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Detailed plans show how first 144 homes at Waterbrook Park, off A2070 in Ashford could look

14:00, 17 February 2024

updated: 14:30, 17 February 2024

Detailed plans show how the first phase of a 364-home development on a former lorry park could look.

Developer Mulberry Homes hopes to build the houses in Waterbrook Park in Ashford, next to where a new KFC, Taco Bell and Aldi supermarket are earmarked.

New CGIs show how the 364-home development could look. Picture: GRAFIK Architecture
New CGIs show how the 364-home development could look. Picture: GRAFIK Architecture

Outline permission for the project, on the former Ashford International Truckstop, was granted in December but now more detailed proposals showing how the first 144 homes could look have been revealed.

Documents prepared by G2 Studio on behalf of Mulberry Homes, and lodged with Ashford Borough Council (ABC), show phase one will also include a shop that could become a convenience store or cafe, and a new wetland area.

Ten percent of the homes will be classed as affordable.

If approved, there will be 26 two-bed homes, 50 three-bed homes and 68 four-bed homes each with an electric vehicle charging point.

Each will come with at least one parking space but two and three-bedroom homes will have two spaces, and four-bed homes will have three.

A map showing the layout of the Waterbrook Park development off the A2070 in Ashford
A map showing the layout of the Waterbrook Park development off the A2070 in Ashford
The former Ashford International Truckstop site. Picture: Mulberry Homes/GSE
The former Ashford International Truckstop site. Picture: Mulberry Homes/GSE

Further phases of the project will include more homes alongside flats and maisonettes.

Amazon previously hoped to open a distribution in Waterbrook Park near to where the homes are planned but the firm has since pulled out.

The centre was approved in 2021 and was expected to open in the following year, but bosses have now confirmed they are no longer looking to pursue the development.

Now the site is back on the market hoping and to attract a new buyer.

The sales listing suggests the plot just off the A2070 Bad Munstereifel Road, could be split into a number of units, or developed as one huge warehouse.

The site will be made up of two-bed, three-bed and four-bed homes. Picture: GRAFIK Architecture
The site will be made up of two-bed, three-bed and four-bed homes. Picture: GRAFIK Architecture

Ashford International Truckstop, which used to be on land now earmarked for the homes, moved to a larger plot on the Waterbrook Park estate in late 2021.

The move enabled the site to increase the number of spaces from 410 to 660, making it the largest lorry park in Europe.

Elsewhere on Waterbrook Park, German supermarket chain Aldi was granted planning permission last November for its second shop in Ashford.

But a condition imposed by ABC means contractors cannot start work until progress is made on a separate convenience store on the nearby Finberry housing estate.

The discount retailer last year launched a petition against the move as it says work on the smaller Finberry is being held up by the nutrient neutrality embargo.

Plans for an Aldi supermarket have already been approved in Waterbrook Park, but work is yet to begin. Picture: Aldi
Plans for an Aldi supermarket have already been approved in Waterbrook Park, but work is yet to begin. Picture: Aldi

In east Kent, the building of scores of developments has been held up by nutrient neutrality rules protecting wetlands and rivers.

Alongside Aldi, a new Taco Bell drive-thru is also proposed, as well as the town’s fourth KFC, approved in 2020.

If approved they would sit to the north of the new homes and share a car park.

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