Cash boost of £2.3m for Solent area house building 'creates 3,000 construction jobs'

HOUSE-BUILDING across south Hampshire can resume with a £2.3m government cash injection that will also ‘address a serious environmental issue.’
Fears were raised by Natural England that the Solent was being damaged by nitrogen in runoff and wastewater.
Pictured: Looking across Langstone Harbour to Hayling Island at low tide by Robert PragnellFears were raised by Natural England that the Solent was being damaged by nitrogen in runoff and wastewater.
Pictured: Looking across Langstone Harbour to Hayling Island at low tide by Robert Pragnell
Fears were raised by Natural England that the Solent was being damaged by nitrogen in runoff and wastewater. Pictured: Looking across Langstone Harbour to Hayling Island at low tide by Robert Pragnell

Permission for new developments in the area has been on hold since the beginning of 2019 when Natural England raised fears nitrates in wastewater and runoff were accelerating algae growth in the Solent and damaging seabeds.

But now the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has allocated funds to allow the Partnership for South Hampshire (PfSH) to buy farmland for 'rewilding' as one of the major causes of nitrate pollution is agricultural fertilisers.

Read More
Why house-building in Hampshire has stalled
Fareham Borough Council leader and chairman for PfSH, Councillor Sean Woodward, said the cash would allow more farmland to be bought and rewilded.Fareham Borough Council leader and chairman for PfSH, Councillor Sean Woodward, said the cash would allow more farmland to be bought and rewilded.
Fareham Borough Council leader and chairman for PfSH, Councillor Sean Woodward, said the cash would allow more farmland to be bought and rewilded.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is thought this scheme could enable 1,500 new homes to be built - creating 3,000 construction jobs.

Councillor Sean Woodward, chairman of PfSH and leader of Fareham Borough Council, said: 'I am really pleased we have found a way to address this serious environmental issue and allow sustainable development to go ahead.

'Because of the need to reduce nitrates in the water the new homes mitigated by the farmland will use better quality water systems, so we should see less algae - everybody wins.'

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Cllr Woodward added: 'There is the potential to work with the trust again with this money to allow them to rewild other farmland.'

In Portsmouth a temporary solution was found in a nitrate credit system, which is expected to last up to two years.

By improving water systems in existing council housing developers were able to buy credits to allow building to go ahead.

However, Portsmouth City Council's leader, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, criticised how the situation was handled.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

'It's a bit mad that one government agency is telling us we can't built houses - Natural England, another part - the department for housing - is demanding the council builds more homes and another part is giving money to the LEP to be spent on a solution to allow us to build homes,' he said.

'A better solution would be for Southern Water to improve their systems to reduce the amount of nitrates in coming out in the sewage.'

A spokesman for Southern Water explained that wastewater accounts for just five per cent of the nutrients.

He said: 'Our wastewater treatment systems already greatly reduce nitrogen and other nutrients in the Solent and all of our sites are currently beating their environmental permits for nutrient removal.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

'Our business plan for the next five years has already been finalised with our regulator Ofwat – however, we are looking at ways of working with partners to further reduce nutrients.'

In total the Solent LEP has been given £15.9m by the government to fund projects that will help the region's economic recovery after the pandemic.

These include £1.7m to the University of Portsmouth's Centre for Enzyme Innovation, which develops green recovery solutions for the breakdown of plastics, as well as a new cruise terminal at the Port of Southamptonand an affordable housing development on the Isle of Wight.

The HIWWT was approached for comment.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues.

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news and information online.

Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.