Fareham development Welborne secures £40m boost for M27 improvements - but affordable homes are at risk

With improvement works at Junction 10 of the M27 required for the Welborne development to proceed, the government has agreed to increase its funding of the infrastructure work from £10m to £30m.

Still facing a shortfall, Buckland Development Ltd will double its spend on the motorway works – raising its contribution to £40m.

The £75m infrastructure project – partly funded before the recent cash boost – has ballooned in cost as it has stalled over the years, with an estimated budget of just £30m in 2017.

Now, the developer could struggle to reach its target of 1,800 affordable homes due its increased expenditure, Fareham Borough Council has warned.

Buckland is committed to affordable housing making up 10 per cent of the garden village at a minimum, and it is still the aim for that figure to reach 30 per cent by the time the entire site is completed, according to council leader Sean Woodward.

Cllr Woodward said: ‘We will be continually looking for more funding as the scheme progresses.

‘As the profitability grows – as it surely will – then the funding that the government is putting into Fareham for the (motorway) scheme will be recovered and put into more affordable housing.

‘It is totally in accordance with the Welborne plan that by the end of the scheme we will have 30 per affordable housing.

‘Like many things we need to get started before you can sort out of the details.’

SEE ALSO: Welborne development 'under threat' unless government finds £50 million, Boris Johnson told

But Cllr Shaun Cunningham said he and many other residents have ‘no confidence’ that Welborne will rise above its minimum commitment for affordable housing.

He said: ‘What should concern everyone is that if Buckland puts in another £20m, what is the knock-on effect on affordable housing?

‘We are in a brand new world with Covid-19 – the whole plan should be revisited.’

The council has begun a public consultation on the amended plans – which include minor changes to A32 road layout – which will run until Monday, January 25.

The plans will then appear before the council’s planning committee.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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