Otterpool Park garden town has been awarded outline planning permission by Folkestone & Hythe District Council, including provision for 400 self build homes.
Located near Folkestone in Kent, the 8,500 home garden town, led by master developer Otterpool Park LLP will deliver the new homes, jobs and community facilities on the site of the former Folkestone Racecourse. Plans for the site have been in the works for 10 years, with the planning committee voting to support the project by seven votes to five.
The approved plans include:
- Up to 8,500 homes of different types and tenures, including over 1,870 affordable and over 400 self build opportunities.
- Roughly half of the site will be open space with new cycling and walking routes that celebrate existing historical features.
- An integrated transport network.
- Sustainable measures, including electric vehicle charging points and boosting biodiversity by 20%.
- Retail, employment, education, leisure and hospitality space.
The outline planning permission establishes the principle of a development at Otterpool Park Garden Town, setting the Development Specification and the Strategic Design Principles that will frame development.
Master developer Otterpool Park LLP start the detailed planning for the initial phase made up of the town centre and a park based around Westenhanger Castle.
Andy Jarrett, MD of Otterpool Park LLP, said, “This landmark decision is a pivotal point in the delivery of Otterpool Park and follows seven years of planning, masterplanning and community engagement.
“We are committed to creating an exemplar and sustainable garden town that will do so much more than meet local housing needs. This is about creating a new community which includes everything it needs to thrive now, and in the future, with a fundamental focus on enabling healthy, active, and sustainable lifestyles and early delivery of the infrastructure needed to support a community of this scale.
