Decision details

As part of the provision of the new Ashford College Campus on Elwick Road, the Council undertook to grant £3 million to West Kent and Ashford College. As advised by finance and legal in granting this public funding, it was deemed prudent to offer this funding as a secured loan in the first instance (£2 million for Phase 1 and £1 million for Phase 1a), in order to ensure the physical delivery of this project.

Cabinet and Full Council approved these loans, and the terms of their conversion to grant, in July 2016. Cabinet also noted the Chief Executive’s use of delegated authority in September 2018 to convert the £2million loan for Phase 1 into a grant following the completion of this phase of the development. The College have an existing £1million loan from the Council for Phase 1a, which could be converted to a grant on completion of the Phase 1a buildings.

The report to Cabinet in February 2020 updated Cabinet on the steps being taken by the Council to support a resolution to the West Kent and Ashford College Education Administration, and requested that Cabinet delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with others to resolve discussions with the Education Administrators over the £1 million loan, to seek to create a good college provision within the area moving forward.

The Council was able to negotiate covenants and overage agreements on the two East Kent College properties at Wotton Road and Elwick Road, and the Chief Executive used the delegated authority agreed at Cabinet, following consultation with the Leader and senior members and officers, to agree the legal documents.


The Council entered into an Overage Deed with East Kent College on the College's Cumming House, Wotton Road site, and Phase 1a Elwick Road site to the overall value of £1.2 million.

The Council signed the Deed of release for the original loan and the DS1 to release the charges on the Elwick Road site.

This resulted in the ability for East Kent College to take over the running of Ashford College from the 1st April 2020.

In considering the options for Ashford Borough Council to act, the principle objective has been to support the continued positive provision of teaching and learning by West Kent and Ashford College within the Borough. Officers have looked to mitigate risks where this is possible alongside continuing to support the development of future positive solutions.

The options to be considered as part of the negotiations with the education administrator included;

1.Looking to transfer other land assets such as Wotton Road to Ashford Borough Council to retain the Council’s ability to reinvest these into the delivery of the Phase 1a development moving forward.

2.To take out a covenant and overage agreement on the Phase 1a site in order to restrict its use to educational use without the Council’s approval, and to ensure that if this site is considered surplus to requirements moving forward, that any funding generated through the sale of the site over £1, is repaid back to the Council up to the value of £1 million. This would enable the Council to retain this funding within the borough and use this to support other schemes that could benefit local residents and businesses.

These options looked to enable the Council to retain an involvement in supporting East Kent College to deliver the Phase 1a development moving forward.