Plans for a 291-home development on a town’s golf course have been revealed after a previous ‘Center Parcs’-style bid was scrapped.
GSE Group – owner of Hythe Golf Club and neighbouring Hythe Imperial Hotel – has drawn up proposals to redevelop the “under-utilised” 18-hole course.
New proposals could see the construction of 291 homes on the current Hythe Golf Club site, next to Hythe Imperial Hotel. Picture: GSE
A new leisure building including a 20-metre indoor swimming pool is also planned for land to the east of the hotel, and will be open to the public.
The £120 million vision along Princes Parade marks a major shift from earlier proposals for 150 holiday chalets across the golf course, which were dropped in February last year.
Under the updated scheme, the 40-acre private Hythe Golf Club would be reduced to a pay-to-play nine-hole par-three academy course, including a new clubhouse on the eastern half of the site.
Sitting alongside the new course, an adventure golf attraction is also planned – which bosses say would be themed around the Napoleonic Wars.
The 291 homes would be built on the western side of the course, including 48 three-bedroom houses and 243 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats.
The Hythe Imperial Hotel and Hythe Golf Club sit along Princes Parade on the coastline; this map shows where the new homes could be built. Picture: GSE
GSE says 25% of the new homes – about 73 in total – would be classed as affordable.
The Hythe Imperial Hotel is also set to benefit from a multimillion-pound investment as part of the scheme, including the construction of a new west wing with 24 additional bedrooms, taking the site’s capacity to 116 rooms.
A new outdoor pool, gym, spa and wellbeing centre could also be added to the venue.
GSE says the separate indoor pool building – which would also feature a gym, exercise studios and changing rooms – would provide a “privately funded alternative to nearby Hythe Swimming Pool”.
The company, which is yet to submit a formal planning application for the scheme, says those facilities would be open to the public as well as hotel guests.
Darrell Healey, chairman of GSE, said: “This £120 million investment has been designed to strengthen the local economy, benefit the local community, enhance the environment, and provide much needed housing to the area while sustaining the future of the Hythe Imperial Hotel.”
Previous plans to transform Hythe Golf Club into a mini ‘Center Parcs’ were scrapped last year. Picture: GSE
He added that GSE had “listened to the concerns of residents” and “radically redesigned” the scheme to “better align with community needs”.
Last year, the company scrapped plans to transform Hythe Golf Club into a lakeside tourist spot, with one resident comparing it to a “mini Center Parcs”.
A total of 220 new holiday homes were lodged in previous proposals – which included chalets, surrounding boating pools, play parks and a walkway for visitors.
Following a public consultation in 2023, GSE said it was exploring other options after the feedback – thus leading to this new proposal.
A public exhibition of the updated plans will be held at the Hythe Imperial Hotel on Thursday, November 27, from 2pm to 7.30pm, where residents can view the proposals and share their views before a planning application is submitted to Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC).
At the opposite end of the seafront, part of Princes Parade has been subject to many development proposals in recent years, however FHDC confirmed this summer that the land would be “left as it is”.
The 18-acre council owned plot – which sits between the beach and the Royal Military Canal – was earmarked for a £29 million scheme of 150 homes in 2017.
However, Cllr Jim Martin (Green) – the authority’s leader – confirmed the site would be left untouched following more than a decade of bitter rows about its future.
