Wait for Stubbington Bypass funding could be over by '˜next week', says council leader

Councillor Sean Woodward, leader of Fareham Borough Council, has said residents should not be worrying about whether the long-anticipated road will be funded, despite the scheme not being included in a Department for Transport report on government-funded road schemes.

For the project to go ahead, the government needs to allocate £25.7m for work to begin.

Cllr Woodward said: ‘We are expecting to know more soon, hopefully within the next week.

‘The government likes to make a plethora of announcements in order to release the details of schemes at separate times so residents should not be worrying about it.’

The Department for Transport has released a long list of road schemes across the country that have received funding following last week’s Autumn Statement.

For the Portsmouth area, the only announcement was that Portsmouth City Council was to be handed £111.000 to help the authority with fixing potholes.

The Autumn Statement saw the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, award £683m of funding for the local enterprise partnerships (LEP) in London, the south east and the south west.

According to Cllr Woodward, any announcement on the 2.3-mile stretch of road would come once the Solent LEP knows how much funding they will receive from the £683m, and the councillor, who is a director on the LEP’s board, says he is hoping it to be next week.

The 2.3-mile stretch of road from Titchfield Road to Gosport Road has already been approved by council bosses and £8.5m of local funding is in place.