SC24004 - Folkestone – ‘A Brighter Future’ Levelling Up Fund Scheme

Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) submitted a bid to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) for Levelling Up Fund Round 2 for £19,791,819 to deliver the Folkestone – A Brighter Future scheme. The scheme aims to address the issues that the town centre currently faces. Folkestone town centre suffers from high vacancy rates and an overall poor-quality urban environment. It has been struggling over recent years and has seen a 16% drop in footfall over the last four years which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Vacancy rates in the town centre currently are very high at 14.7% and the scheme will aim to reduce this through improved access and public realm. The Folca building, which is currently vacant, will also be refurbished as part of the scheme; though this element will be delivered by FHDC. FHDC developed the Folkestone Place Plan in 2021 to define the scope of the scheme. A total of six possible options were considered in the Folkestone Place Plan as follows: Station Arrival and Town Centre Connections, Improved Gateway to the Town Centre and Bouverie Square, Sandgate Road and Town Centre Public Realm, F51 Environs and Payers Park, Harbour Line & Tram Road, and Sunny Sands. Following extensive consultation; The Folkestone – A Brighter Future scheme has three key areas of focus to improve Folkestone town centre: 1. Station Arrival and Town Centre Connections: This element of the project aims to improve the links from the railway station for pedestrians and cyclists to encourage use of active travel and public transport and to improve connections for visitors and residents alike. 2. Improved Gateway to the Town Centre and Bouverie Square: This component of the project will unlock transformational change around the town centre. The focus will be to reconfigure the main bus station in the town centre and implement changes to the legacy gyratory road system to the north. 3. Folca, Sandgate Road and Town Centre Public Realm: This element of the project will refurbish the Folca building (the former Debenhams building) into a ‘town lab’ which will encourage and bring new and experimental uses into the town centre. The phased refurbishment of this building will bring a currently redundant building back into use in the town centre and reactivate this part of the high street. It will also improve the public realm on Sandgate Road to encourage footfall in this area of the town centre. FHDC has requested that KCC act as the delivery partner for the transport and public realm elements of the scheme.