Controversial plans for care home and flats at Browndown Training Camp face backlash

The development is being called alien, highly detrimental with concerns over lack of parking and boy racer behaviour adding to traffic congestion problems.

Highwood Ventures 17 Limited has submitted an application to Gosport Borough Council seeking permission to build a care home, 34 retirement flats, 46 other homes, and two commercial units at Browndown Training Camp after the demolition of buildings on the site which housed a barracks, firing range and has been historically used for training.

The design and access statement said the 3.76-hectare development site will have 0.59 hectares of open space. The retirement flats and care home will be three-storey.

The statement said of the 46 homes, 11 will be two-bedroom and 35 will be three-bedroom. Of the 34 retirement flats, there are 25 one-bedroom and nine two-bedroom homes. With 169 car parking spaces to meet Gosport Borough Council residential standards and cater to the specific needs of the future care home and commercial café operations.

While the design statement mentions affordable housing, there is no specific number of how many affordable homes will be supplied.

Formerly owned by the MoD, it declared the site surplus to requirements in 2009 and closed it before selling it off to a private contractor for £754,000 in 2012. The beach at Browndown is still used for military training in Amphibious Warfare.

The Gosport Society said: “Browndown is of major importance to the town, at the heart of an important area of open space, a strategic gap separating Gosport from Lee-on-the-Solent.

The area of open space comprises the Alver Valley Country Park, private open space in the ownership of the MoD to the north and south of Privett Road, Kingfisher Caravan and Camping Park, and school playing fields.”

The society is concerned about the erosion of the strategic gap and that houses are proposed to be built on a site designated as a site of importance for nature conservation.

It said in Gosport’s local plan, it is allocated as a site for tourism, suggesting access from Browndown Road, not Privett Road and criticises the design density of the buildings.

It added: “The Gosport Society fully supports the council’s historic and continuing strategy to protect this area from intrusive and “alien” development as proposed in this application.”

The Lee residents’ society said the proposal is “highly detrimental” and falls “woefully short” on parking spaces needed for businesses and residents.

Another public comment from Richard Jackson said: “The government said future housing developments would only proceed subject to there being sufficient infrastructure. With continuous traffic jams on the A32 and Newgate Lane, clearly the infrastructure isn’t there and increasing traffic will only exacerbate the intolerable position.”

Steve Thompson who has a static caravan on Kingfisher Caravan Park objected on the grounds of noise and the increase in traffic.

He said: “Browndown Road is already very busy as is the junction with Privett Road which is near impossible to turn right out onto Privett Road.” He objected to: “Boy racers in their exploding cars and the motorbikes that open up just after the bend on Browndown Road.”

Concerns raised on social media included lack of hospital capacity at QA, traffic congestion, one person said “we will never get out of here”, and concerns over sewage being dumped into the sea.

Others said: “It should be left as open space” while another said when it was sold it was not meant to be used as housing.”

For more information and have your say go to Gosport Borough Council’s planning portal.

It will decide on this planning application reference 25/00096/FULL by June 30.