‘Eye-watering’ loan for garden town is approved

Council chiefs to borrow £100m to kickstart Otterpool Park

Divisive plans for a huge housing development on the former Folkestone Racecourse have cleared an important first hurdle.

The decision to borrow an “eye-watering” £100m for the controversial Otterpool Park scheme was approved by Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) at its full council meeting last week, with 15 councillors voting in support, 10 against and one abstaining.

The hefty sum will allow the first stages of the new ‘garden town’ to go ahead, despite the project yet receiving planning permission.

Described as prudential borrowing, the money will come from the Public Works Loan Board.

It won’t necessarily be borrowed all at once, and is planned to be drawn down over a period of up to five years.

The development - headed up by the council and Cozumel Estates - will include 10,000 new homes, a fifth of which are proposed to be affordable, schools, green spaces, health centres and retail and leisure facilities.

In February, a planning application for the first 8,500 homes was submitted to FHDC, but a decision on the application is yet to be made.

The entire 10,000- home scheme will be built in phases over a 30-year period, pending approval.

But since i t was f i rst announced, the project has faced much opposition, including more than 100 objections, two protests and an official objection from Hythe Town Council.

And it was no different at last Thursday’s meeting, which included a lengthy debate over the scheme, which is destined for land on and around the former Folkestone Racecourse, close to the villages of Westenhanger and Sellindge.

Several Labour and Green councillors raised concerns over the project not being affordable, environmentally friendly or convenient for residents.

Cllr Doug Wade ( Green) referred to Otterpool as a “boondoggle”, which is a wasteful or unnecessary project, and a “grandiose” scheme that hadn’t been “thought through”.

He said: “What we need is high-quality council houses that are carbon zero and in populated areas, where people can walk to work.

“Not in fields near Sellindge, in an area that is already water stressed, with no GPs.”

He also raised concerns over the increased traffic it would bring, and the relocation of wildlife.

How the Otterpool Park scheme could look on the former Folkestone Racecourse

Cllr Doug Wade referred to Otterpool as a “boondoggle”