NEW ASH GREEN

'New Ash Green' is a new village near the ancient village of Ash, in the parish of Ash-cum-Ridley, about six miles south of Gravesend in Kent and 21 miles south-east of London. 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 extremely innovative for its time. The original concept was 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 houses themselves were spacious.
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 GBP2.65 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 now a quiet residential area. It has a rugby club, football club, shops, childrens parks, a primary school, a special needs school and many more public buildings.
The village is arranged in twenty four neighbourhoods.
Although the design of the village is considered innovative and makes good use of space, the design has brought some problems. New Ash Green has over recent years had some problem with car-theft since parking bays are not located near houses.

Contents

External links

External links

★ Notes on the village

★ Friends of New Ash Green Village Centre (FONAGVC)

★ New Ash Green Web Forums

★ History of the village and architects

★ Article in 'Inside Housing' on the history of the village