Ashford

Local Authority District in England

Kent, South East

§ This page gives an overview of the Ashford local authority district, bringing together key facts, maps, and data to help you quickly understand the area. One of 361 district profiles on Baseview.

Overview ⁞ Ashford, in Kent, is a growing town surrounded by countryside and villages. The town centre has modern shopping complexes alongside historic buildings and churches, while the surrounding area includes the North Downs, Romney Marsh, and the Stour Valley. Villages such as Wye, with its hillside crown cut into the chalk, add charm. The River Stour flows through, and orchards, farmland, and woodlands provide a varied landscape. Ashford combines a bustling town with scenic rural surroundings.

The administrative boundary of Ashford can be viewed on OpenStreetMap: District Boundary of Ashford.

Map of Ashford — Administrative Boundary of Ashford (Local Authority District)

Key Facts about Ashford

What region is Ashford in? Ashford is in the South East of England, a region within the UK.

What county is Ashford in? Ashford is located in the county of Kent.

Is Ashford a city? No, Ashford is not a city. (Note: the UK has 76 officially designated cities.)

Who governs Ashford? The local authority for this district is: Ashford Borough Council - responsible for district-level services. Since Kent is a two-tier area, county-level services are handled by: Kent County Council.

▶ Official website of Ashford Borough Council 🔗 ashford.gov.uk

Which police force covers Ashford? Policing in Ashford is provided by Kent Police 🔗 kent.police.uk, which serves 13 local authority districts: Ashford ⁞ Canterbury ⁞ Dartford ⁞ Dover ⁞ Folkestone and Hythe ⁞ Gravesham ⁞ Maidstone ⁞ Medway ⁞ Sevenoaks ⁞ Swale ⁞ Thanet ⁞ Tonbridge and Malling ⁞ Tunbridge Wells.

This district page, Ashford, is a sub-page of this county page: Kent and this region page: South East. It zooms in to local authorities and parliamentary constituencies, and provides a list of wards in this district. We have this list page for easy browsing of all UK local authority districts: List of Local Authority Districts.

Constituencies in Ashford

A constituency is a specific geographical area that elects one Member of Parliament (MP) to represent them in the House of Commons. The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary constituencies. We have this list page for easy browsing of all UK parliamentary constituencies: List of Constituencies.

Wards in Ashford

Ashford is divided into 39 wards, listed below in alphabetical order.

Aylesford & East Stour
Beaver
Biddenden
Bircholt
Bockhanger
Bybrook
Charing
Conningbrook & Little Burton Farm
Downs North
Downs West
Furley
Goat Lees
Godinton
Highfield
Isle of Oxney
Kennington
Kingsnorth Village & Bridgefield
Mersham, Sevington South with Finberry
Norman
Park Farm North
Park Farm South
Repton
Rolvenden & Tenterden West
Roman
Saxon Shore
Singleton East
Singleton West
Stanhope
Tenterden North
Tenterden South
Tenterden St Michael's
Upper Weald
Victoria
Washford
Weald Central
Weald North
Weald South
Willesborough
Wye with Hinxhill

In the UK, a ward is a subdivision of a local authority area, used mainly for electoral and statistical purposes. Defined by the ONS, wards represent the primary unit for local elections, each returning one or more councillors to the local council. Wards are also used as a key geography for presenting population and census data.

Parishes in Ashford

Ashford is part-parished: 44 civil parishes (listed A-Z below) alongside 1 unparished areas.

Aldington
Appledore
Bethersden
Biddenden
Bilsington
Bonnington
Boughton Aluph
Brabourne
Brook
Challock
Charing
Chilham
Crundale
Eastwell
Egerton
Godmersham
Great Chart with Singleton
Hastingleigh
High Halden
Hothfield
Kenardington
Kennington
Kingsnorth
Little Chart
Mersham
Molash
Newenden
Orlestone
Pluckley
Rolvenden
Ruckinge
Sevington with Finberry
Shadoxhurst
Smarden
Smeeth
South Willesborough & Newtown
Stanhope
Stone-cum-Ebony
Tenterden
Warehorne
Westwell
Wittersham
Woodchurch
Wye with Hinxhill

A civil parish is the lowest tier of local government in England, used for villages, small towns, and suburbs. They have their own local authority, either a parish council or a parish meeting, which provides local services like managing parks, allotments, and streetlights, and represents the community's views to larger councils.

Built-up Areas in Ashford

Ashford covers 38 built-up areas, listed below in alphabetical order.

Aldington
Appledore (Ashford)
Appledore Heath
Ashford (Ashford)
Bethersden
Biddenden
Bilting
Brabourne Lees *
Bromley Green
Brook (Ashford)
Challock
Charing
Chilham *
Chilmington Green
East End *
Egerton
Finberry
Great Chart
Hamstreet
High Halden
Hothfield
Kingsnorth (Ashford)
London Beach
Mersham
Old Wives Lees
Pluckley
Pluckley Thorne
Rolvenden
Rolvenden Layne
Sellindge *
Sevington
Shadoxhurst
Smarden
Tenterden
Wittersham
Woodchurch
Woolpack Corner
Wye

In the UK, a Built-up Area (BUA) is a continuous urban area of at least 20 hectares (0.2 km²), defined by the ONS as land where buildings are generally no more than 200 metres apart, such as towns, cities, or large villages. (Note: A BUA name marked with an asterisk (*) indicates that the area is situated partly in the district of Ashford.)

Ashford compared with other districts in the UK

This section shows how Ashford compares with other local authority districts in the UK, using a variety of measures and rankings.

Ashford has 39 electoral wards.

Ashford compared with other districts — ▮ Smaller: 321 ▮ Similar: 13 ▮ Larger: 27 (compared with 361 districts)

Ashford has a population of 140,936 (2024 mid-year estimate by ONS)

Population of Ashford compared with other districts — Population of Ashford, compared with other districts in England and Wales

More local statistics and data for Ashford can be found on the ONS statistics for Ashford.