New Otterpool Park survey launches

Six-hundred people will be quizzed for a new survey designed to help shape future plans for the divisive Otterpool Park development.

The 10,000-home ‘garden town’ is proposed for a 1,890-acre site, which, if approved, will be built on and around the former Folkestone Racecourse close to the villages of Westenhanger and Newingreen.

And now, nearby residents living in Lympne, Postling, Saltwood, Sellindge, Stanford and Aldington will be interviewed about the housing needs in the area after Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) commissioned consultants Quod to undertake a survey.

Respondees will be chosen at random, with a team from independent social research organisation Opinion Research Services going door-to-door to obtain the answers.

The results of the project will feed into the housing strategy for the Otterpool project.

The authority says this will help shape portions of the development to reflect the housing types in demand from people.

The cost of the survey is £21,600 and is being funded by the council’s Otterpool Park project budget, which includes a significant contribution from central government through its garden communities capacity funding.

Cllr David Monk, leader of FHDC, which is behind the Otterpool project, said: “Assessing the local housing need is key to our ambitions for Otterpool Park.

“We want the help of the community to discover what they really need housing-wise so we can try to provide solutions.

“We are committed to providing the homes that people want, whether these be first homes, family homes or those for older people who are considering downsizing.

“This is the kind of information we’re eager to gather so that we can make the right choices.”

Otterpool is set to include up to 10,000 new homes, a fifth of which are proposed to be affordable, schools, green spaces, health centres and retail and leisure facilities.

It will be built in phases over a 30-year period, pending approval.

But it has received much opposition since it was first announced, including scores of objections, two protests and an official objection from Hythe Town Council.

In February last year, an outline planning application for the scheme was submitted, with bosses pledging about 50% green space.

FHDC announced in August it had bought Westenhanger Castle which it says will form the centrepiece of the development.

It cost £2.9m, plus further costs for legal bills and tax.

Last month, FHDC snapped up the former Folkestone Racecourse site from Cozumel Estates - a deal that also includes the ability to buy neighbouring farmland of a further 440 acres.

In a statement, Otterpool Park bosses said: “In 2016, the council and Cozumel Estates entered into an innovative agreement to develop plans for the proposed garden town.

“With important milestones reached – including land assembly and the submission of the outline planning application – the project has advanced to a stage where the council will now progress the project as master developer.”

■ See pages 6-7 for an exclusive look around the former Folkestone Racecourse eight years after it closed.

■ What do you think? Write to Kentish Express, Unit 4, Park Mall, Ashford, TN24 8RY or email kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk

Westenhanger Castle was bought by FHDC for £2.9m

Picture: FHDC How part of the 10,000-home Otterpool Park could look