Ashmere will be the second village to be developed in Whitecliffe, formerly known as Eastern Quarry, one of the neighbourhoods of the new Ebbsfleet Garden City.
A joint venture of Countryside Properties and Clarion Housing Group plan to build 281 homes in this first phase, comprising 175 one- and two-bedroom apartments, and 106 houses. A quarter of the property will be ‘affordable’ with a mixture of shared ownership and social rent.
The first village created in Whitecliffe was the now well-established Castle Hill.
When complete, the village of Ashmere will have around 3,000 homes, a new primary school and village centre.
Mark Pullin, chief planning officer at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said: “Whilst these are challenging times for us all and working practices have changed in recent weeks, we have been able to approve these plans under powers already delegated to officers.
“This first phase of development at Ashmere marks a significant step forward in terms of design quality within Ebbsfleet, creating eye-catching new homes that have been inspired by Ebbsfleet’s past. The oast houses and maltings of Kent’s villages have been fused with the handsome Georgian streets of Gravesend’s town centre, to inspire a rich mix of distinctive new homes, set within streets full of trees and planting as expected of a garden city.
“Once Whitecliffe is complete there will be 6,250 homes across three villages, each with their own centre, giving them a distinctive feel.”
Ashmere is one of the first schemes in Ebbsfleet to adopt Ebbsfleet Development Corporation’s ‘Design for Ebbsfleet’ design guidance, setting out four design characters for new neighbourhoods that have been derived from Ebbsfleet’s landscape and cultural heritage. The masterplan for Ashmere references all four ‘languages’ to create neighbourhoods intended to be distinctive to Ebbsfleet, the development corporation said.
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