Halfway to Folkestone's brighter future
A £22m project to regenerate Folkestone town centre is now more than halfway complete.
The complex scheme has been running for ten months with work continuing at seven different sites around the town.
The new linear bus station on Middelburg Square has progressed, with some of the permanent bus shelters now installed. The temporary F1 and F2 bus stops will change from Monday 2 March to switch over to the permanent structures for these routes. Stagecoach staff will be onsite on Monday to help with any queries and customers can also visit the Stagecoach website or app for updates.
From Monday 9 to Friday 13 March, there will be overnight works along Shellons Street Westbound from Grace Hill roundabout to the junction with Middelburg Square. The road will be closed from 21:00 - 05:00 to safely carry out these works. Over five consecutive nights the road will be surfaced, road markings installed and traffic signals added at the pedestrian crossing. A high friction surfacing will be installed, which is an anti-skid road treatment which will create a safer environment for road users and pedestrians.
Cheriton Place will also be the site of works from Monday 2 March to Tuesday 24 April.
Improvements to the footways and paving in this area means the entrance to Cheriton Place from Bouverie Road West will need to be blocked off to vehicles.
Cheriton Place will still be accessible from Sandgate Road and become two-way with all parking bays on the street suspended to facilitate this. Pedestrian access remains and all businesses on Cheriton Place remain open as usual.
Efforts to return Bouverie Square to its former use as a garden square are ongoing with sustainable filtration tanks to use rainwater to water plants due to be fitted next month.
Some of Folkestone’s history has also been uncovered during the work with fragments of bronze age pottery found during works in Cheriton Road. These fragments are thought to date back to 1000BC. Excavations are ongoing in the area so more evidence of prehistoric Folkestone may be revealed later in the project.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council made a successful bid for £19.8 million of government funding for the Folkestone – A Brighter Future project. The money was for specified works only, and could not be transferred to other priorities: it was use it or lose it.
Construction on phase one began in April 2025 and more than half of the ambitious programme is now complete. All phases are due to be completed late 2026.
Monthly project progress updates are being published on the Folkestone and Hythe District Council website at www.folkestone-hythe.gov.uk/folkestone-place-plan/project-progress
The most recent edition (number 10, issued end of February 2026) is below.