Swinford Cottage, The Street, Westwell, Ashford, TN25 4JX Data via plota.co.uk

NOT/2026/1418 - Notification of proposed works to trees in a conservation area Approved

Proposal

T1 - Holly - fell tree (dying). T2 - Box elder maple - Crown reduction by 3 metres off height & spread. T3 - Black locust - Pollard twin stem down to 5.5 metres from ground level (decay in base) T4 - Laurel - Fell stem nearest wall of church. T5 - Crab Apple tree - Fell as tree is dead. T6 - Mulberry - crown reduction from 6 metres to 3.5 metres. Stems are split. T8 - Bay - Crown reduction of max 1 metre. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
6 Aug 2026
✓
Validated
18 Aug 2026
✓
Approved
around 24 Sept 2026

Approved around 24 Sept 2026 · Delegated Decision · Last checked 25 Sept 2026

Site constraints 7

7 listed buildings within 150 m of the postcode pin
Nearest: Court Lodge, Grade II, about 4 m from the postcode pin · 1 Grade I, 6 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 7 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.
Westwell conservation area
Demolition needs planning permission and permitted development is restricted.
The council must give weight to preserving or enhancing the area's character and appearance. Not every council has published its boundaries as open data.
Council document ↗
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), which most planning maps still show, had this area as grade 2. The predicted grade is Defra's current estimate; only a site survey settles it.
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.
Habitat network: Network Expansion Zone
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Also on the record
Priority habitat about 8 m away: No main habitat but additional habitats present.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 24 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.

Sales history 1

Last sold for £750,000 in February 2016. Detached house, freehold.

19 February 2016£750,000

Sale prices from HM Land Registry's price paid record, matched to this application by its address.

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Important details

Council
Ashford
Application type
Notification of proposed works to trees in a conservation area
Postcode
TN25 4JX
Received
6 Aug 2026
Validated
18 Aug 2026
Ward
Downs West
Parish
Westwell
Case officer
Show
Target decision
29 Sept 2026
Decision
No Objection
Decision date
around 24 Sept 2026
Decision level
Delegated Decision
Applicant
Show

Public comments

No public comments yet.

Last counted 25 Sept 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:
Other 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

Sale prices: Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.