Free Guide: Ashford Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Ashford Borough Council · Non-metropolitan district · South East
Data covering 2011 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£1.9bn
Transactions
208,642
Suppliers
2,232
Key Takeaways
- £1.86 billion in recorded spend across 208,642 transactions since 2011
- 39.7% of matched spend goes to construction, with 210 identified suppliers in that sector
- 2,269 matched suppliers and an HHI of 328 point to a widely spread supplier base
How big a buyer is Ashford?
Ashford Borough Council covers 224 square miles of Kent with a population of around 131,000. For a non-metropolitan district, it moves a lot of money. Our data shows £1.86 billion in recorded spend across 208,642 transactions, drawn from 57 source files and spanning 2011 to 2026. That works out to roughly £124 million a year on average, though the actual distribution will be uneven. The data comes from two sources: the council's own website and Find a Tender. We've matched 2,269 suppliers against Companies House records, giving you a solid base to work from when scoping this market. On the contracts side, the picture is thinner. We hold 25 published contracts worth a combined £15.1 million, plus 110 tenders valued at £59.4 million. The gap between transaction-level spend and formal contract data is worth bearing in mind as you assess the opportunity here.
Construction dominates, but who's actually getting paid?
Construction accounts for 39.7% of identified spend, pulling in £103.7 million across 210 matched suppliers. That's nearly three times the next largest sector, administrative and support services, which sits at 13.6%. Professional, scientific and technical activities takes 10.1%. Stanhope PLC tops the supplier list at £27.2 million, followed by a related entity, Chrysalis (Stanhope) Limited, at £21.7 million. Between them, those two account for roughly £49 million. Bevan Brittan LLP, a law firm, comes in third at £19.6 million. Norfolk Rivers Consortium Limited sits at £15 million. Five of the top ten suppliers are classified under construction. But the market is not concentrated. The HHI sits at just 328, which is low, and the top five suppliers account for only 34.9% of recorded spend. With 2,232 unique suppliers in the dataset, this is a fragmented market with plenty of participants.
Where are the formal tenders?
Here is where the data gets sparse. We hold just 2 formal contracts for Ashford, both awarded through open tender, one above threshold and one below. The median contract value across those two is £7.5 million, which obviously reflects a tiny sample rather than a typical contract size. The tender pipeline is busier. Our records show 110 tenders with a combined value of £59.4 million, which gives a better sense of procurement activity over time. The contrast between 208,642 payment transactions and only 2 matched contracts tells you something about how this council's spending data flows. Most of what we can see comes through transaction-level records rather than published contract notices. If you're looking at Ashford, the payment data is where the depth sits. The tender records give you a sense of what's coming to market, but the transaction history is what maps the real supplier relationships.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | STANHOPE PLC | £27,214,606 |
| 2 | CHRYSALIS (STANHOPE) LIMITED | £21,743,236 |
| 3 | BEVAN BRITTAN LLP | £19,578,234 |
| 4 | NORFOLK RIVERS CONSORTIUM LIMITED | £15,000,000 |
| 5 | GRB KENT LIMITED | £7,611,782 |
| 6 | ZED PODS LTD | £6,644,635 |
| 7 | BOUYGUES (U.K.) LIMITED | £6,002,610 |
| 8 | SUEZ RECYCLING AND RECOVERY UK LTD | £5,973,526 |
| 9 | E.ON ENERGY SOLUTIONS LIMITED | £5,318,326 |
| 10 | SWALE HEATING LIMITED | £5,316,141 |
About Us
CouncilLedger brings together spending records, contract awards, and tender notices from over 400 UK local authorities into one procurement intelligence platform. Our data covers 16 years of transactions, collected directly from council transparency publications and government procurement platforms. Search suppliers, track spending trends, discover tender opportunities, and monitor the contracts that matter to your business.
