No ordinary new town: the commuter town between London and Paris being reborn as a garden city

From Milton Keynes to Moscow, the “garden city” concept of creating model new towns has been the main weapon in the battle against housing shortages.

The biggest British garden city project currently under way is finally starting to take shape in the Ebbsfleet Valley, a no-man’s-land swathe of North Kent known by many, up to now, only for its international railway station.

Over the next 10 to 15 years, however, Ebbsfleet is to become more than a stop between London and Paris. It is being reborn as a significant new town, with 15,000 new homes on brownfield land close to Gravesend.

That these homes are desperately needed is not in doubt, and Ebbsfleet’s transport links to the capital make it a realistic option for priced-out buyers.

Unfortunately, the early evidence suggests that quality housing is in short supply. With so much emphasis on wellbeing and the benefits of good architecture, it is sad to hear dissenting voices within the council and the community claiming that the new homes being proposed are deeply unimaginative, “off the peg” and predictable.

THE CHANCE TO CREATE SOMETHING BETTER

Builders such as Barratt, Charles Church, Countryside, Persimmon, Clarion and Wimpey can all build better and are setting the bar too low, it has been claimed.

Certainly, a major new town deserves homes that are innovative and stylish. Questions need to be asked before it is too late.

Planning permission was granted in December for the largest tranche of the development, comprising more than 6,000 homes, a market square, shops, bars and restaurants, an education campus and an urban park.

Almost simultaneously, plans were unveiled for a £600 million tram system linking Ebbsfleet to Gravesend and Dartford.

GREAT TRANSPORT LINKS AND AFFORDABLE HOMES

This new transport network will enhance Ebbsfleet’s already-impressive commuter services.

Trains to St Pancras International take less than 20 minutes, and those to Stratford take 11 minutes. An annual season ticket is costly at £5,364, but this needs to be set against the affordability of Ebbsfleet homes.

This month Clarion Housing Group is launching a tranche of shared-ownership two-bedroom flats at Castle Hill.

This is one of Ebbsfleet’s new neighbourhoods and as well as homes will have shops, a school, a community centre and a health centre, along with nearby parkland and sports facilities.

Prices for a 35 per cent share of one of the apartments, which come with parking spaces, start at £91,000.

Buyers will need to raise a £4,550 deposit, and as well as mortgage repayments need to budget for rent of just over £387 a month and service charge of about £169 a month.

IT HAS BEEN A SLOW BURN

Right now Ebbsfleet’s future prospects are hard to assess. The project was announced in 2014 but recession jitters and a slow planning process meant the new homes have only just started coming up for sale.

The Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, set up by the Government to oversee the development of what it describes as a “21st-century garden city”, promises not only homes but a “vibrant new commercial centre” with 500,000sq ft of commercial space, an upgraded bus network, and Thames-side walkways .

As it is a garden city, there will be seven city parks, along with new schools. Derek Hunnisett, chairman of Dartford borough council’s planning committee, has complained that the new homes granted planning permission are worryingly workaday.

The idea with garden cities is that they should be exemplars of quality volume housebuilding, sustainable and well designed.

Hunnisett claims — and the marketing literature put out by the likes of Taylor Wimpey and Barratt suggests — he is correct, that Ebbsfleet is getting standard off-the-peg stuff.

There are also few details about how Ebbsfleet town centre will develop. The mix of retailers, quality of restaurants, pubs, and cafés, and the aesthetics of the whole area will make or break this new garden city.

A 160ft-tall white horse designed by artist Mark Wallinger as a “landmark” for Ebbsfleet and nicknamed the Angel of the South is stalled for now but hopefully won’t be permanently mothballed on the £2 million cost grounds. A new town needs identity.

‘WE’RE AIMING FOR FULL HOME OWNERSHIP IN 10 YEARS’ TIME’

Anna Sewell, a PA, bought a 45 per cent share of a three-bedroom house at Castle Hill in Ebbsfleet last summer with her partner Anthony Swinden, 38, a delivery driver.

“It feels wonderful having a home of our own,” says Sewell, 37.

“We couldn’t have afforded a home this big if we were buying on the private market. We plan to increase our share every two years and the aim is to own our home outright in 10 years’ time.”