Richard Alderton BA (Hons) Town and Country Planning; MA Project Management (Property Development); Diploma in Surveying
Head of Planning and Development, Ashford Borough Council

Richard started his career in London planning at strategic and borough levels. He now heads a multi-disciplinary team handling development from inception to completion in Ashford, Kent.

Experience in Ashford has covered a range of strategic projects – from the international railway station and selection of the route for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link to national housing growth area status in 2002 and subsequently the co-ordination of a masterplanning process and a programme of major project delivery. This has included a programme of town centre renewal with key development projects, a radical ‘shared space’ scheme and road network re-modelling and a major urban extension at Chilmington Green. Raising design standards and community involvement in place-making are central to the team’s ethos and the Council was one of only 4 nationally to achieve Beacon Status for ‘Planning for Sustainable Communities’ in 2007. Richard is an IDEA Planning Peer Reviewer.