It would appear that Ashford is setting a standard of encouraging new ideas and development that could act as an example to other towns and cities in the UK.
By encouraging a host of developments and building in its strategic location of transport links and closeness to continental Europe, it is setting an example that is worth considering elsewhere, such as in Brighton & Hove, for example.
It is the breadth of the developments that is interesting, led by a major new town centre leisure complex by the council and Stanhope; an imaginative model railway centre capitalising on the town’s railway history and the arrival of Regus with serviced offices. Backing this up is the continued investment in the airport at Lydd.
Croydon is another example of what can happen once the political will is put into practice. In this case, it is building on the logic of being central London’s office satellite but it also has exceptional transport links.
With the new Whitgift Centre in the pipeline and real progress at Ruskin Square, Croydon has probably broken out of the straitjacket of being the ‘nearly success’ business location.
Another important milestone is the investment by Henley Camland into the massive Ebbsfleet development by Land Securities. Hopefully this will break the logjam of development on the disused land in North Kent.