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Public engagement 2025
Meet the team
Join us at one of our engagement events to view the proposals and speak to the project team and provide your feedback.- Where: Ashford Congregational Church, Clarendon Road, TW15 2QA
- When: Monday, 29 September: 10am to 2pm, Wednesday, 1 October: 3pm to 7pm
Or find us at the Ashford Wide Craft Market on Saturday, 4 October, 9am to 2pm. You can also view the proposals and provide feedback online. Visit the commonplace site.
Provide your feedback
If you have any questions and would like to contact us, please email: ashford.town@surreycc.gov.uk
About the project
We are working with Spelthorne Borough Council to transform Ashford Town Centre into a thriving destination which is safe, attractive, economically strong, and socially vibrant.
Ashford has many great qualities and strengths, but it also faces some challenges. We are proposing some improvements along Church Road to make the town more welcoming, enhance public spaces so they are more accessible and enjoyable, and provide better support for local businesses and communities.
Vision
- Develop a safe and attractive town centre with high-quality public spaces that encourage more people to spend time there whilst connecting people with nature
- Support a diverse mix of uses in the town centre, including cultural, social, commercial, and leisure
- Encourage active and healthy lifestyles
- Integrate innovative solutions to help meet climate goals
Proposed improvements
The proposed improvements are based on research studies and public feedback collected over recent years. Church Road is the main route through the town centre. It is currently fragmented and vehicle-dominated. Local businesses, amenities and services are dispersed, making it hard to foster a community atmosphere.
We hope to unify Church Road by improving pedestrian access, encouraging social interaction and creating more multi-functional spaces. These changes aim to refresh the area and make it more enjoyable for everyone.
- Introduce seating and play spaces for social interaction
- Implement a 20mph speed limit zone along Church Road
- Enhance greenery with more trees and planters
- Improve pedestrian safety with new crossings and resurfaced pavements
- Create flexible outdoor spaces for events and markets
- Adopt ‘parking pockets’ to retain High Street parking but enable them to be temporarily repurposed for alternative community uses
- Add cycle lanes and cycle parking
We have considered the whole length of Church Road in this project. However, due to current financial uncertainties, we will initially focus on delivering improvements along the central section of Church Road, between Dudley Road and Fordbridge Road. We will continue to build the case for future development along the rest of the road.
A new heart of the town – Ashford Square and Library Square
Ashford Square and Library Square will become a focal point for social interaction, encouraging more local visits, and supporting a shift towards active travel and public transport. The main aspects of these new and improved spaces are:
- Create public realm spaces for all ages and with different needs, suitable for community events, festivals, and cultural or educational activities
- Improve walking routes with repaved footways
- Add seating and play spaces to support leisure and social activities
- Install new pedestrian crossings to connect both sides of Church Road, linking the newly created spaces outside the gym, library, and planned redevelopment of the multi-storey car park
- Improve greenery with tree shading, wildflowers, rain gardens, and soft landscape buffers between parked vehicles
- Introduce segregated cycle lanes and additional cycle parking
- Improve safety with a 20mph speed limit, narrowed lanes, and raised tables
- Retain parking with parking pockets that can be transformed for community uses
Flexible spaces
Parking pockets along Church Road will serve as flexible spaces. They ensure parking remains available but can be transformed for alternative uses such as outdoor markets or community events. These flexible spaces create a stronger sense of place, supporting the shift from a vehicle-dominated area to a vibrant, people-focused destination.
Timeline
- 2022 – Ashford town identified as a high priority area in Surrey Infrastructure Programme
- 2023 – Research undertaken to understand Ashford’s strengths, opportunities, and challenges
- 2023 – Presence at Ashford Christmas Market to gather initial thoughts and ideas from local residents
- 2024 – Digital chatbot campaign rolled out for 3 months to collect insight and feedback from the local community – over 1000 conversations
- 2024 to 2025 – Design proposals developed by project team
- 2025 – Establishment of a Stakeholder Working Group to support project team and to enable ongoing dialogue with residents, businesses, community representatives, and councillors
- 2025 – Public engagement to collect feedback on the design proposal
- Late 2025 - Summary of public feedback and agreement on the way forward
- 2026 to 2027 - Project moves into detailed design stages subject to agreement of funding
View the video showing how the transformation will look like