Plans show Otterpool Park to be built in the vicinity of Westenhanger railway station, between Lympne and Westenhanger.
The 'garden town' development is being led by the Folkestone & Hythe District Council through its master developer vehicle Otterpool Park LLP, supported by planning and development specialists Quod, Arcadis, Tibbalds and Farrells.
As well as up to 8,500 homes of a range of types and tenures, there would be up to 29,000 sqm of retail and related uses, 87,500 sqm of employment floor space including commercial and light industrial, 8,000 sqm of hotel floorspace, 8,500 sqm of leisure/sports floorspace and 67,000 sqm of education and community – including up to seven primary and two secondary schools as well as nurseries and crèches, health centres, places of worship and community centres.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s planning and licensing committee voted by seven votes to five in favour of granting outline planning consent. This gives the go ahead to the principle of a development at Otterpool Park, including the development specification, parameter plans and the strategic design principles that will guide detailed designs for each phase.
It is the first stage of a three-tiered planning approach and will be followed by frameworks for each development phase; incorporating a phased masterplan, design code and delivery plan (tier 2), and then reserved matters applications providing development detail (tier 3).
Master developer Otterpool Park LLP will now progress the detailed planning for the first phase. It includes the town centre and Castle Park, a park centred around Westenhanger Castle. Enabling works, including planting on site, are expected to start later this year.
Andy Jarrett, managing director 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.
“Having secured outline planning, our immediate focus now is to submit the details for the first phase and then start work on site by the end of the year.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
