Garden town bid prompts planning expansion

Shepway District Council is expanding its planning team to help it progress work on a review of its core strategy to help it incorporate a potential new settlement of 12,000 homes.

In June, the council submitted an expression of interest to government to develop the site - Otterpool Park – as part of the government’s garden towns programme.

It is now looking for two new members of staff to help it undertake a partial review of its core strategy to accommodate longer term strategic development, including the potential new settlement.

The council adopted its core strategy local plan in September 2013.

Alongside the strategic development work, it is developing a plan to allocate small and medium sized sites, with a consultation on preferred options opening on 7 October. 

The planning department is also crafting a new suite of development management policies.

The council said that the new planners will also have an opportunity to work on redevelopment plans for thousands of new homes at sites including Folkestone seafront and Shorncliffe Garrison, a former army base.

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