KentOnline reported on 6 November 2026 that Ashford re-approved Kingsland Green for up to 180 homes, including 54 affordable and nine self-build. KentOnline put Ashford Borough housing land supply at 3.16 years against the five years the government requires.
The scheme is an 18.7-acre outline off the A2070 Kennington Road near Willesborough, outside the Local Plan.
ABC first approved the scheme in September 2025. KentOnline said adjacent landowner James Ransley challenged the decision in the High Court over the flood-risk sequential test. The Royal Courts of Justice dismissed the case in March on terms that ABC decide again with an open mind.
The committee vote came after the court required the council to look at the outline again rather than treating the first permission as the last word on flooding tests and housing need.
Why the shortfall won
Steve Musk’s report said the Kingsland Green development did not pass the sequential test because at least ten reasonably available alternative sites were more preferable, which he called a clear failure, and the council could not count on alternatives being built or delivered quickly enough while deliverable land supply stayed short of five years.
“Failing the test is not fatal to an application,” Mr Musk added in his report, particularly given the Environment Agency had raised no objection, with all the housing in Flood Zone 1 so the test applied only to the “small section of access road” in Flood Zones 2 and 3.
He declared the benefits of the proposed development outweigh the harms, with outline plans for detached, semi-detached and terraced homes from two to five bedrooms.
Eighteen people lodged objections on ABC’s planning portal before the meeting compared with one letter of support, KentOnline said.
Cllr Jessamy Blanford (Con, Weald Central) told KentOnline after the meeting she feels the houses would be “cramped”.
“But it was only an outline application so there were a lot of things regarding the likes of noise and the motorway which will be discussed in the future,” she added.
Ben Geering, head of planning at Quinn Estates, said the scheme offers energy-efficient homes at a time of acute housing need and that there are no objections from statutory consultees.
He said Quinn Estates had agreed funding for upgrades to the step-free access between the Stour Valley walk and Cradle Bridge Drive.
KentOnline said the £240,000 towards bus access on Kennington Road would be secured through a section 106 agreement and that permission remained subject to completion of the wider legal agreement and planning conditions.
The field sits next to the Givaudan perfume factory and the M20, with access from Kennington Road.
Above the England median
Land Registry records show a median price paid of £340,000 across 1,681 home sales in Ashford borough and a median of £285,000 across 671,521 sales in England in the 12 months to August 2026, with August 2026 incomplete because of Land Registry registration lag.
Land Registry records show a median price paid of £320,000 across 134 home sales in Willesborough in the 12 months to August 2026. Kennington recorded a median of £333,250 across 146 home sales in the same window.
In that window, Willesborough and Kennington both sit below Ashford borough’s £340,000 median while remaining above the England median.
The agreement still open
The application was reported afresh, with updated material in the planning balance, after ABC had told Mr Ransley it would do so. Mr Ransley spoke at the committee in objection.
Separate wetland plans beside the Kingsland Green homes are still to be decided, KentOnline added.