Update: Otterpool Park Next Steps: Hillhurst Farm Land Questions Loom Over Public Exhibition

The next Otterpool Park exhibition isn’t just another afternoon of glossy boards, polite smiles and “your views matter” stationery. It’s the point where the proposed 8,500-home garden town near Hythe moves from old promises into updated paperwork. Otterpool Park LLP says it is preparing to submit fresh information to Folkestone & Hythe District Council, reflecting changes in policy, legislation, guidance and survey evidence, with more “flexibility” to support delivery of the first homes. That word flexibility is doing a lot of work.

The exhibition is due to take place at Sellindge Village Hall on Wednesday 24 June, from 2.30pm to 8pm, with the material then put online from Thursday 25 June. The official line is that the public will be shown what has changed, what hasn’t, and how the project is preparing to deliver the first homes. Fair enough. But residents shouldn’t arrive as spectators. They should arrive with questions.

Since the council resolved to grant outline planning permission in 2023, Otterpool has not stood still. Kent County Council has approved the wastewater treatment works, associated wetlands and a primary substation, all described as early infrastructure needed to support the scheme. In plain English: the pipes, power and treatment arrangements are starting to line up before the houses arrive. That makes the land question sharper, not softer.

That is where Hillhurst Farm matters. The Shepway Vox Team has reported that the next Homes England housing move appears to sit in a specific triangle of land south of the railway, east of Westenhanger station and around the A20/Stone Street gateway into Newingreen. We understand the land is being looked at for up to 250 homes, while older Otterpool evidence shows station-side parcels can quickly climb into much larger numbers, including Parcel 9 with 349 houses and four flats.

The missing figure is the price. The supplied title information for Hillhurst Farm, Stone Street, Westenhanger, recorded “No price recorded” as of 9 June 2026. That isn’t a small detail. Otterpool is not a private back-garden extension. It involves public land strategy, a public housing agency, council interests, infrastructure promises and a business model in which land receipts have long been part of the story. The public shouldn’t have to play financial Cluedo with countryside.

There is another clue. A public contract award notice, published on 8 June 2026, is listed as “Land at Hillhurst Green – Ecology”, with Homes England as buyer and the award valued at £19,800. Ecology surveys don’t build homes. But they often appear when somebody is testing whether homes can be built. Otterpool’s own May update also said Homes England had shown commitment by supporting further land acquisition needed to deliver new homes.

So the public exhibition should not become a soft-focus tour of “progress”. It should answer hard, ordinary questions. How many homes are actually intended at Hillhurst Farm? Is the figure 250, nearer 350, or something else? How much public money is involved? What happens to public footpaths HE221A and HE281? What does this mean for the A20, Stone Street, Westenhanger station, water, sewage, ecology and the eastern gateway into the garden town?

Hillhurst Farm Land – Looking South

The March collaboration agreement between Folkestone & Hythe District Council and Homes England is time-limited until December 2026 and focused on securing planning permission for the current scheme. Homes England described it as a milestone to deliver homes, infrastructure and community benefits “at pace”. Pace is useful. Transparency is better. When land, infrastructure and planning move together, residents need more than warm words and a trestle table.

Cllr Jim Martin says the exhibition is a chance for residents to understand how Otterpool is responding to new guidance, information and the needs of the district. Good. Then let’s start with the need residents have most: to know what is happening, where, how much it costs, who benefits, and what changes before the public can still meaningfully challenge it. That is not anti-housing. That is basic democratic hygiene.

Hillhurst Land Looking North

Otterpool has always been sold as a planned garden town, not a spreadsheet with hedgerows. Hillhurst Farm now looks like one of the first real tests of that promise. If this is the next front door to delivery, the public should see the keys, the price tag and the route map before the lock clicks shut.