New Ash Green

The original Span-built properties in New Ash Green, with the earliest houses on the left and the original Span office and shop on the right

New Ash Green is a village in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 8 miles south west of Gravesend.

History

Building of the village began in 1967, with Span as the developer and Eric Lyons as the designer. The architectural design of New Ash Green was innovative for its time, and its original concept was intended as a prototype for a new way of living in the latter twentieth century. The first buildings were created to be airy, pleasant and modern. There was generous landscaping and cars were separated from pedestrians in the streets and in the shopping precinct.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The village is arranged in twenty four neighbourhoods.<ref>Friends of New Ash Green Village Centre (FONAGVC) Website of the Friends of the New Ash Green Village Centre:includes history of the development of the village</ref> Punch Croft and Over Minnis are some of the original Span-designed sections.

The development soon ran into difficulties. Originally, the Greater London Council was going to buy 450 of the properties for renting. This idea was dropped when the leadership of the GLC went into Conservative hands. This reduced the financial viability of the development and of the planned social mix of residents. Another problem in the early years was that some lenders were sceptical about the unconventional design of the properties and would not give mortgages.

Span, the original developer,<ref>History of the village and architects: website by SPAN</ref> sold the project to Bovis in 1971 for £2.65 million. Bovis increased the size of the development, increasing density and giving less attention to design or provision of public space.

Facilities

The village has rugby and football clubs, while Ash Green Sports Centre includes a gym and badminton, tennis and squash courts.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There are also shops, parks, a primary school, a special needs school and a fire station.

In the 2000's, the shopping centre became run-down due to lack of maintenance from overseas absentee landlords. In spite of plans being put forward in 2008 to redesign the village's shops,<ref>Plans to revamp village News Shopper 4 June 2008Template:Dead link</ref> the need for renovation continued, and in 2023 the centre was bought by new owners who promised a "much-needed enhancement" of the centre.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Transport

Rail

The nearest National Rail station to New Ash Green is Longfield,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> located Template:Convert away.

Buses

New Ash Green is served by Go-Coach routes 479 and 489. These connect it with Bluewater, Gravesend & Longfield.

Notable residents

Christopher Bowes, frontman of Alestorm and founding member of Gloryhammer

External links

Template:Commons category-inline British Pathé News / New Village (1968) Template:Sevenoaks