Trudi Davies The Politics Show South East

There will be dwindling custom in Ashford job centres

Too many houses and too few new jobs may leave Ashford as a ghost town according to a new report. Could other towns follow?

The Department for Communities and Local Government's website offers the following definition for towns like Ashford in Kent:

"Sustainable communities, are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future.

"They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life.

"They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all".

Boom town

In 2003 Ashford was designated as a growth area under the Sustainable Communities Plan.

At the time this seemed to be a positive move.

Eurostar was the sign of South East success...

Ashford was on the up, links to mainland Europe via the Eurostar terminal offered a boom time for all.

House prices soared, some 28,000 jobs by 2031 seemed guaranteed and Ashford was held up as a beacon of hope for regeneration across the region.

Its position in the South East also meant that growth in Ashford offered help and hope for other towns across the region.

New train links came into being linking East Sussex to the European Terminal, Hastings and other South Coast towns expected the trickle down effect to support their own growth plans.

Everything in the regenerational garden seemed to be coming up roses.

Failures

... but now, there's more than seurity to worry about in Ashford station

So how is it that a recent edition of the local paper carried the headline "Where is all the Money"?

The Kentish Express now talks about Ashford and its growth with words like "shocking" and "concerned".

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England are due to publish a report at the end of the month called "Ashford: A Vision in Peril".

They concentrate on the 31,000 houses due to be built in the Kent town, but the thrust of their concern is not simply the number of houses being built, it is the number of houses coupled with the failure of the South East Plan to link up housing with job creation.

In 2003, Ashford accepted plans for 31,000 new homes by 2031, but it also accepted the notion that the 28,000 new jobs would be created in the same time-scale.

Development was on a roll at one time...

The CPRE claim that the target for the creation of an initial 2,800 jobs from 2001-2004 has been badly missed.

Kent County Council's own figures show that only 400 have actually been created - an average of 133 a year.

Disparity

Similar figures for Maidstone show a creation of 3,000 new jobs over the same period.

The problem, according to the report, is that whilst the job creation target has been missed, the house building target is well on the way to being met.

There are serious fears that Ashford will become a ghost town acting as a dormitory for commuters travelling to London.

Job and infrastructure fears are compounded by the recent announcement by Eurostar that it is downgrading its services to the Continent.

The scrapping of plans to develop the Wye Valley Science Park, whilst a saving grace to an area of outstanding natural beauty, have also added to the tally of potential jobs lost - some 12,500 were projected.

Of course Ashford's case is a specific one.

...and the house building goes on

But, this could be a salutary lesson for the whole of the region where 500,000 houses are to be built as part of the South East Plan.

Ashford and Thames Gateway are two of only six areas of the UK designated as Growth Areas by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

If we are not careful, campaigners say, the whole of the South East region will end up as no more than a series of sleeper towns for those priced out of the capital and encouraged to move out by the Government.

Ashford could be the flagship that is flagging up problems for other communities.

Paul Siegert takes the Politics Show cameras to Ashford this week to find out if the concerns raised in the report are visible in the town.

Will he find the "safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run" town that everybody wants to "live and work in" as promised by the DCLG?

Or will there be tumbleweed in the streets?

Ashford is being left out in the cold...

In the studio, Paul's guests will include Cllr Paul Clokie, the Conservative leader of Ashford Borough Council, Hilary Newport one of the authors of the CPRE report and a spokesperson from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

We would like to put your questions and opinions to our studio guests so please text or email via the link below. Please text to let us know whether you think that the South East is in danger of becoming a commuter region.

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Pay as you throw

Imagine paying as you throw this quantity... what are the implications?

A number of Councils in the South East look into the possibility of charging us according to the weight of our rubbish.

So, we send Paul out with a bin liner full of household waste and ask the people of the region what they would be prepared to pay for its removal.

News and views...

And Paul Francis, Political Editor of the Kent Messenger, joins Paul for a final look at the conference season and to cast an eye on stories making the political news in the South East this week.

Next week...

We take a look at Quangos.

Do you know what they are and how they affect your daily life? Do you sit on one? Get in touch via the text number or the email link.

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