Ashford Town Centre Support Grants

Due to a high number of applications and a limited amount of funding, this grant scheme is now closed to any further applications.

The Ashford Town Centre Support Grant provided support to landlords or tenants to make improvements to their business premises and attract investment into Ashford town centre. The two grant schemes could provide 75% of the cost of works, up to a limit of £3,000 or £10,000, that needed to be carried out to undertake work such as repairs, renovations, energy efficiency improvements or fit-outs to units.

The grant was funded from the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) (Discretionary) which was provided by Government to councils to support businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ashford Borough Council has pro-actively used this funding since November 2020 to issue support grants to over 400 businesses across the borough, helping to safeguard approximately 800 jobs.

The deadline for this round of applications was 11.59pm on 5 December 2021. Depending on the final number of applications received, the council may consider further rounds after this date.

Please read the full policy attached at the bottom of this page and take a look at each grant’s page for further information.

Note: works allowed under these grant schemes would likely require Planning Permission (such as Listed Building Consent, Advertising Consent or similar). Ashford Town Centre is largely within a Conservation Area so applicants would have needed to consider the design and impact of their project. Please click on the relevant guidance below to see what they would have needed to consider and how to contact the Planning department about projects or how to submit a planning application.

Also, due to lead in times for planning applications, only grant applications submitted before 5 December 2021 that require planning permissions were accepted. Due to a high number of applications and a limited amount of funding, this grant scheme is now closed to any further applications.

Planning Guidance

Policy

View the Town Centre Support Grants policy [pdf] 1118KB