New Ash Green

New Ash Green is a village in the Sevenoaks District of Kent. It borders the Gravesham Borough, and is located south west of Gravesend. It is in the civil parish of Ash-cum-Ridley. In 2017, New Ash Green is celebrating its 50th Anniversary with a packed schedule of events and celebrations throughout the Summer List of Events.

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. The village is arranged in twenty four neighbourhoods.

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, 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.

New Ash Green is a quiet residential area. It has a rugby club, épée fencing and air pistol shooting indoor, tennis club, football club, Ash Green Sports Centre including a gym, shops, children's parks, a primary school, a special needs school and many more public buildings.

The shopping centre became run-down due to lack of maintenance from overseas absentee landlords. Plans were put forward in 2008 to redesign the village's shops.

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