The Planning and Licensing Committee of Folkestone & Hythe District Council in the UK has given outline planning consent for the Otterpool Park garden town.
The Kent-based development is led by master developer Otterpool Park, which is wholly owned by the council. The company will carry out the planning for the first phase.
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The planning approval for the garden town includes 29,000m² in retail space; employment floor space, including commercial and light industrial of up to 87,500m²; 8,000m² in hotel floorspace; and 8,500m² of leisure and sports floorspace.
It also includes education and community facilities covering 67,000m², up to seven primary schools and two secondary schools with nurseries and crèches, as well as health centres, places of worship, and community centres.
The proposal for the new settlement includes the creation of a transport network to provide connections to the new garden town to minimise the use of cars around Westenhanger train station.
It will introduce electric vehicle charging points and other measures to minimise environmental impact and improve nature biodiversity by 20%.
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By GlobalDataAround 50% of the site will be open for cycling and walking routes.
The planned Otterpool Park project will be carried out using a three-tiered planning approach, which will be followed by frameworks for each development phase.
Phase one includes the town centre and Castle Park, a park centred around Westenhanger Castle.
Otterpool Park managing director Andy Jarrett said: “This landmark decision is a pivotal point in the delivery of Otterpool Park and follows seven years of planning, master planning and community engagement.
“We are committed to creating an exemplary 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.”
Enabling works, including planting on site, are set to begin this year.
