Stanhope, Kent

Stanhope is a small urban civil parish and neighbourhood of Ashford in the Ashford Borough of Kent, England. It is entirely a residential estate built in the 1960s on the southern edge of Ashford. It would appear the post war new estate was named after the nearby former COUNTY INDUSTRIAL (STANHOPE) SCHOOL 1874-1942. It is currently the subject of phased re-development and its population, as such, grew by 235 in the ten years from 2001 accompanied by a mixture of new and replacement housing.Re-developmentThe complete Stanhope regeneration project, planned and developed since 1999, is a £200 million PFI (Private Finance Initiative) whereby the private sector partner is responsible for maintaining amenities and rebuilding housing stock over 30 years. The cornerstone of the scheme is to demolish all of the 410 flats on the estate and replace them with more than 400 mixed-type new homes. The new homes are a mix of rented housing, owned and managed by a housing association, shared ownership and houses for private, outright sale.The estimated remaining 300 or so council-owned houses will be renovated and all of the building work will be carried out in the first five years of the contract. Ideas for improving the area were raised by local people during a Planning for Real community exercise held in 2000. The initial demolition was carried out by the Council in October 2004.