balfour Beatty's Ashford base is to the left, close to the Newtown Road bridge. This photo was taken last July during the lengthy Newtown Road closure, which sparked anger among motorists. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe Designer Outlet’s extension has seen part of the original car park built on, as can be seen in this photo. The lost spaces have been replaced by a new car park next to Asda which is just out of this shot. The £90m extension officially opened last autumn. The land which Quinn Estates had planned to turn into more than 200 flats under its East Stour Park scheme can also be seen in this photo to the left of the outlet. The scheme was rejected earlier this year. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe area around the station has been the centre of a lot of development in recent years. This shot includes the Curious Brewery, Connect 38 office block, Ashford College and The Coachworks, which is a temporary leisure complex in Dover Place. The BP petrol station in Beaver Road sits in the left corner, surrounded by new apartments as the 'Victoria Point' scheme takes shape, featuring a Hampton by Hilton hotel. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe former Ashford market site has been at the centre of Ashford Borough Council's plans for years, and this shot shows how the site has been transformed. The new Elwick Road car park is to the right, next to the six-screen cinema and Travelodge hotel. The patch of land next to Travelodge which was taken over by travellers for two days last August can be seen next to the hotel. The County Square shopping centre - including its 2008 extension - is in clear view, as well as the library in Church Road and former Fabric Warehouse in Godinton Road. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilFrom John Lewis to the Designer Outlet and beyond, this shot captures a large chunk of the town, and highlights how large the Bybrook Sainsbury's in the bottom left now is. The store enjoyed a multimillion-pound extension and refurbishment in 2011. The gold Picturehouse cinema in Elwick Road can be picked out, as well as a number of other town centre buildings, including the Panorama. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilAshford College and the Connect 38 office block at Dover Place dominate the skyline in this photo from September 2018, with the Memorial Gardens in the foreground. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilDevelopers are building 246 apartments and 26 riverside townhouses next to Victoria Park on the former Powergen brownfield site, which can be seen in this photo. The scheme - dubbed Riverside Park - is being delivered by real estate investment company GRE Assets. The Elwick Place cinema and hotel leisure complex can be seen on the other side of the railway line, as well as the new car park in Elwick Road. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThis busy junction linking Victoria Road, Beaver Road and Avenue Jacques Faucheux has been dubbed 'Victoria Point', with Chapel Down’s brewery having opened last year next to the Victoria Road Aldi store. A Hampton by Hilton hotel is to go next to the BP petrol station in Beaver Road. As can be seen in this photo, contractors are currently building 200 apartments next to BP, while HomePlus across the road is set to be demolished to make way for a 16-storey apartment block, which has been dubbed the 'Ashford Shard'. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe former Powergen site in Victoria Road is being transformed into the Riverside Park development, which is overlooking Victoria Park next to the river. The park itself is in line for a multi-million pound boost after council bosses secured a £3m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilAshford International station has become surrounded by developments in recent years, with its direct links to London on the high-speed line drawing developers to the area. In this photo, the Stour Centre sits to the right with International House and the six-storey Connect 38 building close by. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilScores of homes have gone up on the Finberry housing estate in recent years. The Finberry Primary School in Avocet Way can be seen on the top right in this photo from September 2018. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe first phase of the Chilmington Green development shows the new roundabout on the A28 and entrance to the site. This photo was taken in September 2018. Picture Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilA view of the Finberry estate in September 2018 looking towards the A2070 and Orbital Park in Sevington. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe Repton Park development has been increasing in size in recent years. In this photo, the town's Waitrose in Sir Bernard Paget Avenue can be seen in the top right, close to the army base at Rowcroft Barracks which is just out of shot. The new Repton Connect Community Centre, which threw open its doors in October 2018 following more than a year of building work, can be seen in the bottom left of this picture, next to Repton Manor primary school. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilDevelopers gained planning permission in April 2018 to turn the former Fabric Warehouse and Club Q snooker club building in Godinton Road into 28 flats, and work began earlier this year on the scheme. More than 80 new homes have been built next door by Croudace Homes on the former Godinton Way Industrial Estate. The new Elwick Place car park, which opened in 2018 to serve the Picturehouse cinema and Travelodge hotel, can be seen to the right of this photo. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe Panorama building, which has towered over the town centre skyline since the 1970s, has been at the centre of development in recent months. Contractors are building 110 two-bedroom flats next to the former Charter House, with one block on the junction of Wellesley Road and Somerset Road and the other on the corner at Edinburgh Road. In a separate application submitted last year, bosses revealed plans to replace the Panorama’s rooftop garden with more flats, but they later revised their scheme and the gardens are set to stay. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe Repton Park estate backs onto Godinton Park, which has become home to a new Co-op store in recent years next to the New Chimneys. Despite concerns over parking and traffic, planning permission for the 3,000 sq ft Co-op - which is pictured in the middle of this photo - was given in July 2016. Godinton Primary School can also be seen in this picture. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilConstruction of the Elwick Place development, taken from the right of County Square in mid-2018, can be seen in this photo. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe Tesco Extra Crooksfoot store stands to the left of this photo from the first week of September in 2018, with Junction 10 and A2070 in the foreground. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe huge Junction 10a construction site pictured in September 2018. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe lonely Sevington church can be picked out in the foreground, with the remains of the Church Road footbridge to the left in this shot from September 2018. The early outline of the link road roundabout can be seen. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough CouncilThe Junction 10a construction site pictured in September 2018. The Pilgrims Hospice can be seen on the left, with cars parked on the former Sweatman Mowers and Wyevale sites. The Highfield Lane bridge is still standing in this photo, but was demolished in September 2019 for the new junction. Picture: Ady Kerry/Ashford Borough Council

Unless stated otherwise, all of the photos were taken last summer.

Read more: All the latest news from Ashford

Ashford Business News Construction & Housing Kent Transport Dan Wright

Most popular

Close This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Learn More