Welborne sees new plan for 6,000-home garden village approved with affordable housing changes

A special meeting of Fareham Borough Council’s planning committee was convened to discuss the plans, which were altered after the developer agreed to plug a funding gap in a vital infrastructure project earlier this month.

Buckland Development Ltd will now contribute £40m to expand junction 10 of the M27 after earmarked funding from the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership was reallocated.

To ensure the viability of the scheme, the developer is now required to provide 10 per cent of homes as affordable housing across the project, with the aim of increasing this to 30 per cent.

But the council has warned it will now be challenging to reach this 30 per cent goal, which previously had been established as a realistic aspiration for the site.

Councillor Mike Ford said: ‘The biggest concern that most of us will have is the probable reduction in affordable housing.

‘If we go way back to when the original proposal came forward...it was going to deliver substantial numbers of affordable housing.

‘I wonder if the position we are in now has compromised that original need – but it’s nobody’s fault.’

The revised plan also sees the mix of social and affordable rent properties to mixed tenure properties will be changed from 70-30 to 50-50.

Councillor Ian Bastable said: ‘We have moved to five per cent affordable and social rent properties across (3,000 homes), right the way up to 2034.’

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Buckland is committed to affordable housing making up 10 per cent of the garden village at a minimum, according to Mark Thistlethwayte, chairman of Buckland.

He said: ‘Welborne will be hugely significant in boosting growth and recovery of the local economy. We envisage Welborne as being a fantastic place to live and work and are delighted by today’s decision by Fareham’s Planning Committee, which brings us closer to being able to make our vision a reality.’

Regarding the revised plans approval, council leader Sean Woodward said: ‘This approval marks a significant milestone for a new community which, when complete, will provide up to 6,000 new homes in a parkland setting supported by schools, a district centre, medical facilities and employment space for around 6,000 new jobs.’

The next step will be to finalise £30m of government funding for the junction 10 scheme.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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