Folkestone & Hythe District Council have spent £5 million on consultants for Princes Parade & Otterpool Park since March 2016. Both sites which our council wish to develop have sizeable and vociferous opponents in our local communities. Below are the charts setting the start and end dates for the contracts awarded, the amount and name of the company who was awarded the contract.

As the farce which is Princes Parade rumbles on, contract data would appear to suggest the Council are intent on pursuing their ambition to develop the site.

At the end of April 2019, Folkestone & Hythe District Council awarded a £1,132,309 contract with Faithful & Gould to undertake the Project management and multi-disciplinary services for the design and development of the leisure centre to be located at Princes Parade. The contract is due to last for 43 months. This would imply Cllr Monk and his administration are hell bent on delivering this project, come what may.

Below is a chart of all the contracts above £5,000 awarded to plan and progress Princes Parade.

The single largest contract awarded for Otterpool Park was to Arcadis  who are responsible for the Planning, Masterplanning and Project Management Expertise for Otterpool Park Project. Their contract is due to end in a matter of weeks. For the three years of involvement they have received approx £2.4 million.

In May of this year The Creative Foundation (now Creative Folkestone) was awarded a £40,000 pound two year contract to provide and support the delivery of the Otterpool Park creative strategy.

We note though Pillory Barn, who have been awarded a £90,000 contract to Deliver ‘place’ branding and marketing strategy/campaign that will articulate the district’s vision and story, putting it on the map as a great place to live, work, play, visit and invest in.

It is envisaged that this will be a five year campaign, with the consultant helping to develop a compelling campaign narrative in the initial few months of this commission, leading to the delivery of the first two years of the campaign.

That said, they cannot even get the Otterpool Park consultation board notes up online without being prompted. We can see from the OP website, no new notes have gone up since Feb of this year. Perhaps they might want to look into that, after all they are getting £90K in public money.

The Shepwayvox Team and the local opposition groups to Princes Parade & Otterpool Park all realise we need housing and a new leisure centre. A site for the leisure centre at Martello Lakes would cost £1. This site would best serve both the Hythe population and the Marsh population as it is on a well served bus route and the A259.

As for Housing, we do not need as much as what Otterpool Park is offering to fulfil the necessary quota set out by central government. Plus, if Folkestone & Hythe District Council hadn’t noticed many Councils, including Parliament, have declared a climate emergency.

All the more reason then why Folkestone & Hythe District Council should also call a climate and ecological emergency – and vow to become carbon neutral within six years. Let’s not forget we live in the most water stressed area in the UK, it is something  to seriously consider given climate change. And how could we forget the company who brings water to our region – Affinity Water  have announced at the beginning of this month, they have once again missed their water leakage targets.

The Shepwayvox Team

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