The strategic placing of the Springhead Enterprise Park in such close proximity to the A2, M25, M20, and mainline railway, has enabled the development of this area into a thriving space of commerce and opportunity. With the new town of Ebbsfleet Valley offering a number of newly built houses, and great access to St Pancras International Station from nearby Ebbsfleet International, it’s no wonder this area is so popular with those looking to live that bit further out from central London. With its proximity to the Thames, nearby Sawyer’s Lake, and Northfleet Urban Country Park, this area is perfect for those looking for a wide choice of outdoor spaces on their doorstep. And with the upcoming developments that have promised large plots of land to retail and leisure facilities, as well as schools and medical facilities, this area is bound to gain more attention from potential residents over the coming years.

Many of the chalk quarries that can be found in this area date back to the Roman period, with the possibility that they were established for cement and flint. Ebbsfleet Valley is located in the Eastern Quarry, where clay was first extracted in the 1900s, followed by chalk in the 1930s. This product was transported away from the site and was used to produce cement, which was partly used to build the Channel Tunnel. The first developments for the new town began in 2007, with Ebbsfleet International station opening the same year. The name ‘Ebbsfleet Valley’ was taken from the valley of the Ebbsfleet River, which this particular area spans. Ebbsfleet is the first new garden city to be built in 100 years.

From Ebbsfleet International train station you can hop on board the Eurostar to Paris. Because of this, the station is one of the very few to have bilingual signage, in both French and English. The others are Wallsend (Latin), Southall (Punjabi), and Hereford (Welsh).

One of the downsides of this neighbourhood area and its surroundings is the fact that it has not yet been completed, and is expected to take at least another 10 years. This means that some of the facilities one would expect to find in such a neighbourhood are not yet available. Despite this fact, residents already living here make good use of the facilities in nearby areas of Swanscombe and Northfleet.

There is a large amount of new development occurring in the neighbourhood area of Ebbsfleet Valley. As part of the new town development, there are plans to build 15,000 new homes, transport links, schools, medical centres and offices, with the hope of bringing 30,000 residents to the area. Whilst some of the development has already begun, there is still much to be completed. The Ebbsfleet Valley development, which began in 2014 thanks to a £300m investment of public money, has been the subject of criticism, with Richard Rogers even saying that its situation so far outside of London was “not a sustainable option.” Few of the 15,000 planned homes have been built so far and many of the original community-focussed plans may fall short with fears that school places will be in dangerously short supply. Some are also unhappy with the standard of the housing, which in places differs homes that were promised.