Otterpool Park Update: The Reuben Brothers Mystery and our Public Rights of Way

Wherever you travel in Sellindge [Kent] you find land earmarked for development, being developed, or land banking by one of these four companies.

• Cozumel Estates

• Gladman Developments

• Quinn Estates

• Taylor Wimpey

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The Reuben Brother Mystery

When the Reuben Brothers sold the racecourse to Folkestone & Hythe District Council for £25m, in Dec 2019, they did not dispose of all their land ownership. No, they kept land on the east side of Brook Lane, Sellindge, according to land registry documents. The land marked in orange below, is owned by Cozumel Estates, which is based in the well known offshore tax jurisdiction the British Virgin Islands, and ranked as the ‘greatest enabler of corporate abuse’ by Tax Justice Network

• Are the Reuben Brothers as owners of Cozumel Estates landbanking?

• Are they waiting for the value to rise and then sell it on?

• Do they intend to go for planning permission and then sell on the land?

We simple do not know at present, is all we can say. When we do, of course, we’ll let you know.

The Reuben brothers are shrewd businessmen. They bought the racecourse for £4m and sold it for £25m. They are not to be underestimated as they use “tax efficient” companies based in offshore jurisdictions, to lawfully recuse themselves of paying tax to the treasury.

The other land shown in Sellindge is all earmarked for development over the next five or ten years, plus there’s up to 10,000 homes at Otterpool to add into the equation as well.

Across much of the land on these sites run public rights of way which sit in the parishes of:

• Lympne

• Saltwood

• Sellindge

• Stanford

At this moment in time neither Otterpool Park LLP, or Folkestone & Hythe District Council have made orders for stopping up of any of the footpaths in “anticipation of a planning application“.

If any such application were received affecting a footpath in any of the parishes, then the Parish Council would be consulted before a decision was reached.   Kent County Council do not inform Parish Councils when an application is received, but instead at the time it is processed, as we understand.

So people do make sure your Parish Council’s inform you of any potential stopping up of any of the footpaths which run across all these sites, including Otterpool.

You can view the KCC Public Rights of Way Map ⇒ here

The Shepway Vox Team

The song below is dedicated to FAITH whose husband will no longer thrash her within an inch of her life.