Delivering community benefits for Hythe
The Imperial Gardens project offers the community of Hythe substantial privately-funded benefits.
Regenerating Hythe’s seafront
The proposals offer the opportunity to renew the seafront of Hythe at no cost to Folkestone & Hythe District Council. It would reactivate Princes Parade as a ‘Promenade’ and destination for visitors and residents by improving public access, introducing pedestrian safety measures and crossings and providing a remodelled and upgraded golf course alongside an adventure golf course that has been designed to appeal to a wide cross-section of the community.
There would also be a new indoor swimming pool and gym, as well as a new outdoor splash park, public toilets, changing rooms and showers for beach users.
Delivered at no cost to local residents
Unlike the Princes Parade scheme, Imperial Gardens would be delivered by GSE Group at no cost to the local authority, providing much needed benefit to this part of the district.
All the leisure facilities would be available to the community and would complement the sporting facilities on offer in Folkestone, ahead of any future investment in Otterpool.
The existing Hythe Swimming Pool on South Road is unlikely to remain open in the long term without significant investment by its owners, Folkestone & Hythe District Council – money it has not got. Imperial Gardens is only 250 metres away and would be available to the residents of Hythe, offering an improved alternative. This would finally enable the South Road site to come forward for redevelopment, with the money raised funding other council priorities in the town.
In addition, if the scheme gets the green light, it is likely the planning consent will require a payment of around £3.5m-£4m in Section 106/Community Infrastructure Levy contributions to go towards community facilities such as schools and medical services.
Imperial Gardens offers a win-win for the community and public purse.
New leisure and sporting opportunities
The proposals include the delivery of a series of new leisure facilities for local residents that enhance the attractiveness of Hythe as a visitor destination. They include:
A new 9-hole ‘academy’ golf course
Offering a shorter, best in class par-3 course and putting facility designed for beginners just starting out or advanced players looking to practise their short game. It’s been developed in conversation with the Professional Golfers’ Association and professionally designed by the international golf course architects Mackenzie & Ebert.
It would be operated on a ‘pay and play’ basis, with membership offerings, thereby offering the widest possible public access.
In its current format, the golf course is organised as a 13-hole facility with shared tees to provide an 18-hole format, rendering the course relatively pale in comparison to the surrounding, high-quality offerings.
Reimagining it as a 9-hole facility would enable it to be one of the best in the area for those practising their short game. The design draw's inspiration from the historic setting of the site, reintroducing swales and reed beds and incorporating features from some of the best courses in the world, such as the 9-hole Himalayas Putting Green in St Andrews.
A new golf clubhouse
Accessed from Princes Parade, the sensitively designed single-storey clubhouse would offer players changing facilities, alongside a golf shop, restaurant and bar. It would also include four dedicated golf simulators each offering a year-round opportunity to practise or play iconic courses around the world virtually.
Adventure golf
A one-acre course, themed around the Napoleonic Wars and aimed at children, families and visitors to Hythe, would provide another local visitor attraction. Interpretation boards on the course would help deepen understanding of the role of the Royal Military Canal.
Improved community leisure opportunities
Leisure building
The proposals include a new leisure building to the east of the Hythe Imperial Hotel containing an indoor 20m swimming pool, a gym, exercise studios for sport/fitness classes and changing rooms. It would be offered to the wider community of Hythe and open to the public and hotel guests alike. During off-peak day periods we would look to let local schools and swimming groups use the pool.
Splash park
A play area and water-based public venue incorporating fountains, jets and water buckets, with public toilets and shower areas – bringing the essence of being by the sea to a safe, controlled environment.
Delivering new homes
The residential scheme, which is an outline application so not fixed in stone, has been designed to meet the needs of the local area and offers a proposed mix of 48 three-bedroom homes and gardens. In addition, 243 apartments offering a mix of one-, two- and three-bedrooms and shared space, many with coastal views, are proposed. It is anticipated that 25% of the new homes – around 73 in total – will be affordable.
Our current thinking is that the flats will be housed in 14 buildings varying from three storeys high near the Royal Military Canal to five storeys high on the seafront, with the ground floor providing storage and parking.
The design of the apartments and homes will be sympathetic to the Hythe Imperial Hotel, as well as the adjacent Imperial Green development. There will be a focus on continuity of landscape, featuring swales and habitat areas within the residential development.
Road improvements to Princes Parade
The project proposed improvements to Princes Parade. The existing access to the Imperial Hotel off Princes Parade will be retained in its existing position and realigned to be used for the hotel and leisure club. One new access point will be formed on Princes Parade to the east to serve the residential section at its eastern edge, allowing for two-way vehicle movements. The adventure and academy golf courses will be served by a new 5.5m wide access off Princes Parade to the east.
A scheme of highway improvements will be implemented on Princes Parade to reduce traffic speeds and enhance pedestrian and cycle facilities. This includes build outs, reducing the carriageway width to 3.7m with a give-way arrangement, raised table crossings and the speed limit across the site frontage reduced from 40mph to 30mph.
Focusing on pedestrians
An uncontrolled crossing point will be located on Twiss Road. Parking controls are proposed on the bridge over the Royal Military Canal to ensure on-street parking does not block the road as requested by Kent County Council Highways & Transportation. Emergency access will be provided from Twiss Road via the existing access road at Cobay Close, and be available to pedestrians and cyclists.
Pedestrian access will be achieved at numerous points around the site. The Princes Parade frontage – with the existing promenade on the southern side of the carriageway – will be retained and uncontrolled crossing points installed.
Pedestrian access will also be possible from the A259 Seabrook Road to the north via the existing north/south walking route crossing the Royal Military Canal. It will be enhanced and connect with the existing path along the southern boundary of the Royal Military Canal and site’s northern site edge.
Improvements to the A259 junction with Twiss Road are proposed to improve visibility and operation of the junction.
Improved public access
The current public right of way through the golf course will be enhanced, making the experience of crossing the fairways more enjoyable thanks to the creation of what could be described as a linear green park through to the seafront
Adjacent to the easterly part of the residential development an open green area is proposed to offer space suitable for relaxing, picnics, and play for people using the public footpath, looking for a break from the shore winds, or using the nearby golf and play facilities. This publicly accessible open space is strategically positioned next to the main arterial footpath link and central in the site.
Improvements to Princes Parade
The scheme would maintain Princes Parade as a public highway. Public parking would be added to the landward side of the road to help improve public access and amenity. Measures to improve pedestrian safety and crossing points would be at the heart of the highway improvements.
Investing in the Hythe Imperial Hotel
First opened in 1880, the hotel was purchased by GSE Group in 2007. Following more than £10m of investment, it has achieved 4-star status, features an AA Rosette restaurant and enjoys an average occupancy rate in excess of 89%. These proposals envisage a further £multi-million investment in the hotel.
Its existing leisure centre is open to guests and currently has around 1,300 local members from across the community with a mix of full-time, day and evening membership packages. However, it would benefit from further investment at this point.
Additional accommodation
Our tour agents tell us that they could bring larger groups. We are proposing to add a further 24 bedrooms in a new west wing taking capacity to 116 bedrooms.
There is demand for serviced apartments, offering flexible accommodation and access to leisure facilities, within close walking distance of Hythe.
The proposal is to develop eight 40m2 serviced apartments on the top floor of the new hotel building, each offering generous sized bedrooms, with a lounge area, kitchenette, workspace and ensuite bathroom.
It is anticipated the users of these apartments would stay for longer, and therefore eat, drink and shop in Hythe, so supporting local businesses. They would provide an alternative to existing Airbnb accommodation in Hythe, meaning short-term rental properties within the town might come back into community use.
New hotel facilities
Dramatically improving the existing leisure offering of a pool, gym and spa at the Hythe Imperial Hotel has been a longstanding ambition of the owners. These proposals would achieve that aspiration and meet the demand for a higher quality leisure and wellbeing offering.
On the ground floor of the new wing, there would be a spa with luxury treatment rooms, nail bar, relaxation rooms, and changing facilities. Outside, there would be a 20m outdoor heated pool, sauna and plunge pool area, alongside cabanas and outdoor seating area, shielded from the prevailing wind.
The hotel would also be linked to the proposed indoor pool and gym mentioned above.
Creating new jobs
The investment in new leisure facilities and accommodation at the hotel will help safeguard the jobs of the 100 people currently employed at the hotel and generate an estimated further 28 jobs split between housekeeping, food and beverage and the sports and leisure operations. The new golfing facilities will employ 16 people, 10 more than at present.
In addition, there will be 15 indirect permanent jobs created through the local supply chain, as well as an average 110 construction jobs during each year of the construction phase.
Enhancing the environment
The project seeks to better protect the Royal Military Canal as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and secure environmental improvements that will see at least a 10% increase in overall biodiversity, focused on the land to the east where the new 9-hole golf course would be located.
The current manicured course offers little in terms of ecological benefit. In contrast the new course provides the opportunity to create a range of habitats reflecting the natural transition from the salty seafront environment to the freshwater habitat of the Royal Military Canal.
Those parts of the site closest to the sea would become coastal vegetated shingle, adding to the existing seafront habitat.
Moving inland, the level of the land in the main body of the course would be lowered to expose the brackish, slightly salty groundwater. It would create a wetland environment and breeding ground for birds with reedbeds and grassland to promote a strategically important and rare coastal habitat.
Closer to the Royal Military Canal, there would be a transition to a more freshwater habitat tying in with and extending what is already there.
The creation of these new habitats on their own will be attractive to local wildlife – and make for a more interesting golfing experience. In addition, the greater plant diversity will increase invertebrate numbers thereby extending foraging opportunities for wildlife further up the food chain, such as amphibians, lizards, birds and bats.
Environmental enhancements are also proposed for the residential parts of the development which will include new native hedging, ponds and grassland. We would also look to incorporate wildlife-friendly features on the new buildings so that, for example, they are able to accommodate roosting bats.
Sensitive to Hythe’s heritage
There will be significant landscape improvements alongside the Royal Military Canal, including large areas of naturalised open space, to improve the understanding of the character of the canal’s historic southern setting.
Discussions with English Heritage led the scheme to shift the previously proposed footpath from on top of the embankment to help reduce further damage to the scheduled ancient monument. Instead, a wider, more formal and accessible public footpath/cycleway to the south of the canal will improve accessibility and divert pedestrian traffic off the eroded canal embankment and prevent further erosion in the future. This measure is critical to safeguarding the long-term survival of this section of the canal’s southern embankment.
In addition, the proposals include the provision of seating along the footpath/cycleway as well as heritage interpretation boards to enhance public understanding of the canal’s heritage and historic significance, providing places where the public can stop, learn about and contemplate the canal’s setting.
Returning the eastern half of the site to a more natural form, with water features, will better reflect the landscape as it would have been when the canal was built in the early 1800s to defend Britain against Napoleonic attack.
Consistent with planning policy
According to Folkestone & Hythe District Council, developments that have the potential to affect the setting of the Royal Military Canal need to demonstrate that ‘any less than substantial harm is clearly and convincingly demonstrated to be outweighed by the public benefits of the proposal, which should include heritage benefits’.
The project team believes that the Imperial Gardens proposals demonstrate clear public benefits, as outlined above, while preserving and enhancing the key features of a Scheduled Ancient Monument and its setting. They would also would ensure appropriate protection of the Royal Military Canal Local Wildlife Site is provided.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council is currently tasked by the Government with delivering 859 new homes per year, an increase of 16.9% on the previous Government’s target of 735 new homes per year.
This will be achieved by major strategic growth in the district including the delivery of a new garden town, as well as a number of small and medium-sized sites as allocated in the Places and Policies Local Plan. However, with allocated sites such as Princes Parade no longer deliverable, and with increasing housing delivery targets over the 2024/25 - 2028/29 period, housing delivery in the district is in a shortfall. We understand the council recently published its 2024 Annual Monitoring Report which confirms the shortfall, with the five-year housing land supply position at 3.1 years.
If approved, the Imperial Gardens proposals would make a substantial contribution to meeting these targets in a location that is within walking distance of Hythe town centre.
