Developers reveal initial plans for the waterfront

That is the news from development company Coplan, which has revealed to The News its initial plans for the redevelopment of the Gosport Bus Station.

Marketing firm JLL had a description of the land on their website, which suggested that the land could contain 95 residential units, 1,405sqm of retail, parking and a new bus terminal.

According to the page, which was recently deleted: ‘A concept for the site has been developed with Gosport Borough Council and Hampshire County Council to assess the site constraints and potential development opportunity.’

Coplan’s head of development Colin McQueston says that plans for the site are in their early stages, with only a couple of rough sketches - but that ideas have already been bounced around.

He said: ‘I think residential units will feature because it is an obvious site for it.

‘That being said, there are other things we would also like to look at, such as leisure units for restaurants and retail purposes that would lend itself to the waterfront venue.

‘We will also be focusing on the replacement bus station because it is very important that this is retained for residents.

‘This is an exciting time for Gosport and we can’t wait to show our ideas.’

Chairman of the council’s economic board Cllr Stephen Philpott says that he doesn’t want to see any plans until the consultation period closes.

He said: ‘We asked JLL to market the site for us, and chose Coplan to redevelop the bus station - so the web page being deleted doesn’t mean anything in particular.

‘The bus station is just one of the sites in the Supplementary Planning Document.

‘With regards to any initial designs, it isn’t my place to get involved – but what I can say is that whatever is planned will have to go alongside what the residents want.

‘Even after that, the proposals will need planning permission, so there is a very long way to go in this process.

‘I want to be satisfied that Coplan has considered the public with their ideas. Their views must taken into account so that we end up with something that the people of Gosport are pleased with.’

The consultation period for the SPD will close on September 29.