Plans for new £104m Ashford motorway junction approved

A £104m project to create a new motorway junction on the M20 at Ashford in Kent has been granted development consent by the government.

J10a will be built around 700 metres east of the existing junction 10.

Cllr Gerry Clarkson, Ashford Borough Council’s leader, said: “This is yet more extremely good news for the town and another example of the momentum in Ashford’s transformation. Our Big 8 projects are all moving forward and the future is looking very bright indeed.

“Ashford Borough Council has long campaigned for the delivery of extra road transport capacity to cater for the town’s future needs. Junction 10a is another piece of the borough’s integrated transport infrastructure jigsaw to fall into place.”

Chief executive of Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, Jo James, described the announcement as “fantastic news”.

She added: “So much economic activity has been locked up while we waited for this project to come forward and with this announcement today the brakes will finally come off these investments.”

The town has rail, road, air and sea links providing businesses access to 360m consumers across Europe. Its connectivity is said to be a reason Ashford was voted the best place to do business in Kent.

The new M20 junction is to provide capacity needed to enable a major programme of economic and commercial development and house building to proceed.