Flooding concerns after proposals for new homes in village

Residents in Funtley are worried over proposals for 82 new homes in their village on Funtley Road.

Sue Bailey, of Roebuck Avenue said: ‘It is not that we don’t want the houses in our backyard. We understand the need for new homes but this piece of land is completely unsuitable as it floods and the increase of the homes would make the flooding worse.’

In previous years, locals have been forced to put out sand bags at the front of their properties to prevent their houses from flooding and have taken to the roads to stop cars from driving down the worst hit roads.

Paul Turner said: ‘It is absolute madness to want to build here and the owner of the land has already tried a few times to develop the land and we really think the council should refuse this application as well.’

Reside Developments have submitted two applications to Fareham Borough Council for land North and South of Funtley Road as well as an application for a community park.

Andy Jackson said: ‘I think it is getting quite dangerous and flooding is a genuine concern for us all.

‘There are ditches along that road and they have recently dug them a few feet deeper to deal with the issue, but they are full to the brim and it would be dangerous if people were to fall into them.’

Both applications have received more than a hundred comments from residents.

Local Tony Eastman said: ‘A few years ago during a bad storm we had raw sewage came up in our bath, as did others, and we really all believe the field is just not a developable site and it would cause a lot of problems for the village.’

There are also concerns over the lack of public transport in the village.

Sue said: ‘There are not many buses that run through and it can be quite isolated, so if young families moving in can’t afford a car then it can be very boring. And, like when they built Knowle village, anti-social behaviour could increase.’

Reside Developments were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.