A major 625-home development has been taken off the table by its developer, dashing plans for a park and ride scheme.

Gladman Developments had aimed to build the houses on land off East Mountain Lane and the A28 Canterbury Road in Kennington, Ashford.

Alongside a doctor’s surgery and shops, the development behind the Old Mill pub would have introduced Ashford's first park and ride scheme.

However the outline application - submitted in February 2018 - never seemed to make any progress, with no new documents or updates being added to the planning application since November of that year.

Bus operator Stagecoach has also said that no serious consultation had taken place with the applicant since the beginning.

"We had no more than the preliminary contact with the developers about this," a spokesman said.

"We would of course be happy to discuss a similar scheme should any future proposals be made."

Gladman had hoped to build a shop, two new play areas and community centre as part of the scheme.

It also wanted to construct a new four-arm roundabout in Canterbury Road, opposite Ashford Hockey Club, as an access point to the park and ride and housing estate.

But one person now overjoyed about the withdrawal is Wye parish councillor Richard Bartley, who raised concerns over the proposal's environmental impact on the nearby village.

Days after the scheme was submitted, he spoke to KentOnline about his worries over increased flooding in Wye as a result of the development, which was not in Ashford Borough Council’s Local Plan.

Speaking after the withdrawal, Mr Bartley said: "Development on that site would have many obvious harmful impacts, including additional traffic pressure on the A28 at Kempes Corner and towards the centre of Ashford.

"The development would add to congestion on the A2070 and Junction 10, and the site is only 375 metres from the boundary of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)."

KentOnline contacted Gladman Developments for a comment, but did not receive a response.

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