Otterpool Park Update: Hillhurst Farm Homes Rise From 300 To 500 As Homes England Hides Land Price

In a response under the Environmental Information Regulations, Homes England has confirmed it has bought part of the Hillhurst Farm/Hillhurst Green land at Otterpool Park. But when asked the simplest question of all — how much public money it paid — the agency pulled down the shutters and refused to say.

Its reason? “Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information.”

That’s the old familiar blanket. Warm, official-looking, and handy when public bodies don’t fancy showing the public the bill. Homes England says releasing the price would damage its ability to negotiate, expose its “valuation position”, and harm future land deals linked to Otterpool Park.

But here’s the rub.

Homes England also says information about the site and land ownership will be available “in due course at HM Land Registry”, and points to a pending application connected with title number. So the price is apparently too commercially sensitive to disclose now, but not so sensitive that it won’t appear through the Land Registry once the paperwork catches up.

That’s a very odd kind of secrecy.

The Shepwayvox Team understands the land price is around £18m and can be checked through the Land Registry route once the relevant title material is available. In those circumstances, the “commercial confidentiality” argument looks less like a locked safe and more like a curtain over a window everyone knows is there.

Public money, public interest

Homes England says it “has been unable to identify a wider public interest in disclosing the information requested.”

Really?

This is public money. It’s public regeneration. It’s strategic land tied to Otterpool Park, one of the biggest proposed developments in Kent. It involves Homes England, Folkestone & Hythe District Council and Otterpool Park LLP. It affects roads, footpaths, services, infrastructure, housing numbers and the future shape of the district.

If that doesn’t carry a public interest, what does?

This isn’t someone flogging a paddock behind a hedge for cash and a handshake. It’s a state housing agency buying land linked to a garden town project which has already swallowed years of officer time, consultant fees, public reports, private negotiations and political promises.

Residents shouldn’t have to squint through the keyhole.

The footpaths stay — but the detail matters

On the public footpaths, Homes England’s answer is clearer.

It says it “will continue to secure Public Rights of Way (PRoW) across the site”, and says those routes “will be integrated into any future development scheme.” It also says future design work will consider footpaths HE221a and HE281.

So, on the face of it, those footpaths aren’t being rubbed off the map.

Good.

But “integrated” is one of those planning words that can do a lot of heavy lifting. It can mean a proper green route people actually want to walk. It can also mean a path squeezed between estate roads, back fences and token landscaping, like a strip of parsley on a plate of chips.

The real test will come later, in the design parameters document and reserved matters application. That’s where residents will see whether HE221a and HE281 remain meaningful countryside routes, or become footpath leftovers stitched into a housing layout after the big decisions have already been made.

From 250 homes to 450–500 homes

This is the big one.

The question asked Homes England exactly how many homes are intended for this particular site. The answer wasn’t 300 as set out in the public exhibition in Sellindge.

Homes England says: “Based on current estimates, the site could accommodate approximately 450 to 500 homes.” an increase of 150–200 homes, or roughly 50% to 67%. It adds that the figure will be tested and confirmed through future reserved matters applications.

That’s not a small tweak.

That’s up to two thirds more than residents were led to believe at the public exhibition.

Three hundred homes is one thing. Four hundred and fifty to five hundred is another kettle of fish altogether — especially when Otterpool’s wastewater arrangements don’t give the scheme a free run.

As we understand it, the key figure is around 400 occupied homes. Before the scheme goes beyond that point, the final phase of the Sellindge wastewater treatment works has to be delivered. So Hillhurst Farm at 450 to 500 homes doesn’t just mean a few extra roofs on a plan. It pushes the site beyond a major sewage-infrastructure trigger.

In plain English, they can draw 450 to 500 homes on paper, but the pipes, treatment works and legal safeguards have to catch up before all those homes can be occupied.

And that’s before you get to the rest of it: more traffic, more water demand, more sewage pressure, more school places, more GP demand, more buses needed, and more pressure on the roads around Westenhanger, Newingreen, Stone Street and the A20.

And this is where the housebuilder question matters.

As we understand Cllr Jim Martin, Leader of FHDC (pictured) has had conversations with Quinn Homes and Pentland Homes. But conversations aren’t contracts. A chat isn’t a signed deal. A meeting isn’t a delivery agreement. Nothing has been agreed.

So residents are entitled to ask the obvious questions.

Who will build these homes? On what terms? How many will be affordable? What infrastructure comes first? What happens to roads, schools, health services and public transport? And if the number is now 450 to 500, when did that shift happen, who knew, and why wasn’t it shouted from the rooftops?

The 2028/29 date matters

Homes England also confirms the Section 106 agreement remains outstanding.

That matters because Otterpool still doesn’t have the final green light to build. FHDC’s Planning and Licensing Committee resolved in April 2023 to grant outline permission, but only subject to planning conditions and completion of a satisfactory Section 106 agreement. Homes England repeats that position in its response.

In plain English, the legal deal still isn’t sewn up.

The agency says delivery of homes on this parcel depends on “several approvals”, including determination of the outline planning application and approval of a reserved matters planning application. Then comes the important line: “Subject to these approvals, construction is expected to commence in 2028/29.”

That date is the giveaway.

Homes England isn’t talking in vague, misty, one-day-maybe language. It has put a start window on the table. If the paperwork lands, if the Section 106 agreement is signed, and if reserved matters are approved, Hillhurst could see construction begin in 2028/29.

That matters.

A 2028/29 construction start doesn’t point to homes being on sale in September 2025, as previously stated by Andy Jarrett. It pushes the likely sales window much further down the road — realistically into late 2030 or early 2031, depending on approvals, infrastructure, phasing and build-out. In plain English, the calendar has slipped. And it hasn’t slipped by a few weeks; it’s slipped by years.

So now we know three things.

The footpaths are expected to remain. The site may take 450 to 500 homes, not merely 300. And Homes England is aiming at a 2028/29 construction start, subject to approvals.

But on the price, the shutters are still down.

For now.

The Shepway Vox Team

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