More than 1,000 homes could be built on a sprawling private school site after teachers announced plans to relocate.

Ashford School has been at its historic 15-acre home in East Hill for 111 years but now bosses hope to construct a state-of-the-art campus three miles away.

All the school’s buildings near the town centre - some of which are listed - have been put forward in a planning process led by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) to identify suitable building plots.

Planning agent Hobbs Parker has submitted the site on behalf of the United Church Schools Trust, which runs the school, saying the land could accommodate between 1,000 and 1,200 homes.

If the plan goes ahead, Ashford School says it will build a new secondary block on farmland it owns next to its existing primary facility, Ashford Prep School, in Great Chart.

The East Hill site has been included in ABC’s "call for sites" - an invitation to developers and landowners to submit plots for inclusion in the authority’s new Local Plan, which sets out where homes could be built in the borough up to 2041.

In a statement, Michael Hall, head teacher of Ashford School, says parents have been informed of the planned move.

“The recent publication of a review of Ashford Borough Council’s Local Plan 2041 explores several different ideas and options for developing the town over the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.

“One idea is to develop the six-hectare [14.8-acre] Ashford School campus on East Hill.

“This would involve a significant investment, relocating Ashford Senior School to the Great Chart site, in a brand-new, state-of-the-art school facility.

“But, no decision has yet been taken on which sites will form part of the borough’s master plan for the future of the town.

“Earlier this year we told parents that a move to Great Chart might be an option; however, this will depend on a number of different variables.”

The application to ABC suggests the site could be ready to be developed within the next five years as “early strategic discussions have taken place with ABC’s chief executive, head of planning and strategic development and delivery manager”.

The school, which is an independent secondary school with boarding facilities, has more than 500 pupils and costs £6,786 per term for children in Years 7 to 11 to attend.

Ashford Prep School, meanwhile, is set within 40 acres in Great Chart and has more than 350 children aged between three to 11 years.

Last autumn, ABC invited people to put forward sites they own, or to suggest land that may potentially be available, for inclusion in the new Local Plan.

More than 300 plots were submitted in the “call for sites” and planning officers will now start assessing each one, including Ashford School, to look at their “suitability, availability and achievability” before any decisions are made.

Once all sites have been assessed, the authority’s preferred options will be published for public consultation.

Part of County Square shopping centre has been included, with bosses looking to turn the closure-hit extension into 200 homes.

In a statement, ABC said the list of submitted sites is published for “information purposes only”.

“No decision has been taken as to which sites will form part of a future strategy for the borough,” said the authority, which is now run by an Ashford Independent/Green Party coalition.

“Being put forward for consideration for development does not mean a site will be allocated in the Local Plan, nor does it determine whether planning permission should be granted on any subsequent planning application that may be submitted.”

Ashford School used to own the historic H.S Pledge and Son mill at the bottom of East Hill, more recently known as the Liquid and Envy nightclub.

It purchased the site in 2011 and six years later plans emerged to turn the seven-storey building, which was rebuilt after a disastrous fire in May 1974, into a performing arts centre complete with a 250-seat theatre and staff offices.

But in 2020, the school announced it was no longer part of its masterplan and the site was sold to developer Oliver Davis who secured permission to convert it into 53 flats, but work is yet to begin.

Mr David told KentOnline in February how the project “is held up by the Stodmarsh lake issue, hence why it has not started”.

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“If a mitigation scheme is available we would love to hear about it. As soon as we have a solution we will be starting,” he said.

Problems with nutrient neutrality levels in and around the Stodmarsh Nature Reserve near Canterbury have delayed huge numbers of houses being built across east Kent.