Furious traders say they fear for their livelihoods after a council set a “brutal” six-month deadline to vacate a shopping centre earmarked for demolition.

Those running shops in Park Mall, Ashford, have been given until the end of August to leave the centre, which is due to be flattened early next year along with the neighbouring Edinburgh Road multi-storey car park.

Bosses at Ashford Borough Council (ABC) say they will set up an “interim surface-level car park while exploring ideas for what the area could be transformed to in the future”.

But traders currently in the centre - which is home to a mixture of independent and chain stores - say they have been blindsided by the speed of the decision.

The site has been hit by a number of closures in recent years, with the loss of Wilko in 2023 its most high-profile departure.

Traders were told at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon how ABC plans to turn the site into homes in later years, but it remains unclear how many properties will be built.

Russell Geen, who has run The Little Teapot cafe since 2016, thinks the move will not help the town centre.

“The council is letting everyone have six months, but we weren’t expecting it,” he said.

“They’ve been talking about this since 2017 or 2018, and it never materialised – until now.

“Thy claim the car park will be temporary before turning into housing, but I can’t see that happening.

“It will be a car park for years, and for what? So people can park and walk into an empty town? Ashford is losing its unique shops.”

ABC, which is run by an Ashford Independents/Green Party coalition, has long held ambitions to turn the shopping mall into homes.

The council had held the leasehold for Park Mall since 2015, but recently secured the freehold after the authority’s cabinet agreed to the move in December.

It says it has allowed traders six months “to try and give them time to find alternative premises”.

But Joe Bartlett, director at Baby Art Studios close to the town’s First World War tank, said the notice period is “brutal”.

“It was clear at the meeting that there are no real plans for relocating traders – we’ll just be pushed into private landlords who will hike up the prices,” he said.

“But we’re already in the town centre. The council is just ripping apart what’s here and replacing it with a car park.”

David Hebditch, owner of Baby Art Studios and neighbouring Bump2Baby Scan, is calling for all tenants to be given compensation by ABC.

“The way they have treated us and the way it’s happened in such a short space of time is unforgivable really, and it’s not a comfortable situation,” he said.

“We want to propose that the council give us 12 months, not six, and also a generous compensation package for the setup costs we’ve had.

"They knew in December when they made the decision, and yet they hung on until the end of February - that’s two-and-a-half months less time we’ve had.”

Louisa Bennett, owner of Salvage Studio, said the tight timeframe is particularly challenging for businesses like hers, which supports vulnerable adults in the community.

“We always knew there were plans for Park Mall, but we presumed we would be given longer than six months,” she said.

“The hardest part is that we’ve only been here since October, and we’ve just settled in.

“Now, we have the awful job of telling the vulnerable adults we work with that the space they love is being taken away.”

ABC says it is now planning to submit a planning application for the demolition of both sites.

It says it will “work closely with existing Park Mall tenants, and where appropriate seek to support them in relocating into vacant units elsewhere in the town centre”.

Three units which face onto the Upper High Street - O2, Kamsons and Greggs - will remain open as they “maintain an attractive and active presence and will not impede the wider redevelopment of the site”.

In response to traders’ concerns over the “brutal” deadline, a spokesman for the authority said it is acting “just like any other commercial landlord would”.

“Each tenant has a different lease agreement with us, but all of the leases include a break clause, allowing us to give notice,” he said.

“Some tenants’ leases only have a month or two-month notice period, however we have extended this to six months to allow them more time to move.”

The spokesman said Park Mall has been “in a state of spiralling decline for several years and is operating at a significant loss”.

The Edinburgh Road car park currently offers 210 spaces, but its top storey has been cordoned off due to anti-social behaviour and its lifts regularly break.

“This move would reduce the council’s operating losses on Park Mall and pave the way forward for the onward redevelopment and regeneration of the site,” the spokesman said.

“If Park Mall and Edinburgh Road car park were to remain and continue operating in their current format, the council would need to allocate a significant budget to maintenance and upgrade works over the next one-two years to ensure the buildings meet all the necessary compliance standards, and we feel this is not sustainable.

“When we purchased the leasehold in 2015, more than a decade ago, we were always clear in the short term we would try and revive the shopping centres’ fortunes, but the longer-term plans would probably not include retail, due to the changing nature of town centres and shopping habits, like we have seen up and down the country.

“This was reported at the time and in subsequent articles in the local media over the years, including recently when Wilko closed, which has had a big effect on footfall.

“The reason we have now proceeded with these plans is due to the opportunity to purchase the freehold from the previous owners coming up.”

ABC says it “hopes tenants are able to find units elsewhere and remain in the town centre” as there are “currently many vacant units”.

But some traders have already told KentOnline they are considering relocating to other towns such as Folkestone or Maidstone, or closing for good.

The council spokesman added: “As we explained in our face-to-face meeting with tenants, we want to help tenants as much as we can, and will provide advice, signpost to financial support available in terms of empty property grants, put them in contact with local commercial agent Stafford Perkins who can provide details of other empty properties available in the town centre and work with them individually for their specific needs and situation.”

ABC confirmed it will “shortly be advertising for development partners who will be invited to submit proposals outlining their approach” for the site.

The authority says it is “difficult to provide an exact timescale” for demolition, but is “more likely to be early next year”.

It says traders have been given six months’ notice so the site is completely clear by October.