Green Leader of Folkestone & Hythe District Council, Cllr Jim Martin, has been highlighting some of the council’s achievement’s, including exceeding targets for council homes, signing a new agreement on the Otterpool Park housing development and securing millions of pounds of new funding for the district.
He told councillors at their latest full council meeting, “When we first met in May 2023 we agreed a build target of 80 Council homes, 20 to be constructed per year. I am overjoyed to report that our current agreed pipeline will deliver 99 affordable council homes over the next 24 months with another 77 affordable homes being delivered by Orbit on our site at Biggins Wood in the same period, and on a personal note this includes 27 Council Homes in Hythe. There are too many factors to list, that has led to this growth, but ultimately it is due to our portfolio holder and team who make themselves available to developers and are open and engaged in solving problems in housing delivery.”
He was also able to report that a Collaboration Agreement has been signed with government agency Homes England, to help progress the Otterpool Park development, which is essential to the district meeting its housing targets. Jim explained, “The agreement means that Homes England will pay us £1.56 million as a contribution to our historic planning costs, and share 50% of the relevant Otterpool Park costs in 2025/26 incurred through the Collaboration Agreement period. Councillors will of course recall that our Chief Executive and I, were instructed by the Council to seek a Strategic Partner for Otterpool to work alongside us. The purpose of the Collaboration Agreement is to become Strategic Partners with Homes England in preparing a public sector funding case and work together in delivering our landscape-led Garden Town.”
With the financial year concluded, Jim highlighted the achievement of a balanced budget for the Council. He said, “There has been an enormous amount of work to get the Council into this position. Councillors will know that many district and borough councils across the country are struggling, and I think our enviable position is a great testament to the quality of our Council team, its leadership but also the cooperation and consensus in this chamber. I would like to thank the members of both Overview & Scrutiny and Audit & Governance committees for their hard work and oversight of what has been a significant improvement in our position.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce that our officers have recently made two very successful bids and we have received £327,146 from the Shared Prosperity Fund and £171,402 from the Rural Prosperity Fund for projects in the District.”
Following extensive consultation, work is about to start on the Folkestone: A Brighter Future project for regeneration of the town centre and Jim also announced that the council has secured a £1.44 million grant funding for a heat pump heating system in FOLCA (the old Debenhams building ). He said, “This is great news for the project overall, but it will also greatly help in the Council’s long held ambition to become net zero.”
Among other achievements were the launch of a youth forum, the adoption of a new corporate plan, the launch of a new Green Grants scheme and a new two-year pay agreement with staff and their unions.
Jim was keen to stress how much has been achieved by councillors of different parties working together. He finished by saying, “Our finely balanced chamber has promoted cooperation through the simple consensus of doing the best for the communities we represent. This is the consensus that binds us together and allows us to achieve great things together.”
Councillor Jim Martin, Leader of Folkestone & Hythe District Council and a Hythe Town and District councillor
