White Hill Grain Store, White Hill, Boughton Aluph, TN25 4HB Data via plota.co.uk

PA/2026/1474 - Full planning permission Under Consultation

Proposal

Erection of a new crop store following the demolition of the existing building and silos. (Retrospective) Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
14 Aug 2026
✓
Validated
24 Aug 2026
Decision
Expected by 19 Oct 2026

This application is under consideration - no decision has been issued yet. Plota predicts a decision around 2 Nov 2026, from Ashford's recent full applications. The consultation period closed on 24 Sept 2026.

Site constraints 6

2 listed buildings within 150 m of the postcode pin
Nearest: Whitehill Cottages, Grade II, about 0 m from the postcode pin · 2 Grade II
The site itself is not listed. Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Show all 2 with distances
Historic England ↗
Nutrient neutrality catchment: Stodmarsh SAC/SPA/Ramsar
New homes and overnight accommodation must show nutrient neutrality before approval.
Natural England advice: extra wastewater in these catchments harms protected habitats, so schemes must offset their nutrient load, usually through credits.
Kent Downs National Landscape
Great weight to conserving the landscape; major development restricted.
Previously an area of outstanding natural beauty, which is still the designation in law. Since 2023 authorities must seek to further its purpose, not merely have regard to it.
Agricultural land, grade 3a
Best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) agrees.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
North Downs Way about 19 m away
Matters where it crosses or adjoins the site; the route and its margin are protected.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 11 September 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Council
Ashford
Application type
Full planning permission
Postcode
TN25 4HB
Received
14 Aug 2026
Validated
24 Aug 2026
Ward
Downs West
Parish
Boughton Aluph
Case officer
Show
Target decision
19 Oct 2026
Decision level
Delegated Decision
Applicant
Show

Decision outlook

Day 41 of the 56-day target. Ashford usually decides full applications by day 70.

Day 4129 days to the predicted decision (day 70)
29%decided within 8 weeks
88%approved
364decided in the last year

Plota live figures for full applications decided by Ashford in the last twelve months, from validation. Ashford decision record →

Public comments

2comments received
2 neutral

Last counted 3 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Comments by
24 Sept 2026
Ashford
Planning Authority Score
5.9/10
Average
#105 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

Ashford is faster than most councils at deciding householder applications, ranking #75 out of 296. Householder applications are slightly more likely to be approved here (92%) than the national average (90%).

Faster than most councils
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Ashford decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
88%
Overall approval rate
Above avg (87%) #147 of 296
92%
Householder approved
Above avg (90%) #146 of 296
75%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #75 of 296
40%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #146 of 296
71%
Minor dwellings approved
106 decided (1-9 homes)
89%
Major dwellings approved
18 decided (10+ homes)
90%
Change of use approved
40 decided
991
Total decisions
123 refused in the year to March 2026