What It Bought
Comparison · Town-centre transport and public realm

Folkestone 🇬🇧 vs Tsuruga 🇯🇵

Two town-centre regeneration programmes, side by side. Programme-level figures first, then only the works that are genuinely comparable. No score, no winner.

Folkestone

Aerial view of construction beside Folkestone bus station, with the town and coast beyond
Folkestone · Aerial view of the bus station works
New paving and construction machinery beside Folkestone bus station
Folkestone · Bus station works at street level
Bus stops and paving along the road at Middelburg Square in Folkestone
Folkestone · Middelburg Square

Tsuruga

Aerial view of the lawn, buildings and covered walkways west of Tsuruga Station
Tsuruga · Station west-side redevelopment
People sitting around curved seating on the lawn outside the station-side buildings in Tsuruga
Tsuruga · Seating and public space
Broad lawn and a long covered walkway in the Tsuruga station redevelopment
Tsuruga · Lawn and covered walkway
Folkestone 🇬🇧
vs
Tsuruga 🇯🇵
£21.99m planned
money
¥3.20bn actual, final
approx. £18.28m
3 years 11 months so far
programme
5 years
7 new crossings
built
2,300 m² public square
In progress
state
Completed
Sources: 18 official documents · methodology

Context

 
Folkestone - A Brighter Future
Tsuruga City Central Hub District Urban Regeneration Project
Place
Folkestone, United Kingdom
Tsuruga, Japan
Population
51,995
Source

ONS built-up area, 2021
63,039
Source

Whole municipality (resident register), 2023
Category
Town-centre regeneration
Town-centre regeneration
Project state
In progress figures are interim
Completed
Purpose
A Levelling Up Fund programme to reconnect Folkestone Central station with the town centre: new and improved crossings, a park replacing the Bouverie Square bus station, linear bus stops on Middelburg Square, new public realm on Sandgate Road and Guildhall Street, and greening with sustainable drainage. The council's bid grouped the works into three workstreams (Station Arrival and Town Centre Connections; Improved Gateway to the Town Centre and Bouverie Square; Folca, Sandgate Road and Town Centre Public Realm). The five components below are a descriptive grouping of the published works.
A five-year plan to remake the area around JR Tsuruga station ahead of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension: station forecourts on both sides, a covered walkway and plaza on the west side, greening along National Route 8, a station car park and a new integrated primary and junior-high school. Half of the grant-eligible cost was met by national grant under the Urban Structure Reorganisation Intensive Support Project.

The two population figures use different geographies (ONS built-up area versus Whole municipality (resident register)). Per-resident figures below are shown for each programme but are not like-for-like.

Programme scale

The two programmes bundle different kinds of work. The figures in this section describe each programme as a whole and are not a like-for-like comparison. See Comparable public works for the components that can be compared.

Whole programme
Folkestone
Tsuruga
Headline figure
£21.99m Planned
Source

Programme budget, 2023 prices
¥3.20bn Actual, final
Source
approx. £18.28m
Actual expenditure
Programme period
18 Jan 2023 → expected Late 2026
Source

3 years 11 months
Calculated
18 Jan 2023 → Late 2026
Programme started
18 Jan 2023
Current expected completion
Late 2026
Ongoing. Uses the currently expected completion, taken as the last day of the stated period.
1 Apr 2019 → 31 Mar 2024
Source

5 years
Calculated
1 Apr 2019 → 31 Mar 2024
Programme started
1 Apr 2019
Programme ended
31 Mar 2024
Programme area
Not published
213.5 ha
Source
Components
5
1 pedestrian infrastructure, 1 public square, 1 public realm, 1 public transport, 1 greening
8
2 public square, 2 pedestrian infrastructure, 1 road, 1 parking, 1 public realm, 1 education
Outside this comparison
Nothing: all components are in scope
2 components worth
70%
Calculated
¥2,238,700,000 ÷ ¥3,196,900,000
Excluded component costs
¥2,238,700,000
Actual expenditure ↗
¥3,196,900,000
Share of the headline figure spent on components outside this comparison.
 of the headline figure

Comparable public works

Scope: Town-centre transport and public realm. Station approaches, streets and highways, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, public squares, greening and public transport infrastructure. Buildings, schools and car parks are outside the scope and are listed as excluded.

Scope mismatch: some components are excluded on one or both sides because they are not town-centre transport or public realm. They are listed below, not hidden.

Included components

In scope
Folkestone
Tsuruga
 
Station Arrival and Town Centre Connections pedestrian infrastructure In progress
size not published · cost not published
Sources
Bouverie Square / Town Centre Gateway public square In progress
size not published · cost not published
Sources
Sandgate Road and Guildhall Street Public Realm public realm In progress
size not published · cost not published
Sources
Middelburg Square Public Transport Improvements public transport In progress
size not published · cost not published
Sources
Cheriton Road / Foresters Way Greening and Drainage greening In progress
size not published · cost not published
Sources
Municipal Road No. 175 road Completed
80.8 m · ¥8.00m Actual, final
Sources
East Shinkansen Station Forecourt public square Completed
2,300 m² · ¥180.00m Actual, final
Sources
West Station Plaza (otta site) public square Completed
2,400 m² · ¥94.50m Actual, final
Sources
West Station Covered Walkway pedestrian infrastructure Completed
747 m² · ¥126.90m Actual, final
Sources
Route 8 Public Realm / Greening public realm Completed
5,500 m² · ¥59.70m Actual, final
Sources
East Station Pedestrian / Accessibility Infrastructure pedestrian infrastructure Completed
1,450 m² · ¥807.00m Actual, final
Sources
Public space (squares, public realm, greening)
Not published 3 components in scope, but no dimensions have been published.
10,200 m²
Calculated
2,300 m² + 2,400 m² + 5,500 m²
East Shinkansen Station Forecourt ↗
2,300 m²
West Station Plaza (otta site) ↗
2,400 m²
Route 8 Public Realm / Greening ↗
5,500 m²
Pedestrian infrastructure
Not published 1 component in scope, but no dimensions have been published.
2,197 m²
Calculated
747 m² + 1,450 m²
West Station Covered Walkway ↗
747 m²
East Station Pedestrian / Accessibility Infrastructure ↗
1,450 m²
Road works
None No components of this type are in scope for this programme.
80.8 m
Calculated
80.8 m
Municipal Road No. 175 ↗
80.8 m
Public transport infrastructure
Not published 1 component in scope, but no dimensions have been published.
None No components of this type are in scope for this programme.
New crossings
7 In progress
Sources
  • Folkestone – A Brighter Future: project overview
    Folkestone & Hythe District Council · Government · accessed 12 Sep 2026
    Seven new crossings listed (Radnor roundabout ×2, Station Approach, Shorncliffe Road, Cheriton Road/Middelburg Square, Middelburg Square North, Foresters Way). One new signalised crossing reported complete in newsletter 14; the rest under way.
  • Folkestone – A Brighter Future newsletter, issue 14 (July 2026)
    Jackson Civil Engineering, hosted by Folkestone & Hythe District Council · Other · accessed 12 Sep 2026
    Seven new crossings listed (Radnor roundabout ×2, Station Approach, Shorncliffe Road, Cheriton Road/Middelburg Square, Middelburg Square North, Foresters Way). One new signalised crossing reported complete in newsletter 14; the rest under way.
Not published
Improved crossings
3 Planned
Source
Not published
Subway infills
2 Planned
Source
Not published
Linear bus stops
6 In progress
Sources
  • Folkestone – A Brighter Future: project overview
    Folkestone & Hythe District Council · Government · accessed 12 Sep 2026
    Five south, one north, with green-roof shelters. Buses moved to the new stops in September 2025; shelters partially installed as of February 2026.
  • Folkestone – A Brighter Future newsletter, issue 15 (August 2026)
    Jackson Civil Engineering, hosted by Folkestone & Hythe District Council · Other · accessed 12 Sep 2026
    Five south, one north, with green-roof shelters. Buses moved to the new stops in September 2025; shelters partially installed as of February 2026.
Not published
Bouverie Square converted to public green space
1 In progress
Sources
Not published
New footbridge from Guildhall Street North
1 In progress
Sources
Not published
20mph town-centre scheme
1 Planned
Source
Not published
Sustainable drainage / rain gardens
1 In progress
Sources
Not published
New trees (at least)
70 Planned
Sources
Not published

Where only one programme publishes a measure, the other side reads “Not published”. No equivalent units are invented.

Excluded from this comparison

Not in scope
Nothing excluded: every component of this programme is within the scope.
Parking · excluded
East Station Parking
1,450 m² · ¥393.40m Actual, final
Source

Vehicle parking is a distinct asset class. Folkestone's programme builds no parking and removes some (the Bouverie Square car park becomes green space), so including it would set a car park on one side against its removal on the other.

Education · excluded
Integrated Primary / Junior-High School
18,000 m² · ¥1.85bn Actual, final
Source

An education building. Folkestone's programme has no equivalent, and a school is not town-centre transport or public realm. Its cost is disclosed because it is the largest single item in the Tsuruga programme.

Cost

Original currency is always shown first. GBP figures are calculated at render time from dated, sourced factors for 2023; expand any calculated figure to see its formula. No inflation adjustment is applied (why).

Money
Folkestone
Tsuruga
Headline figure, local currency
£21,990,910 Planned
Source
¥3,196,900,000 Actual, final
Source
Nominal GBP equivalent
£21.99m
Calculated
Already in GBP; no conversion applied.
£18.28m
Calculated
¥3,196,900,000 ÷ 174.92 JPY per £1 (2023 annual average market rate)
Original amount (JPY)
¥3,196,900,000
Exchange rate, 2023 ↗
174.92 JPY per £1
Nominal market-rate conversion. No adjustment for price differences or inflation.
PPP-adjusted GBP
£21.99m
Calculated
GBP is the base currency of this comparison; PPP-adjusted value equals the original.
£22.51m
Calculated
¥3,196,900,000 ÷ 93.83 (JPY per international $, PPP) × 0.661 (GBP per international $, PPP)
Original amount (JPY)
¥3,196,900,000
JPY PPP factor, 2023 ↗
93.83 JPY per international $
GBP PPP factor, 2023 ↗
0.661 GBP per international $
Purchasing-power parity adjusts for what money buys in each country. OECD GDP PPPs, not construction-specific prices.
Comparable-scope cost (sum of included component costs)
Not published No component-level costs have been published. All 5 components are within the scope, so the programme budget is an upper bound that also contains fees, contingency and allowances.
¥1.28bn
Calculated
¥8,000,000 + ¥180,000,000 + ¥94,500,000 + ¥126,900,000 + ¥59,700,000 + ¥807,000,000
Municipal Road No. 175 ↗
¥8,000,000
East Shinkansen Station Forecourt ↗
¥180,000,000
West Station Plaza (otta site) ↗
¥94,500,000
West Station Covered Walkway ↗
¥126,900,000
Route 8 Public Realm / Greening ↗
¥59,700,000
East Station Pedestrian / Accessibility Infrastructure ↗
¥807,000,000
Sum of reported component expenditure.
≈
£7.30m
Calculated
¥1,276,100,000 ÷ 174.92 JPY per £1 (2023 annual average market rate)
Original amount (JPY)
¥1,276,100,000
Exchange rate, 2023 ↗
174.92 JPY per £1
Nominal market-rate conversion. No adjustment for price differences or inflation.
 nominal ·
£8.99m
Calculated
¥1,276,100,000 ÷ 93.83 (JPY per international $, PPP) × 0.661 (GBP per international $, PPP)
Original amount (JPY)
¥1,276,100,000
JPY PPP factor, 2023 ↗
93.83 JPY per international $
GBP PPP factor, 2023 ↗
0.661 GBP per international $
Purchasing-power parity adjusts for what money buys in each country. OECD GDP PPPs, not construction-specific prices.
 PPP
Headline figure per resident
£422.94
Calculated
£21,990,910 ÷ 51,995 residents
Programme budget (Planned) ↗
£21,990,910
Population, 2021 (ONS built-up area) ↗
51,995
Denominator is the ONS built-up area population.
ONS built-up area population
¥50,713
Calculated
¥3,196,900,000 ÷ 63,039 residents
Actual expenditure (Actual, final) ↗
¥3,196,900,000
Population, 2023 (Whole municipality (resident register)) ↗
63,039
Denominator is the Whole municipality (resident register) population.
≈
£357.09
Calculated
¥50,713 ÷ 93.83 (JPY per international $, PPP) × 0.661 (GBP per international $, PPP)
Original amount (JPY)
¥50,713
JPY PPP factor, 2023 ↗
93.83 JPY per international $
GBP PPP factor, 2023 ↗
0.661 GBP per international $
Purchasing-power parity adjusts for what money buys in each country. OECD GDP PPPs, not construction-specific prices.
 PPP
Whole municipality (resident register) population
Cost variance
Awaiting data The programme is not complete; no final expenditure exists yet.
Not published No original programme budget has been published to compare against.

Time

Folkestone - A Brighter Future is not complete. Its duration is elapsed time so far and its schedule variance is the currently expected figure; both can still change.

Dates
Folkestone
Tsuruga
Construction start
7 Apr 2025 Actual
Sources
Not published
Original planned completion
Summer 2026 Planned
Source
FY2023 (to March 2024) Planned
Source
Revised completion
Late 2026 Planned
Source
  • Folkestone – A Brighter Future updates
    Folkestone & Hythe District Council · Government · 3 Dec 2025 · accessed 12 Sep 2026
    "works planned to finish in late 2026". Taken as 31 December 2026. Council report A/25/20 (Nov 2025) says Autumn 2026; the Contracts Finder end date is 18 October 2026.
None: completed as planned
Actual completion
Not yet complete
31 Mar 2024 Actual
Source
Construction duration
17 months
Calculated
7 Apr 2025 → today (12 Sep 2026)
Construction started
7 Apr 2025
Today
12 Sep 2026
Ongoing. This is elapsed time so far, not a final duration.
Not published No construction start date has been published.
Programme duration
3 years 11 months
Calculated
18 Jan 2023 → Late 2026
Programme started
18 Jan 2023
Current expected completion
Late 2026
Ongoing. Uses the currently expected completion, taken as the last day of the stated period.
5 years
Calculated
1 Apr 2019 → 31 Mar 2024
Programme started
1 Apr 2019
Programme ended
31 Mar 2024
Schedule variance
+4 months
Calculated
Late 2026 − Summer 2026
Original planned completion
Summer 2026 (taken as 31 Aug 2026)
Current expected completion
Late 2026 (taken as 31 Dec 2026)
Currently expected. The programme is not complete, so this figure can still change.
On time 31 Mar 2024 − FY2023 (to March 2024)

Outcomes

What each programme promised to change, and what was measured afterwards. Targets that were not met are shown as such.

Measured outcomes
Folkestone
Tsuruga
 
Awaiting post-completion data No outcome indicators have been published; the programme is not complete.
Population density of the urban-function inducement area
Source

people per hectare
baseline 39.5 (2017) → target 39.5 → actual 35.1 (2023) Target not met
Actual is the evaluation's projected value (見込値), measured July 2023; a confirmed value was due March 2025.
JR Tsuruga Station average daily boardings
Source

people per day
baseline 3,610 (2016) → target 4,510 → actual 3,260 (2023) Target not met
Projected value (見込値), July 2023. The evaluation attributes the shortfall to the one-year delay of the Hokuriku Shinkansen opening (to March 2024) and to the pandemic covering most of the plan period.
Central-city pedestrian and cycle traffic
Source

people counted
baseline 2,331 (2018) → target 2,686 → actual 2,150 (2023) Target not met
Measured Sep–Nov 2023 at the Kehi Jingu crossing, weekday and holiday combined.
TSURUGA POLT SQUARE "otta" visitors
Source

people per year
baseline 0 (2018) → target none → actual 655,900 (2023) No target
No target was set. Actual is April–December 2023 counted plus an estimate for the remaining months.

Evidence

Sources
Folkestone
Tsuruga
Strength
Strong
14 sources · 9 government documents · 1 official statistics release · 2 procurement notices · 2 other documents
  1. Cabinet report C/22/86: Folkestone – A Brighter Future (Appendix 2, total project cost plan) (Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
  2. Decision 22/00111: Folkestone – A Brighter Future, Levelling Up Fund (Kent County Council)
  3. Levelling Up Fund Round 2: successful bidders (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
  4. One step closer to a brighter future for Folkestone (Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
  5. Folkestone – A Brighter Future: Levelling Up Fund timeline (Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
  6. Folkestone – A Brighter Future updates (Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
  7. Towns and cities, characteristics of built-up areas, England and Wales: Census 2021 (Folkestone built-up area, E63005914) (Office for National Statistics)
  8. Folkestone – A Brighter Future: project overview (Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
  9. Contract award notice 2025/S 000-017865: SC24004 – Folkestone – 'A Brighter Future' Levelling Up Fund Scheme (Find a Tender (UK Government))
  10. Contract award: SC24004 – Folkestone – A Brighter Future Levelling Up Fund Scheme (Contracts Finder (UK Government))
  11. Folkestone – A Brighter Future newsletter, issue 14 (July 2026) (Jackson Civil Engineering, hosted by Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
  12. Folkestone – A Brighter Future newsletter, issue 15 (August 2026) (Jackson Civil Engineering, hosted by Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
  13. Greener horizons ahead with Folkestone – A Brighter Future (Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
  14. Funding bid wins government backing (Folkestone & Hythe District Council)
Moderate
4 sources · 1 project evaluation · 2 government documents · 1 official statistics release
  1. Form 2: Urban Regeneration Improvement Plan post-project evaluation, Tsuruga City Central Hub District (Urban Structure Reorganisation Intensive Support Project), March 2025 (敦賀市 (Tsuruga City))
  2. Urban Regeneration Improvement Plan Projects (formerly the Machizukuri Grant) (国土交通省 (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism))
  3. Tsuruga City statistics: households and population trend, year comparison (resident register, end of September each year) (敦賀市 (Tsuruga City))
  4. Publication of the post-project evaluation results for the Urban Regeneration Improvement Plan (Tsuruga City Central Hub District) (敦賀市 (Tsuruga City))
Conversion factors, 2023
Japan · Exchange rate (local currency per £1): 174.92 Bank of England
Japan · PPP conversion factor (local currency per international $): 93.832 OECD
United Kingdom · PPP conversion factor (local currency per international $): 0.661 OECD

Folkestone - A Brighter Future → Tsuruga City Central Hub District Urban Regeneration Project → Methodology →