It is named after the valley of the Ebbsfleet River, which it straddles. Although a small part of the site in the east lies within the borough of Gravesham, Ebbsfleet Valley primarily sits in the borough of Dartford.
Toponymy
The name Ebbsfleet is an artificial creation of a seventeenth-century antiquarian, partly inspired by the name of Ebbsfleet in Thanet, 75 km (47 mi) to the east.[2]
In March 2014, the British government announced its intention to construct a garden city at Ebbsfleet for up to 15,000 homes.[4] Spanning Gravesham and Dartford boroughs, the project seeks to accelerate high-quality development enriched with local job opportunities, green spaces, and necessary infrastructure to make Ebbsfleet a desirable living and working hub. Being an original NHS Healthy Town, a health and wellbeing hub along with new cycleways and footpaths to Bluewater are proposed. Over 40% of the area is dedicated to green and blue spaces, fostering a nature-friendly environment for residents and visitors.[5]In November 2015, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer attempted to kick start the project by injecting £300 million.[6]
Richard Rogers, a former government adviser on cities, said: "They shouldn’t be building down there. East London still has masses of brownfield land, so why are we building 15 miles out? This is not a sustainable option."[6]
Ebbsfleet Garden City Developments
Ebbsfleet Garden City is witnessing a significant developmental phase with numerous planning permissions granted for residential, educational, and mixed-use projects, aligning with the broader vision of evolving into a well-integrated, sustainable community. The residential sector is seeing a substantial increase in new homes, with various projects at different stages of planning and construction.[7][8]
Notable residential developments include:
Alkerden Village, with an additional 227 homes approved following an initial phase of 91 homes, and a third phase currently under public consultation. Planning permission was granted by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, delivered by Redrow Homes.[9] A partnership between Henley Investment Management and Chartway Partnerships Group plans to deliver 162 homes, with a scheme valued around £80m, targeted for completion in 2027. [10]
Bellway Homes Developments received planning permissions for two separate projects totaling 303 homes in Ebbsfleet Garden City[11][12]
375 Affordable Housing Units with Phase 1, totaling 125 units, having been granted planning permission.[13]
An outline planning application for Ebbsfleet Central East has been submitted for a mixed-use area with around 2,100 homes, office spaces, retail spaces, and a Health and Wellbeing Hub.[14]
Educational Developments are also part of the strategic plan, with Alkerden Education Campus and Cable Wharf School among the institutions being developed.[15] The Mixed-Use Developments segment is marked by the Ebbsfleet Central project, envisioned to transform the area around Ebbsfleet International Station into a modern urban hub.[16]
Furthermore, Ebbsfleet Central and Health, Education, and Innovation Quarter (HEiQ) are significant mixed-use developments in the planning stages, aimed at providing a vibrant city centre with community, cultural facilities, and retail spaces.[17][18][19] The region also has plans for over 50 new parks and open spaces, with specific projects like City Parks and Cherry Orchard Primary Academy at different stages of development.[20][21]
Timeline
1996: Ebbsfleet Central Outline Application submitted.
1999: Bluewater Shopping Centre opens.
2002: Outline planning permission for homes granted by Gravesham and Dartford Council.
2004: Swanscombe Peninsula Outline permission submitted for mixed-use scheme.
2007: Eastern Quarry Outline Application approval, Ebbsfleet International Station opens for HS1 rail service, First residential development started at Springhead in Gravesham.
2009: Ebbsfleet International Domestic Services Commence.
2011: October Dartford Core Strategy Adopted.
2012: Eastern Quarry Revised Masterplan Approval.
2014: London Resort NSIP Status Awarded, Gravesham Core Strategy Adopted.
2015: Ebbsfleet Garden City & Ebbsfleet Development Corporation established.
2017: Ebbsfleet Healthy New Towns pilot begins, Castle Hill Community Centre & Cherry Orchard Primary Academy opened, Works begin to construct Springhead Bridge.
2019: Major electrical grid improvements bring power to Ebbsfleet, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation purchases a 125-hectare site around Ebbsfleet International.
2020: A2 Bean and Bluewater network improvements, Ebbsfleet’s 2000th home completed, Springhead Bridge opens to the public and wins the Civil Project of the Year at SECBE Constructing Excellence Award.[22]
2022: Ebbsfleet Development Corporation submitted the outline planning application for the first phase of new development in Ebbsfleet Central.[23]
Reaction
The development is referred to as a garden city, intended to be sustainable with publicly owned infrastructure and facilities, with inhabitants working on the estates. This was said to be inspired by the Stockholm suburbs such as Hammarby where the design there is to have cycleways, and 1,500 self-build homes, houseboats and parkland.
The planning committee chair, Derek Hunnisett, said "We are looking for a higher quality than the normal and what we are getting [so far] is the norm – standard off-the-peg stuff.".[6]
The nearest house is less than 20 minutes walk to Ebbsfleet International station.[24]
The current development already contradicts policy and academic papers written in recent times to inform the coalition government's 'blueprint'. "A strong landscape structure, that matures over time to create a leafy green character. Tree lined streets, green verges and planted front gardens".[25]
The Ebbsfleet Garden City development has faced criticisms concerning the concept of a new garden city, quality of housing, and insufficient planning.[26][27] Critics argue that the initial proposal for a garden city was a veil over inadequate planning and expressed concerns over the slow pace of housing construction and the quality of the built homes.[28] Additionally, the aspiration for a healthy urbanism initiative is a response to ensure high-quality housing and well-integrated social and economic infrastructure, addressing some of the criticisms indirectly.[29]
London Paramount Entertainment Resort
In the following May, London Paramount Entertainment Resort were given permission to build a theme park on potential housing land on the adjoining Swanscombe Peninsula site, nationally significant infrastructure project status, allowing the developers to bypass local planning requirements[30] and build a leisure complex that by 2019 may create employment for 27,000 people. Highways England consulted, in early 2017, about improvements to the A2 junctions in the area, citing a traffic increase of 200%.[31]
Telecommunications
There will be a trial by BT of a fibre network in the Ebbsfleet valley, potentially offering the highest speed internet connection to home users in the United Kingdom, with the exception of Ashford in Kent. It has been confirmed they will be offering speeds of 100Mbit/s which will transfer TV, Broadband and Telephone via optical fibre.[32] Businesses and residents of the area will be given a new telephone dialling code, 01987, though the small number of users who already have numbers allocated from the neighbouring codes (01322 or 01474) are able to retain them.[33] The 01987 code was adopted in April 2008, in preference to the vacant 01321 code.
Governance
The area formed part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe until 2 May 2019 and then became an unparished area.[34] The review of goverance leading up to the change had included the option for a new civil parish of Ebbsfleet with a community council.[35]
The Ebbsfleet River is of great historical importance in English history and prehistory, and much archaeological excavation has taken place here over the years. Quarrying here has revealed signs of extensive occupation some 100,000 years ago: flint knapping was carried out here, the remains of a straight-tusked elephant have been found. Distinctive pottery from the Neolithic age has been discovered; such pots give their name to an important sub-culture of the period.[39][40]
Belgic Britons, in the late Iron Age have left behind traces of their culture. Prior to the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in this area, archaeological work undertaken at Ebbsfleet found an Anglo-Saxon mill. The river, which is fed by eight natural springs at Springhead (Latin: Vagniacis), was held sacred by the Celts who settled in the area around 100 BC.[41] They were followed by the Romans; their Watling Street passes through the site, and a villa has been excavated.
A large flooded quarry, Sawyer's Lake, can be found nearby.
Chalk and Cement Industry
The chalk and cement industry holds a long-standing presence in the Ebbsfleet Valley, stemming from the region's abundant chalk deposits which have been exploited over centuries for cement production, significantly altering the landscape. In 1796, James Parker established kilns along the Northfleet Creek for the production of 'Roman' cement, marking the inception of large-scale cement works in the river stretch.[42] This industry had a profound impact on the region, notably illustrated in 1868 when Swanscombe Manor, primarily a rural area, was sold to cement magnate Thomas Bevan. This sale catalysed extensive excavation of the arable land and woodland for chalk and clay over the subsequent century, morphing Swanscombe into a locality encircled by vast chalk pits and escarpments.[43]
The legacy of the chalk and cement industry has set the foundation for contemporary developments. The former site of Northfleet Cement Works is undergoing redevelopment to house 532 new residences as part of the Ebbsfleet Garden City initiative. This project also entails the conversion of former chalk quarries and cement manufacturing facilities into a mixed-use domain featuring up to 15,000 new homes, 6 million ft² of commercial space, and 3 million ft² of retail, leisure, community, and educational facilities.[44][45] Moreover, recent planning approval signifies a substantial advancement in realizing a scheme at a former quarry site in Kent, envisaging 1,700 homes within a 660-acre expanse, further mirroring the region's ongoing evolution from its chalk and cement industry origins.[46]
Ebbsfleet was served by Arriva bus services 484 and 485 but it has since been replaced by the ArrivaClick demand responsive transport in 26/11/2020.[47]
Civic identity
The football team Gravesend and Northfleet FC changed their name to Ebbsfleet United F.C. in the summer of 2007. Another move to promote a sense of identity in the new town is a planned landmark, which when built will be 50 m (160 ft) high (twice as high as the Angel of the North) and is intended to be visible from road, rail and air. However, in June 2012, the project was stalled by a lack of funding.[48][49][50][51][52] Swan Valley Community School closed in 2013, and was replaced by The Ebbsfleet Academy, a new school operating from the same building and serving the same communities, but under entirely new management and largely new staff.[citation needed]
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability has been outlined as a cornerstone of the development strategy for Ebbsfleet Garden City. Key initiatives include:
The Environmental Sustainability Framework, which sets the ambition for the city to be net-zero carbon upon completion and to exemplify energy generation, distribution, and efficiency.[53]
Development of an Environmental Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan.[54]
The Ebbsfleet Decarbonisation Plan and Ebbsfleet Sustainable Performance Framework to roadmap the achievement of net-zero carbon by the city's completion.[55]
The development of Ebbsfleet Garden City is expected to have a substantial economic impact both locally and nationally. Key points include:
Nearly 200,000 jobs are projected to be supported in schools, shops, and offices nationwide through the investments in Ebbsfleet Garden City.[57]
By 2035, Ebbsfleet is anticipated to house 15,000 new properties and provide 32,000 new jobs for residents.[58]
An estimated £6 billion of investment is expected to flow into Ebbsfleet through the development program, aimed at delivering significant benefits for communities across the region.[59]
^Parkham, Sarah (2016). "Garden Cities, Why Not?"(PDF). The Garden City Institute. Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
