Stagecoach indicated it was prepared to plan for an extension of the existing B-line service into the Finberry development in Ashford, potentially in the first part of 2027, after an all-parties site walkover took place in August 2026.
Residents of the Finberry housing development on the edge of Ashford moved a step closer to receiving their first bus service after all parties involved in a long-running road adoption dispute met on site in August 2026, according to a report considered by Ashford’s Joint Transportation Board when it met on 1 September 2026.
The report, prepared by Roland Mills, Head of Development Management and Enforcement at Ashford Borough Council, set out that Stagecoach appeared “comfortable with planning for introduction of a service through the extension of the existing B-line service to cover Finberry in 2027, potentially with that service being first available during the early part of the year.”
Why the bus has not arrived
Street adoption — the formal process by which roads built by developers are taken over and maintained by Kent County Council — has been the central obstacle to any bus service reaching Finberry. Until roads are adopted, a commercial operator cannot run a scheduled service over them.
South of the entrance roundabout into Finberry, the first tranche of roads being adopted by KCC through the Section 38 Highways Act 1980 process was reported to be at final snagging stage. Progress on that tranche would allow a second tranche — including the stretch of Avocet Way south of the entrance roundabout to the southern boundary of Finberry — to move forward. Developer Crest Nicholson indicated that final wearing course and remedial works on Avocet Way could be completed by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
South of the Finberry boundary, the Bridgefield section of the link road is the responsibility of Taylor Wimpey. A dispute between Taylor Wimpey and KCC over streetlighting specification had prevented finalisation of adoption agreements, but the report stated there was “currently momentum” towards resolving the matter.
ANPR cameras and a funding deadline
A further critical requirement is the installation of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras at either end of the northern link road connecting Finberry and Bridgefield. The report said the link road’s carriageway is currently blocked at either end to prevent misuse, while the footway and cycleway along the route are open and well used. The cameras would enforce the vehicle restriction once a bus service began running over it. The report stated that Department for Transport funding is available to KCC to install the cameras, but must be spent before 31 March 2027.
The report noted that at the Finberry end a new pole and camera would be needed, while at the Bridgefield end existing streetlight infrastructure was understood to be capable of accommodating a camera.
Bus stop locations agreed
An all-parties site walkover on 18 August 2026 reviewed the previously approved stop locations along the route. The report identifies the parties to the process as the Finberry team — the Church Commissioners and their appointed developer Crest Nicholson — the Bridgefield consortium led by Taylor Wimpey, Kent County Council Highways and Ashford Borough Council, and records the Stagecoach team as attending the walkover.
Three stop locations at Finberry — on Avocet Way near the proposed local centre, by the play area, and opposite Finberry Primary School — were confirmed as remaining acceptable. At the Bridgefield end, the parties agreed that one shelter on the southern side of Damara Way and a further pole stop to the west, without a shelter, would work better than the previously approved arrangement, reducing potential conflicts at the junction with Finn Farm Road.
The report noted that bus shelter maintenance would ultimately become an Ashford Borough Council responsibility before local government reorganisation.
Future possibilities
The report indicated that further development to the west of Finberry under Ashford Local Plan Policy S15, together with a planned new bridge over the East Stour connecting Finberry with the Waterbrook Park development, may in future allow Stagecoach to consider adapting or adding further commercial service provision, though the report described this as “clearly, a matter further into the future.”
The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so the committee’s decision is not yet on the public record.
Image: Avocet Way, Finberry, Ashford. Photo: John Baker / Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0.