All about the Chilmington Development

The plans for the Chilmington area first started to form back in 1991 when it was identified by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) as a potential development site. When ABC produced the Greater Ashford Development Framework in 2005, the area identified spread over both sides of the section of the A28 running from Singleton towards Bethersden. At this point a number of residents started to campaign for more protection of the area on the Great Chart side of the A28. Cllr Ian McClintock and Chilmington resident Ian Wolverson were particularly active in the campaign having vast local knowledge from living in the area, and an interest in planning matters more generally. They successfully fought for the implementation of the 'red line', the boundary outside of which no development should take place. This line prevented encroachment across the A28 towards the ancient village of Great Chart and the new - more square, less rectangular - area was added to the Core Strategy document in 2008.

Following this the Chilmington Green Area Action Plan 2012 was produced as the site specific plans for the Chilmington area became more detailed.

A separate piece of work was also carried out to produce the Village Design Statement 2005 which fought to protect the ancient village of Great Chart and it's unique characteristics.

The final and most detailed document relating to Chilmington was then produced, the Design and Access Statement 2012 (link pending) to set out exactly how the development as a whole would be built. This took a considerable amount of time to discuss, produce and consult on and many months were dedicated to this by parish councillors and local residents for this to be passed by a central government appointed examiner. We thank them for their involvement in this early work where they spoke at numerous meetings and consultations.

Once the Design and Access Statement was finalised, the first overarching planning application was submitted in 2012 12/00400/AS

Phase 1 housebuilding started in 2015 and is ongoing. The entire development is expected to take over 25 years to complete.

All planning applications relating to the development can be viewed via Ashford Borough Council's planning portal.

The Chilmington development currently falls within the Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council boundary, so the parish council is a statutory consultee on all planning applications relating to the new area. Members of public are welcome to join any of our planning meetings if they wish to comment on, or listen to, discussion about a specific application. Residents are also encouraged to submit comments themselves if they have an opinion on specific applications.

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Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council are very aware of the increasingly urgent issue regarding the lack of safe walking or cycling access to Chilmington Green Secondary School.

The parish council has been in regular contact with officers and councillors at Kent County Council about this issue, and that of access to the primary school since 2022. A number of meetings took place online and in person during this period and the following correspondence was sent and received.

Letter from GCwSPC to KCC 29/09/2022

Letter from KCC to GCwSPC 31/03/2023

Letter from GCwSPC to KCC 13/07/2023

Letter from KCC to GCwSPC 24/07/2023 

However, as students are now faced with the very real prospect of not being able to make their way to the new secondary school site without an adult and a car to get them there, we have once again made a push to see progress made.

Letter from GCwSPC to KCC 14/05/2025 

The latest response was received on 21st May 2025

 Letter from KCC to GCWSPC 21/05/2025

Free to use transport

After correspondence with the Home to School Transport team, we can confirm the following:

Transport Eligibility Officers have visited the site to assess the route to the school, should no additional access routes be developed. I can confirm that, in its current state, the route to the school is considered hazardous according to the Home to School Transport Hazardous Guidelines. Therefore, if the road and footpath network remain unchanged when the school opens, students attending the school as the nearest appropriate to their home address will be entitled to transport assistance.

We will be writing to parents advising them of their eligibility after the May half term, we are trying to give as much time as possible for the situation to be resolved before we contact parents, however, given the work involved in setting up the transport required we cannot leave it any longer than the beginning of June.

As we will be writing to parents to advise them of their eligibility, there is no need for them to apply before they have received our letter.

Whilst this is good news for those living closer to Chilmington School than to other secondary schools in the area, it doesn’t help those students who are closer in distance to schools such as The John Wallis Academy. It also doesn’t instil healthy walking or cycling habits (Active Travel) in students from the beginning. So we will continue to push for more progress on this. If you have any specific questions regarding home to school transport, the team email address is homeschooltransport@kent.gov.uk

Road closures have now been scheduled for parts of Chilmington Green Road, the A28 and Sandy Lane, which seem to be to allow the partly build roundabout on the A28 to be brought into use, and carry out work to close off the part of Chilmington Green Road that needs to be closed before the secondary school is allowed to open.

Chilmington Green Road Closure

A28/Sandy Lane Road Closure

Planning application PA/2025/0857 was submitted on 7th May 2025 requesting 'Variation of condition 21 (off-site infrastructure) for planning permission 21/01914/AS to allow for the opening of the school prior to the infrastructure works being completed.' Great Chart with Singleton Parish Council objected to this application for the reasons recorded in the 21st May 2025 Planning Committee Draft Minutes

As and when we get more information we will share it to this page and to our social media channels.