Construction work has started on the first phase of a new 800-home garden suburb near Herne Bay.
Greenwood Gardens will feature a mix of apartments and houses, commercial space, areas of green open space and allotments on an 88-acre site off the A299 Thanet Way.
The project is being delivered through a joint venture between national housebuilder Countryside Homes and leading social enterprise Places for People.
The scheme will also include the delivery of the Herne Relief Road, a spine road running through the development which will link Canterbury Road to the east with Bullockstone Road to the west.
Phase one of Greenwood Gardens will comprise 132 new homes on land in the north-eastern part of the wider site which is bordered by Thanet Way to the north west and Canterbury Road to the east.
There will be a range of one and two-bedroom apartments and two, three and four-bedroom houses, with the first properties due to go on sale in late summer 2024.65 of the homes will be sold on the open market with the other 67 properties being made available for shared ownership.
Alex Hodge, associate development director for Countryside Homes, said: “This is an extremely exciting project which will create an attractive and sustainable mixed-use community on the edge of Herne Bay.
“Our partnership with Places for People will see us deliver a wide variety of high-quality housing which will be genuinely affordable for local people seeking to get onto the property ladder.
“Phase one of construction work at Greenwood Gardens includes the first section of the Herne Relief Road. This is an important piece of transport infrastructure which will reduce the volume of traffic travelling through nearby Herne Village and will be completed around halfway through the build programme.
“We are expecting to hand over the keys to the first completed homes at Greenwood Gardens this autumn and anticipate that the overall scheme will be completed by 2033.”
Sammie Steele, Managing Director for Placemaking and Regeneration at Places for People, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Countryside Homes to deliver the first homes under our Framework Agreement.
“At Greenwood Gardens, we are really pleased to be delivering such a high percentage of affordable homes in the first phase at 50%, maximising our affordable buying options to support those looking to step onto the property ladder.
“For us, these homes are much more than a new housing development, it is a long-term vision to create a new sustainable and thriving community which will continue to provide opportunities and benefits for people now and years to come.”
For more information about Countryside Homes, visit https://www.countrysidehomes.com/