£1.25m government funding announced

16 March 2019

The collaboration board at Otterpool Park has welcomed a huge funding boost after the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government announced a £9 million cash injection to speed up the locally-led building of new garden towns and villages across the country.

Otterpool Park has been awarded £1.25m – the largest sum of the 21 proposed garden town schemes.

Otterpool Park is being promoted by landowners Folkestone & Hythe District Council (F&HDC) and Cozumel Estates. The planning and design work has been undertaken by a team from consultancy Arcadis and their partners.

The Garden Communities project is expected to deliver 200,000 homes on large sites by 2050, and the latest funding will help get 21 sites ready for development, including Otterpool Park.

The government project is helping ambitious councils get well-designed homes built on large sites, and the money will help pay for master planning and technical studies.

Work is already underway on 10,000 properties across the country in garden towns and villages, with 36,000 expected to be underway or completed by 2022.

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse MP said:

“We have not built enough homes in this country for the last three decades, and we are turning that around as we work towards our target to build 300,000 properties a year by the mid-2020s.

“This £9 million funding boost is giving councils the support and cash injection they need, so they can finish planning new developments and get diggers on site.”

Andy Jarrett, Spokesperson for the Otterpool Park Board, said:

“This is great news for Otterpool Park. The £1.25m is a substantial amount of funding that will further progress our vision for an integrated community for the future.

“Otterpool Park is being designed as a place where future generations can thrive, and communities can connect with each other. This funding announcement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government takes us another step closer to achieving this vision, and we look forward to the exciting future of this site.”

This funding is important for the district, as not only will it deliver new homes but also job creation and vital infrastructure.