£9.9m grant finally '˜unlocks' major Fareham homes project

Central government has today handed out £9.9m to Fareham Borough Council which will kick-start a major overhaul of junction 10 on the M27.

The work is a cornerstone in unlocking the long-awaited Welborne garden village scheme of up to 6,000 homes.

Today’s handout by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will enable the redevelopment of the motorway junction that will ultimately pave the way for the first 4,500 homes.

Currently, junction 10 isn’t fit to handle the surge of traffic that will be created by the Welborne development.

The entrance has restricted access, only allowing movement to and from the east.

Housing secretary Sajid Javid and chancellor Philip Hammond announced the cash investment as part of a £224.5m fund to create up to 50,000 across the south east, with the £9.9m coming from the marginal viability fund.

This first wave of funding from the £5bn Housing Infrastructure Fund is part of a key development programme to ‘fix the broken housing market’, the government said.

Housing secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘My priority is building the homes this country desperately needs.

‘This first wave of investment in projects across the south east will help get up to 50,000 homes off the ground, making a huge difference to communities across the region.

The government is committed to building 300,000 homes a year by the mid 2020s.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said: ‘Today marks the first step of the multi-billion pound investment we announced at the Budget to help build the homes our country needs.

‘This fund finances vital infrastructure such as roads, schools and bridges, which will kick-start housing development in some of Britain’s highest-demand areas.

‘This support will help us meet our ambitious plan of building 300,000 new homes each year and ensure we have enough housing in areas which need it most.’