Fresh hope for M27 junction 10 improvements with building work on new 6,000-home Welborne set to start this year

The Welborne Plan for 6,000 houses in a new town north of Fareham was adopted in 2015 and the outline planning application, giving permission in principle, was approved in 2021. But now Fareham Borough Council has said detailed planning applications for the Welborne Garden Village homes are being submitted and builders could start work by the end of the year.

Lee Smith, the council’s head of planning, said: ”Now, nearly 20 years later, there is movement on the ground with infrastructure and pipe work. Trees are physically going in. They are 20/25 ft high, pretty substantial trees that are going in at the moment. There are 68 trees going in at a very big size.”

The meeting heard developers Buckland Development have appointed three regional housebuilders to build Welborne’s first homes; C G Fry and Son, Thakeham and Pye Homes. A total of 474 homes are coming to planning for a decision for the first wave and Mr Smith said the builders are keen to start. The planning committee will rule on the application in due course the meeting heard that if the builders stay true to their word, they will start ‘very quickly indeed’, during this calendar year.Borough planners have received around 30 planning applications associated with the development of Welborne Garden Village, which includes detailed designs of the development.

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Councillor Sarah Pankhurst (Independent, Titchfield) asked the officer about the M27 Junction 10 improvement scheme, which had been in doubt over funding after Hampshire County Council raised the alarm saying here was not enough money in the pot to pay for it. The proposed improvements involve the provision of a new motorway underpass to the west of the existing M27 Junction 10, three new slip roads and the construction of a new dual carriageway to link the new slip roads to the A32.

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But, as previously reported by The News, Hampshire County Council had said no further funding was expected from National Highways or the Department of Transport (DfT) to “help” the council bridge the financial gap of the Welborne junction 10 since it “does not provide any benefit” for the M27. This meant there was not enough money to pay for the scheme, casting into doubt its future.

Cllr Pankhurst said: “There’s a lot of discussion about Junction 10. Is it going to happen? Is there confidence here that it will?” To which planning officers said ‘yes’.

The meeting also heard that ‘Building Welborne Beautiful’ has been produced by the planning officers and is a council document that is trying to capture everything about Welborne that the public and government bodies such as Homes England, want to know about the project. It will be distributed in late March to raise awareness of the progress and next steps.