Kent council area

Selling Land in Folkestone and Hythe

Folkestone and Hythe has no Green Belt, a housing delivery result of 57% and a council that says its plan is short of small and medium sites. Between the Kent Downs, Romney Marsh and Otterpool Park, the land that can realistically come forward is limited, which is exactly why the right field on the right edge matters here.

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Folkestone and Hythe at a Glance

The inspectors who examined the Core Strategy Review described three areas: a continuous urban area joining Folkestone and Hythe through Sandgate and Seabrook; the North Downs, largely within the Kent Downs National Landscape and home to a number of smaller settlements; and Romney Marsh in the south and west, with New Romney, Lydd and the Dungeness peninsula.

No Green Belt at all. KentOnline's county-wide review names the Kent areas that have Green Belt, and Folkestone and Hythe is not among them.
Delivery well behind. In the Housing Delivery Test 2025 the council delivered 57% of the homes it needed over three years.
Very little unconstrained land. The council's own August 2025 Housing Delivery Action Plan says only about 4.1% of the district is potentially developable, and more than half of that is taken up by Otterpool Park.
A plan that is recent but thin on small sites. The Core Strategy Review was adopted on 30 March 2022 and runs to 2037, alongside the Places and Policies Local Plan of September 2020.

The same action plan lists a lack of small and medium sized sites among the reasons homes are not being built fast enough. For a landowner with a few acres on a town or village edge, that admission matters.

Folkestone and Hythe in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
57%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
1,120
of 1,979 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
March 2022
The plan currently used to decide applications.
New plan progress
Updated
New plan started: scoping consultation 7 September to 16 October 2026, draft due 2027
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

What the 57% Result Opens Up

The council's own figures explain the score. Between 2019/20 and 2023/24 the district completed 2,224 homes against a requirement of 3,110, and the adopted plan steps the annual target up to 885 homes from 2024/25, roughly double the recent average of around 440 a year. Dropping below 75% brings policy S5 of the National Planning Policy Framework into play, supporting homes beyond a settlement boundary where the field is physically well related to the town or village and local roads, schools and drainage can cope.

Nothing here is Green Belt, so no line on the map switches S5 off. The limits come from the Kent Downs, the Marsh and the Sellindge catchment instead, and the action plan reckons only around 2% of the district is potentially developable land that is not already allocated. Each field has to answer four questions:

Is the land physically well related to a settlement? A field against the edge of Hythe, Hawkinge, Sellindge or New Romney starts far ahead of one alone in open country.
Is it outside the Kent Downs? Land inside the National Landscape faces a much higher bar, and land near its edge is judged on views from the hills.
Is it on the drier ground? On Romney Marsh especially, a site mostly in Flood Zone 1 is a very different proposition from one largely in Flood Zone 3.
Does it drain to Sellindge? Land served by the Sellindge wastewater works must deal with nutrient neutrality.

For the exact wording of S4 and S5, see our guide to the 2026 changes to national planning policy.

Otterpool Park and the Land Around It

Otterpool Park is the new garden town planned around Westenhanger, with work expected to begin near the station. District councillors voted in April 2023 to grant outline planning permission for up to 8,500 homes, but KentOnline reported in May 2026 that formal sign-off still waited on the section 106 legal agreement.

The same report says the council owns 44% of the site and holds options over 46%, while Homes England, which has bought the remaining 10%, meets half of the immediate joint costs. Kent County Council has approved a wastewater treatment works, primary substation and wetlands for the scheme, and the council expects visible construction from 2028, starting with roads, utility cables and enabling works.

Why You Will See 5,600, 8,500 and 10,000 Homes

Three figures circulate for Otterpool, and they are not in conflict. The inspectors who examined the Core Strategy Review cut the homes expected within the plan period to about 5,600, having found 5,925 unrealistic; that is the allocation figure the council's action plan uses. Councillors resolved to grant outline permission for up to 8,500. The 10,000 is the wider ambition, in line with the inspectors' view that the site could eventually hold 8,000 to 10,000. For a landowner the first figure matters most: only around 5,600 Otterpool homes count towards needs to 2037, so the rest of the district must find homes meanwhile.

What It Means If You Own Land Nearby

New roads and schools can make nearby land better related to services. The council will also want land close to Otterpool to fit the garden town's plans rather than compete with them, so a site near Sellindge, Lympne or Westenhanger needs a clear story about how it relates to what is being built.

Nutrient Neutrality and the Sellindge Catchment

Stodmarsh is protected as a Special Protection Area, a Ramsar site, a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and new homes that drain into the Stour catchments must show they will not add to nutrient pollution there. In Folkestone and Hythe the council says the effect is limited to the northern part of the district, and only to development served by the Sellindge wastewater treatment works.

So most of Folkestone, Hythe and Romney Marsh is outside the requirement, while land draining to the Sellindge works needs a nutrient solution before permission. The rules apply to any development that adds homes, and also to student accommodation, tourist accommodation and tourist attractions.

Nutrient neutrality is a cost and a piece of technical work, not a veto, met by credits or by wetland or other mitigation on a larger site. Sellindge itself shows it can be done: the action plan records that the first phase of the village's allocation has been resolved for approval and that 162 homes have been granted on the second.

The Coast, the Marsh and the Downs

Area	What shapes a site
Folkestone, Sandgate and Hythe	The action plan tracks large schemes under way: Folkestone seafront, with 84 homes complete and 318 more approved in detail, and the former Shorncliffe Garrison, with around 600 built. Smaller plots inside the towns are judged under policy S4.
The Kent Downs, including the Elham valley and the Lympne escarpment	The inspectors found most of the North Downs part of the district lies within the National Landscape. Its Management Plan singles out the Lympne escarpment's dramatic views across Romney Marsh and Hythe Bay, and the Nailbourne in the Elham valley, which flows only in the wettest winters. Major development needs exceptional circumstances.
Romney Marsh, New Romney, Lydd and Dymchurch	The inspectors described Romney Marsh and Walland Marsh as severely constrained by high flood risk, their open character and a limited transport network. The New Romney broad location is almost built out, with 91 more homes granted on Ashford Road in December 2024.
Sellindge, Lympne and Westenhanger	Otterpool Park, which the inspectors noted adjoins the National Landscape to the south and east, and the Sellindge nutrient requirement.

On the Marsh the sequential and exception tests decide a great deal, and our flood risk guide takes each in turn.

The New Local Plan to 2045

On 7 September 2026 the council announced that work had begun on a new plan, the Local Plan 2045, with a six week scoping consultation running until 4pm on Friday 16 October 2026. What it hears will shape the draft plan, and further consultation is expected in 2027.

Two calls for sites have already fed the council's land availability assessment, so the draft plan will start from land it already knows about.

This autumn. While scoping runs, we assess your land and tell you whether we think it has a case.
Towards the draft plan. We put the land forward, prepare the evidence the council asks for and respond at each consultation.
In parallel. The August 2025 action plan put the council's housing land supply for 2023/24 at 3.1 years, including a 20% buffer, short of the five years national policy expects. Where the case is strong, we can apply now rather than wait for the 2045 plan.

Each stage of putting land forward through a plan, from scoping to examination, is covered in call for sites and local plans.

Land We Look for in Folkestone and Hythe

Fields on the edges of Hythe, Hawkinge, Folkestone and New Romney that sit against existing homes.
Land around the larger villages, such as Lyminge, Sellindge and Dymchurch, with a safe road access.
Sites mostly in Flood Zone 1, including the higher ground at the edges of the Marsh settlements.
Yards, depots, former commercial sites and other previously developed land inside or next to the towns.
Land within an easy walk of shops, schools or a station.

Land inside the Kent Downs or deep in the Marsh is not automatically ruled out, but we will say plainly if the constraints are likely to be too great.

Questions About Land in Folkestone and Hythe

There is no Green Belt here. Does that make planning easier?

In one respect. At 57%, policy S5 can support land that sits well against Hythe, Hawkinge, New Romney or a larger village, with no Green Belt test to pass first. The Kent Downs, flood risk on the Marsh and the nutrient rules around Sellindge still have to be dealt with, and they decide many sites.

Will Otterpool Park stop the council needing other land?

Not on the evidence so far. Only around 5,600 of its homes count towards needs to 2037, and the council's own action plan points to a shortage of small and medium sites.

My land is near Sellindge. What does nutrient neutrality mean for me?

If the homes would drain to the Sellindge wastewater works, the application needs a nutrient solution, usually credits or on-site mitigation. It adds cost and technical work, which we carry out and pay for. It does not stop a good site.

I own land on Romney Marsh. Is it worth asking?

It depends on where it sits. Land on the drier edges of New Romney, Lydd, Dymchurch or St Mary's Bay can work, while land in the deepest flood zones rarely does. We check the flood maps and the council's evidence for your field before giving a view.

Should I put my land into the new Local Plan consultation myself?

There is no need to do it alone. If we agree terms, we put the land forward and prepare every document the council asks for, at our cost. See how it works.

Tell Us About Your Land in Folkestone and Hythe

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Sources

We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.