Housing

£9m Later, the Wait Is Still a Mystery: Folkestone & Hythe’s Disabled Facilities Grants

September 17, 2026 // 0 Comments

In 2018/19, Folkestone & Hythe District Council said there was “currently no waiting list” for its Disabled Facilities Grant scheme. Today, the council tells [...]

Otterpool Park Infrastructure Costs: £374m Inflation-Adjusted Benchmark for 8,500 Homes

September 10, 2026 // 0 Comments

There’s a number buried in another major Kent housing battle which deserves much more attention in Folkestone & Hythe. £36,500 per home. That’s what a viability [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Local Plan 2045: Can 15,600 New Homes Be Supported by Water, GPs and Infrastructure?

September 9, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe may need to plan for around 15,600 new homes by 2045, but the challenge isn’t simply finding enough land. The district must also prove it can deliver [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Local Plan 2045 Consultation: 15,600 Homes and More Development Sites Likely

September 8, 2026 // 0 Comments

Folkestone & Hythe may need to plan for around 15,600 new homes between now and 2045, according to documents published as the district council begins preparing its new [...]

Folkestone & Hythe: 155 Children in Temporary Accommodation as Costs Double and Out-of-Area Placements Soar

September 6, 2026 // 0 Comments

The number of children living in temporary accommodation arranged by Folkestone & Hythe District Council has more than doubled in two years. Now, as the Government [...]

Part 3: Hodson’s Chilmington Green Collapse — £211.9m in Creditor Claims, Six Administrations and 5,750 Homes at Stake

September 4, 2026 // 2 Comments

Chilmington Green was supposed to be much more than a housing estate. Ashford planned for a new community of up to 5,750 homes, schools, shops, parks and roads, backed by [...]

Plug-In Solar Panels in Folkestone & Hythe: What Renters Need to Know About Landlord Permission and Planning

September 2, 2026 // 2 Comments

Plug-in solar could finally allow renters to generate some of their own electricity. But there’s an awkward catch: the person paying the electricity bill may still have [...]

Hythe Imperial Planning Objection Guide: What Residents Need to Know About GSE’s £120m, 291-Home Plan

August 28, 2026 // 2 Comments

This is a Guest Post After reading The Shepway Vox Team’s examination of planning application 26/1290/FH, I spent a fair bit of time going through the application papers [...]

GSE’s £120m Hythe Imperial Plan: 291 Homes, a 25m Pool — and a Planning File That Doesn’t Quite Add Up

August 26, 2026 // 2 Comments

GSE’s Imperial Gardens scheme promises 291 homes, around 73 “affordable homes”, a new 25m swimming pool and substantial private investment on Hythe seafront. [...]

Everist Court Lyminge: The Battle Over FHDC’s Five Social Homes and Former Age UK Community Centre

August 23, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council owns Everist Court, has already committed more than £630,000 to turning it into housing, and must now determine its own planning [...]

Folkestone & Hythe Social Housing Waiting List Reaches 1,332 as Three-Bedroom Waits Average 170 Weeks

August 13, 2026 // 1 Comment

Someone allocated a three-bedroom council owned home in Folkestone and Hythe during the past year had waited 667 weeks. That’s nearly 13 years. They were the extreme case, [...]

Kent Right to Buy: Eligible Sales Jump 143% After Discount Cuts

August 10, 2026 // 0 Comments

MHCLG’s newest figures record 192 eligible sales classed as Right to Buy across Kent’s seven council landlords in 2025/26, against 79 a year earlier. Four east Kent [...]

Kent Housing Conditions: Government Data Models One in Five Homes as Non-Decent in Four Council Areas

August 9, 2026 // 0 Comments

Less than two years after Kent’s own housing officers said the evidence base on local housing conditions was “scarce”, a new government model has put numbers against [...]

From Unsafe Homes to a Top-Rated Council Landlord: How the East Kent Housing Scandal Forced Folkestone & Hythe to Rebuild

August 2, 2026 // 1 Comment

Folkestone & Hythe District Council has earned the regulator’s highest consumer grade. It deserves proper credit. But C1 didn’t fall from a clear blue sky. It grew [...]

Ship Street Folkestone: FHDC Backs 85-Home Orbit Scheme as Hidden Land Value and ‘400 People’ Claim Raise Questions

July 24, 2026 // 1 Comment

FHDC has approved another £132,000 for Ship Street after being told 85 homes could remove nearly 400 people from the housing waiting list. The trouble is that the list [...]

Ship Street Folkestone: Enabling Costs Could Reach £1.43m as Land Value Remains Hidden

July 20, 2026 // 0 Comments

Open Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s latest Ship Street report and one detail does all the talking: a blank where the developer’s calculated land value should [...]

Kent Coastal Housing Market Cools as Folkestone and Hythe Rents Soar

July 18, 2026 // 1 Comment

Kent’s coastal housing boom has cooled. That much is no longer seriously in doubt. The frantic bidding, sealed offers and London money that swept through Folkestone, Hythe, [...]

Four Companies Registered at Folkestone and Hythe Council Homes Raise Tenancy Fraud Audit Questions

July 15, 2026 // 0 Comments

A new Cabinet Office agreement with Airbnb will allow participating councils to compare social-housing records with holiday-let listings to identify possible illegal [...]

Saga Enbrook Park Housing Plan: Can Saga Fix The Pavilion Without Building Homes?

July 13, 2026 // 0 Comments

Saga wants residents at Enbrook Park on Monday 13 July 2026, from 4pm to 7pm, at the Main Reception, Saga Building, Enbrook Park, Sandgate. That’s the consultation, and if [...]

Former Aldi Hythe Plan: No Affordable Housing, 43 Parking Spaces at Risk – The Long Read

July 12, 2026 // 0 Comments

For seven years, Hythe has had a hole in its High Street where the old Aldi used to trade. The shutters came down in 2019, the supermarket moved to Kengate Industrial Estate, [...]

Ship Street Folkestone: Old Gasworks Still Looking For A Buyer While Affordable Homes Remain On Paper

July 10, 2026 // 0 Comments

Still for sale. Still fenced off. Still no affordable homes. Ship Street is one of those Folkestone promises that’s been round the houses without building any. The live [...]

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

July 9, 2026 // 0 Comments

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. [...]

Kent’s Housing Crisis: 47,839 Approved Homes, But Councils Still Fail The Delivery Test

July 8, 2026 // 1 Comment

Kent hasn’t run out of planning permissions. It’s got plenty of paper foundations. The latest Kent housing land supply audit shows 47,839 homes with planning permission [...]

Otterpool Park Design Brief To Be Submitted With Outline Planning Application Update

July 2, 2026 // 0 Comments

Otterpool Park where FHDC got a council resolution to grant outline permission in April 2023. Three years later, the actual permission still hasn’t been issued. Now the [...]

Otterpool Park First Homes: Hillhurst Costs and North Downs Views

June 26, 2026 // 3 Comments

Homes England has bought Hillhurst farmland. The first 300 Otterpool homes are being aimed at sites HF2 and HF3, where the public plans show buildings up to 12–15 metres. [...]

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