Writing a Planning Statement for a Ashford application
A Planning Statement explains and justifies your proposal against the development plan. For schemes across Ashford — Ashford, Tenterden, Charing and Wye and the surrounding area — that means engaging Ashford's own adopted policies on design, character and amenity, plus the NPPF. Buildwise auto-detects site constraints (Kent Downs National Landscape (AONB, covering part of the borough), settlement confines defined by a written description rather than a map (41 named settlements) and High Weald National Landscape (touches the south-west of the borough)) from your postcode and writes each section tailored to your site and project type.
Cited to Ashford's actual adopted plan
Buildwise references Ashford's live policies directly — for example design, amenity and character policies such as SP1 (Strategic Objectives), SP6 (Promoting High Quality Design), HOU3a (Residential Windfall Development Within Settlements) — quoted from the source documents and verified, never invented. As Ashford updates its plan, Buildwise's corpus is updated with it.
- Ashford Local Plan 2030 (adopted February 2019)
How it works
Address + postcode; constraints detected automatically.
Usually under 10 minutes.
Download as PDF, edit online, or send to your client under your practice logo.
Example (excerpt)
"The single-storey design and restrained ridge height directly address scale and massing, ensuring compliance with Policy SP1 (Strategic Objectives). Generous separation to the host dwelling with no new facing windows satisfies the amenity requirements engaged by Policy SP6…"
Frequently asked questions
Usually not. Across the councils Buildwise covers, a planning statement is a validation requirement only for major applications — several councils do not list it at all, and one asks for it wherever the context and justification need demonstrating. For a householder or small-residential scheme it is optional. It is still the document that argues your scheme against Ashford's adopted policies, which is where most refusals are decided — and where the statutory design and access content applies (major development, or a dwelling or 100m² of new floorspace inside a conservation area or World Heritage Site) Buildwise includes that section too.
Ashford's adopted Ashford Local Plan 2030 (adopted February 2019) policies relevant to your scheme — such as SP1 (Strategic Objectives), SP6 (Promoting High Quality Design), HOU3a (Residential Windfall Development Within Settlements) — plus the NPPF.
Minutes, versus most of a working day by hand.
The permitted development check is free, for everyone, and signing up costs nothing. Planning statements are £95 each with no subscription; monthly plans start at £249.
Start your Ashford Planning Statement.
The Permitted Development check is free — no card needed. Planning documents are £95 each, with your practice’s logo on every one.
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