Fareham development Welborne Garden Village 'revised' as vital motorway works could cost £10 million more

Buckland Developments Ltd, which is behind the 6,000-home garden village, has submitted a series of revisions to the scheme, including the possibility of upping its contribution to the M27 Junction 10 works.

The Welborne Garden Village has been 20 years in the making – but nothing can be built until funding is secured to expand the nearby junction so it can accommodate the predicted increase in traffic.

Earlier in the year, the government tripled its contribution to £30m, while Buckland agreed to double its spend on the motorway works – raising its contribution to £40m – in order to meet a shortfall in the project’s budget.

Now the latest revisions could see the company spend more than £50m to ensure that the works can be finished.

The government is also set to increase its spending on the motorway junction, with a further £130,000 funding to bring the project forward.

The leader of Fareham Borough Council, Councillor Sean Woodward, said: ‘It has taken months of negotiations to get us to this position with Fareham Borough Council, Hampshire County Council, Buckland Development Limited, and central government all working tirelessly to find a way forward on the funding for and delivery of the Junction 10 Scheme so that the much needed housing can be delivered.

'We are now really close to finalising an agreement that will unlock the millions of pounds of infrastructure funding for the M27 Junction 10 improvements that are critical to the success of Welborne Garden Village.

'Everyone involved has worked very hard to get us to this position. I am delighted that there now appears to be a way forward on Junction 10 so that Welborne Garden Village can finally become a reality.’

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The revisions will go before Fareham Borough Council’s planning committee after a three-week public consultation, which opens on Monday, June 14.

The revisions can be found on the Fareham Borough Council planning website by searching for the reference P/17/0266/OA.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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