“We need people to support our town centres, not sit online and moan about how rubbish they are while waiting for an Amazon delivery to arrive.”
This statement from the communications office at Ashford Borough Council (ABC) came after plans for a Christmas market at the town’s Designer Outlet sparked much debate online.
Some frustrated residents thought the proposal – submitted by the site’s owners McArthurGlen, not the local authority – was further proof that councillors are giving up on the high street.
But ABC bosses have come out fighting, saying they are in the process of spending £3m on the town centre as they are committed to investing as much as they can.
“I read these comments with interest,” wrote council leader Cllr Noel Ovenden (Ashford Independents) as residents shared their thoughts on plans for the market on our Facebook page.
“I wonder how many attended the Christmas market in the town centre last year?
“It closed early as there was not enough trade to support the traders.
“As a town we not only need to talk the talk, we need to walk the walk.”
Cllr Ovenden, who represents Wye, has been in charge of the authority since last May when the Conservatives lost out in the local elections.
The Ashford Independents formed a coalition with the Greens in a partnership that meant a Tory was not in the top job for the first time in more than 20 years.
But in recent months, a number of stores have closed in the town, with Wilko leaving Park Mall shopping centre and County Square losing Peacocks, Body Shop and Waterstones, the last albeit temporarily.
The Designer Outlet, in contrast, enjoyed its busiest-ever year in 2023 and is currently at 97% capacity, boasting more than 100 shops.
“When the outlet was built [in 2000], we were in a very different place to where we are now,” Cllr Ovenden said.
“At that time, the outlet was very much a supplement to the things that happened within our town.
“We weren’t buying everything online at that time and the outlet is fairly unique across the country in that there’s only a handful of places of that type.
“So you could say that we’re lucky to have one, but you could also say that the outlet is a direct competitor to the town.
“It’s there and we have it and there are still planning considerations in place that prevent certain things happening at the outlet in order to support our town centre.”
When the Outlet enjoyed a £90m extension in 2019, ABC introduced a list of restaurants banned from opening there in a bid to protect the town centre.
It included Wetherspoon and Mitchells and Butlers, but Five Guys and Nando’s, which were also blacklisted, have since been allowed to open.
“We have no desire to see the outlet completely take over from the town,” Cllr Ovenden said.
“We’ve got a huge variety of different places to eat in the town now that are there that weren’t there before.
“I’m still keen that we invest as much as we possibly can within the town where it’s within our remit to do so.”
While plans to redevelop Park Mall shopping centre and the former Mecca Bingo hall are currently on hold, ABC has taken control of the former Picturehouse cinema at Elwick Place under Cllr Ovenden’s watch.
The authority, which already owned the building, took charge of the six-screen site in April, rebranding it as ‘The Ashford Cinema’ and saving 26 jobs.
“We are very, very keen to get people to visit the cinema to come into the town,” Cllr Ovenden said.
“If people want the cinema to be there, they want that to be part of our town, they have to visit it.
“They have to go the extra mile, believe in your own town, come and visit, come and spend money, come and support the people that are there.”
ABC says its £3m investment in the town centre covers a four-year period between 2022 and 2025, and includes projects such as Ashford UnFramed mural festival, which saw artwork spring up around the high street and neighbouring roads last year.
But when KentOnline spoke to shoppers in the town this week, the mood was flat.
Holly Heaton, who moved to Ashford in 2016, said there are “empty shops left, right and centre”.
“The funding isn’t going to the right places and the town centre is not nice looking, it doesn’t attract people in so I think the council needs to do something to improve this,” she said.
“When I first moved here from Essex, I was told it was all green space, but now the area is full of houses.”
Long-time Ashford resident Patricia Smith agreed, saying shops are closing “everywhere you look”.
“There are more shops at the outlet than there are here in the town centre,” she said.
“Every week you look and there’s a shop gone.
“It’s not like it used to be when I first moved here in 1991 – we had Woolworths and all the other stores but they have gradually left the town.
“They definitely need to take another look at what they’re spending their money on. The town centre has died.”
Other shoppers pointed to the loss of Eurostar, which has not stopped in the town since the first Covid lockdown.
Almost 60,000 people have signed a petition calling for its return, but the company says its Ashford station “will remain closed throughout 2024 and 2025”.
A large question mark is also hanging over the future of County Square, with the centre’s closure-hit extension, which previously included Debenhams, earmarked for residential conversion under plans revealed by the site’s owners.
But most shoppers KentOnline spoke to at the Outlet this week said whatever happens with the town centre, they will always opt to visit the tented centre, even though its parking fees were hiked earlier this year.
Sarah Skelton, from Hythe, said: “There is a better choice of shops at the outlet, and you know what shops are here.
“Lots of shops have closed in the town.
“If we come to Ashford we go to the outlet because it’s a better atmosphere – it’s much nicer than the town centre.”
Katie Heather, of Sittingbourne, shared a similar view, saying she prefers the feel of the outlet.
“If I’m coming to Ashford I’ll always come to the outlet,” she said.
“I don’t even always buy something – it’s just pleasant to walk around and grab a coffee sometimes. It also has really good discounts.”
However, Alan and Chris Jackman, from Folkestone, said they rarely visit the outlet and were only there earlier this week to return something.
“We would actually choose to go to the town centre to shop because it’s better for us,” they said.
“The prices are better and we prefer the shops. At the outlet, it’s a lot more expensive and there are not many restaurants – Pizza Express is quite expensive in our opinion.
“We feel the shops are too selective but it’s lovely to walk around here and it has a lovely atmosphere, especially at Christmas.”
Earlier this month, KentOnline asked outlet manager Peter Heritage what he thought of the shopping centre’s success in comparison to the town centre.
“We are a Designer Outlet with designer brands so I’d like to think we complement what’s in the town centre,” he said.
“It’s great we’re successful but we want the town centre to be successful as well.
“It’s also important to know that our customers generally travel from further afield and about half of our sales come from outside of Kent so we are bringing people into the area which will hopefully go on and benefit the town centre as well.”
In a statement, an ABC spokesman said the authority “is committed to supporting the town centre throughout the year”.
“Over the Christmas period, we provide support in the form of free parking on some days, funding and organising the Christmas lights, promoting events and offers through our LoveAshford platforms as well as setting up and coordinating the annual Carnival of the Baubles workshops and event, which attracts thousands of residents and visitors each year,” he said.
“In 2023 the council supported a national operator to run a Christmas market in Ashford town centre between November and December, at Elwick Place and Lower High Street.
“That market closed sooner than expected with traders deciding to leave early due to low visitor numbers.
“Therefore instead, this year as part of our work to expand market activity in the town centre, we are looking to support the current monthly Saturday United Makers of Kent Food and Creative Market that operates in Park Mall and on the high street, to run more frequent markets during the Christmas period at weekends as well as on the Carnival of the Baubles day on Saturday, November 23.
“This will support this local existing market, that brings in local traders and makers to sell their products.
“If successful and supported by local residents, this will also support the work of the cross-party group of councillors currently working on options for potential market provision improvements for the town.”
ABC, which increased parking charges across Ashford and Tenterden by 10% last October, is yet to decide on plans for the Christmas market at the outlet.
If approved, nine stalls will be set up in the centre’s extension from November 18 to December 31.
But Cllr Ovenden says the outlet “is not something I try to think about very much”.
“It’s not my focus, they don’t need my help,” he said.
“They have a way of doing things and they know how to do it.
“I still think, despite the pressure that it has on some retail outlets within the town, that the outlet is a good thing to have in Ashford.”