Concerned residents fear there will be no open space left if plans to designate a plot of land as a village green are turned down.

Neighbours on the Quantock Drive estate in Ashford want to protect a 1.25-acre site close to the town's Sainsbury's after it was snapped up at auction by a property company.

They have asked Kent County Council to declare the space a village green - a move that would prevent future development.

The authority is set to decide on the application on Wednesday, and KCC member Cllr Paul Bartlett is calling on residents to show their support for the bid at the meeting.

The Conservative submitted the application in June last year and has been backed by more than 100 residents.

It comes after Bluesky Properties Estate Ltd purchased the plot - along with a smaller site on the other side of Quantock Drive - for £81,000 last year.

Cllr Bartlett says he is approaching the meeting with "supreme confidence" but is asking residents to attend the meeting at County Hall in Maidstone if they can.

"Ashford Borough Council has just made its call for new development sites for the next Local Plan so this village green application is crucial to protect this area from potential future development,” he said.

"We don't know what the owners intentions are, but if I had spent £81,000 I would expect to do something with the asset I had purchased.

"Having this site designated as a village green would create ambiguity over whether it could be developed."

Residents Pauline Lowman, Thierry Maillard and Paul Lansdell, who all live nearby, have distributed hundreds of leaflets to their neighbours in a bid to get as many people as possible to back the village green application.

This has seen residents fill out 145 questionnaires showing how much the site – which features a number of mature trees – is used by the community.

Mrs Lowman said: “If we lose this space for dog walking then people will drive elsewhere. It’s just not sensible.

“There is not a great deal of greenery on this side of town. I have lived here for more than 52 years and I really do not want to see it go.

“It is for the wellbeing of all the people – during lockdown there were lots of people walking up and down here, but lots of people still come along here.”

Neighbour Ann Eldridge says the site - which runs alongside the Simone Weil Avenue dual carriageway - should be left as it is.

She said: "In general, Ashford is losing all its greenery and there are so many places being built on so when the children do start to grow up they will have nowhere to go – it will be all concrete.

“As for us on this estate, we have several people who knew this land before it had trees.”

Andrew Standing has been connected to the land for 53 years after his parents moved into a house opposite in 1971.

“People walk their dogs here and children play here,” he said.

“It also acts as a natural barrier between the houses and the road and it should be kept for the community and for people to enjoy.

"There is no way it should be developed.”

No plans have been submitted by Bluesky Properties Estate Ltd for the space, which was sold by Greenfurb Limited last year.

The village green application will be discussed at a meeting of KCC's regulation committee member panel at 10am on Wednesday.

At the same meeting at County Hall in Maidstone, plans to designate a plot of open space in The Pasture, Kennington, will also be discussed.

The site is at the junction of The Pasture and Rylands Road.