Kennington, Kent


Kennington is a suburb of Ashford and civil parish in Kent, England. It is about a mile northeast of the town centre and north of the M20 motorway, and contains the 12th-century church, St Mary's. The main A28 Canterbury Road and A2042 Faversham Road run through the village, and the A251 Trinity Road skirts the western edge. In recent years the village has expanded with the building of new housing estates in the Little Burton and Towers View areas.
The Great Stour river and the Kennington stream run through the area.

History

Kennington was an ancient parish, which became a civil parish in 1866. In 1934 the civil parish was abolished and absorbed into Ashford. On the 1st of April 2019 a new parish was created.

Local Government

New Borough ward boundaries will take effect from May 2019, and Kennington will also be represented by a parish council, which will be called Kennington Community Council. The new Borough and Community Council wards are as follows:
Borough WardCouncillorPartyCommunity Council WardNumber of Community Councillor Seats
BockhangerDiccon SpainLabourGrosvenor Hall4
KenningtonNathan IliffeConservativeKennington4
BybrookHoward TurnerAshford IndependentBybrook4
Conningbrook and Little Burton FarmKatherine OvendenAshford IndependentLittle Burton Farm3
Goat Lees Winston MichaelAshford IndependentKennington North1

Schools

There is one secondary school in the village, the Towers School, with a local junior school, Kennington CE Academy, and an infants school, Downs View Infants School. Since the county still operates a grammar school system, those who pass the Kent Test are given the opportunity to attend the grammar school in Ashford, the Norton Knatchbull School or Highworth Grammar School.

Amenities

Kennington is home to 1st Kennington Scout group, a long running scout group that includes all factions of the Scouting association; Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, and a highly successful branch of Network, dubbed 'The Roosters', featuring local minor celebrity 'Little' John Sheret.
Kennington has four pubs, "The Old Mill", "The Conningbrook Hotel", "The Rose Inn" and "The Pheasant". The "Kennington Carvery" is a new business to the area, opening on Wednesday's, Sunday's & Bank holiday Monday's for an eat as much as you like Carvery. On Friday's & Saturday's the venue can be hired for weddings, parties & all other events.

Demography

At the 2001 UK census, the Kennington electoral ward had a population of 2,321. The ethnicity was 96.3% white, 1.1% mixed race, 1.6% Asian, 0.5% black and 0.5% other. The place of birth of residents was 93.1% United Kingdom, 0.6% Republic of Ireland, 1.9% other Western European countries, and 4.4% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 79.5% Christian, 0.2% Buddhist, 0.7% Hindu, 0.2% Sikh, 0.1% Jewish, and 0.6% Muslim. 10.3% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 8.2% did not state their religion.
The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 43.3% in full-time employment, 14% in part-time employment, 10.2% self-employed, 1.9% unemployed, 3.6% students with jobs, 4.9% students without jobs, 13.4% retired, 4.7% looking after home or family, 2.6% permanently sick or disabled and 1.5% economically inactive for other reasons.
The industry of employment of residents was 16.1% retail, 13.8% manufacturing, 7.8% construction, 12.1% real estate, 10.9% health and social work, 8.4% education, 8% transport and communications, 6.6% public administration, 5.7% hotels and restaurants, 5% finance, 1.1% agriculture and 4.5% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in hotels and restaurants, and a relatively low proportion in agriculture. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 21.6% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.