Ashford files more listed-building applications than anywhere typical, at 3.6 times the national rate.
Ashford Council received 2,061 planning applications in 2025, approving 90.6% of those decided, above the 87.6% national rate. The figure that most sets the town apart is listed-building work: 8.6% of applications submitted to the Ashford area concerned a listed building, against a 2.4% national share. Retrospective applications, where consent is sought after building is already done, ran at 7.0%, nearly double the national figure of 3.7%.
The year in one line
Ashford submitted 2,061 applications to its local planning authority in 2025, winning approval at above the national rate, while listed-building work ran at 3.6 times the national share and retrospective applications came in at 1.9 times the norm.
What Ashford Is Building
Extensions lead, but listed-building work defines the mix.
Home extensions were the most common application type submitted to Ashford Council in 2025, at 20.9% of the total, below the 29.1% national share. What stands out sharply is listed-building work: at 8.6% of submissions, it ran at 3.6 times the national figure. Retrospective applications, at 7.0%, came in at 1.9 times the national rate. This is the application mix of a town with a dense stock of protected buildings and owners who regularly build ahead of consent.
Applications submitted to Ashford Council in 2025 within the Ashford area, by project type.
The listed-building effect
Listed-building work ran at 3.6 times the national share, the town's strongest outlier. Retrospective applications came in at 1.9 times the norm and annexes at 2.4 times. Ashford's stock of protected buildings drives a planning caseload unlike most English towns.
The council verdict
An easier yes than most.
Ashford Council approved 90.6% of the applications it decided across 2024 and 2025, above the 87.6% national rate. Refusals stood at 9.4%, about 1 in 11, below the 12.4% national figure. Applications with a listed-building component tend to face closer scrutiny, yet the overall approval rate remained above the national norm.
About 1 in 11 Ashford applications was turned down.
of decisions were refusals, below the 12.4% national rate. About 1 in 11 decided applications was turned down, against 1 in 8 nationally.
Ashford vs The National Norm
A heritage town, by the numbers.
Set Ashford's application mix against the national average and one pattern stands clear: listed-building work runs at 3.6 times the national share, the town's defining outlier. Retrospective applications run at 1.9 times the norm and annexes at 2.4 times. Extensions, by contrast, come in well below the national share, and dormers are at half the national rate. The approval rate is above national, showing the council says yes more often than most.
Ashford submits listed-building applications at 3.6 times the national share, the clearest divergence in the town's planning data. Retrospective applications add a second outlier at 1.9 times the norm.
Each bar is Ashford's share of applications submitted in 2025; the marker is the national share. Listed-building work is the town's defining outlier.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices kept climbing alongside the building work.
Permission may be harder to win here, but values have held their upward path: the average Ashford home sold for more than before, with prices up across the year.
Ashford's planning data reflects a town with a rich stock of listed buildings. One in twelve applications submitted in 2025 concerned a listed building, at 3.6 times the national share, and the retrospective rate sits nearly double the national figure. Despite that, the council approved more than 9 in 10 decided applications, above the national rate. For anyone owning or buying a listed property in Ashford, the data shows consent is more often granted than refused, but the process requires proper attention.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Ashford Council in 2025, classified from each application's published description. Shares and rates are computed over the pooled 2024-2025 window for stability; volume figures are per year.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals. The national benchmarks are computed the same way across all decided applications in England and Wales.
Sales Data
HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for the Ashford post town, the latest full year's completions, with growth measured against the previous year.
The Real Applications
Open the planning applications behind the numbers.
These are real applications submitted to Ashford Council, from listed-building consent and retrospective work to refusals. Open any one to see its full record.
41 Manor House Drive, Kingsnorth TN23 3LP
An integral garage was converted into a habitable room with new windows, one of the many conversions the council approved with conditions.
See this property's full recordThe Willows Spelders Hill, Brook TN25 5PB
Permission was granted for a two-storey outbuilding to replace an existing one, reflecting the outbuilding work Ashford files above the national rate.
See this property's full recordLittle Bedgebury Farm, High Halden TN26 3HT
A single-storey detached garage was approved after it had already been built, an example of the retrospective work that runs at nearly double the national rate.
See this property's full recordOakdene Bromley Green Road, Ruckinge TN26 2EG
A single-storey rear extension, the most common project type in Ashford, was granted with conditions.
See this property's full record37 Bishops Green TN23 5BQ
Fencing already put up around the property was refused after the fact, one of the roughly 1 in 11 applications the council turned down.
See this property's full record18 Blackwall Road North, Willesborough TN24 0NU
Listed-building consent for a replacement front door was refused, a reminder of the close scrutiny on the town's many protected buildings.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Ashford?
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