Kentish Express Ashford & District
Campaigners plan protest march over ‘garden town’
A campaign group fighting a major 10,000-home development on the former Folkestone Racecourse is organising its first protest march in three years.
It comes just weeks after the first official planning documents were submitted for the proposed Otterpool Park garden town - a scheme the developers say will include more than 50% green space.
The greenfield site project, proposed by landowners Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) and Cozumel Estates, would be delivered in phases over three decades.
The outline planning application seeks permission for the first 8,500 homes and was first made available for the public to view last month.
If approved, bosses hope construction on the 1,890-acre site will begin next year and it is planned that land around Westenhanger railway station and Newingreen will be developed first, creating an area called the ‘gateway’.
But campaigners from the group No Otterpool New Town are ramping up their efforts to have the plans thrown out and have organised a demonstration for the end of the month.
David Plumstead, who is co-ordinating the event, said: “The whole point of the march is a reminder to people that nothing’s changed.”
Mr Plumstead last led a march against the plans in 2016.
Built around Folkestone Racecourse, the development would gradually connect villages including Westenhanger, Lympne and Sellindge, with green space ‘buffers’.
Original plans for 12,000 homes were reduced by 2,000 in the masterplan, with a council report saying half of them would have to be flats if that many were built.
Of the total 10,000 homes proposed, 8,700 would be residential on around 530 acres with 1,300 ‘extra care’ housing units for older people on about 29 acres.
If approved, there would also be retail and business space and a transport interchange.
But Mr Plumstead and others in the group are concerned over potential water shortages, traffic air pollution and the loss of countryside.
He said: “It’s a David and Goliath thing.
“We have got no money - we are really up against it.
“The important thing is for people to object in principle to the whole thing.”
The plans recently received funding from the government and Homes England. In February 2019, the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government pledged £1.25m to the project - the largest sum of the 21 proposed garden town schemes.
The Otterpool Park board is now planning additional public exhibitions for residents to view the papers in greater detail. The application is open for public consultation until Monday, May 27.
The protest march will be held on Saturday, April 27.
Attendees should arrive by 9.30am for a 10am start at Douglas Avenue in Hythe, opposite Waitrose.
To view the planning application, visit the FHDC planning portal or the development’s website: www.otterpoolpark.org