A seat with a large rural population. Among contentious issues are grammar schools, plans to convert Aldington Prison to a detention centre for asylum seekers have caused a storm, and proposals from a government inquiry to build 40,000 new houses - many on greenbelt land - have not exactly caused produced a round of applause.
At the council elections, in 2000, the Conservatives narrowly missed re-establishing control - they picked up 5 seats and now have 24 compared to 9 each for Labour and the Lib Dems, and 7 between the smaller parties.
Tourism is an important and growing industry. The constituency includes some attractive countryside, part of the ‘Garden of England’, set between the North Downs, Romney Marsh in the East and the Weald of Kent in the south.
There are enormous pressures for development in this area as a result of the M20 which passes through the constituency and the high speed rail link to the Channel Tunnel which has caused controversy.
The town of Ashford is growing after the opening of an international rail station, but in the meantime residents have to endure the construction of a tunnel under the town as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
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