Gosport councillors voice opposition to 99 homes planned on town's doorstep

Bargate Homes has submitted an outline planning application to Fareham Borough Council for 99 homes to be built on land adjacent to Brookers Lane in Peel Common, Gosport.

The land falls under Fareham Borough Council ward boundaries, but plans require Gosport land for the access points.

At a council meeting last night, Gosport politicians penned an official response to the proposals.

This response was an objection ‘in the strongest possible terms’ citing that it contradicts what is outlined in Fareham’s existing local plan.

Conservative councillor for Anglesey, Cllr Philip Raffaelli, said: ‘We have to send a firm response because this is just the tip of the iceberg.

‘It’s another part of the jigsaw that they [Fareham] are trying to surround us with.’

Fellow Conservative Cllr Piers Bateman added: ‘We might not have to fight Fareham on the beaches but we certainly have to fight them in the fields.

‘This will strangle our economy and our hard-pressed commuters getting in and out of the borough.

‘Fareham has plenty of room to develop other areas; this is wholly unacceptable.’

The proposed development sits on the strategic gap between Fareham and Gosport, established to stop the two towns from merging.

Plans for further construction have also been submitted, with 115 homes pencilled in for land adjacent to Newgate Lane East.

Decisions on both applications will be made by Fareham Borough Council later in the year.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Christchurch Cllr Dawn Kelly said: ‘We need to keep the strategic gap because otherwise they will just encroach everywhere else too.

‘People are going to choke with the extra traffic fumes - which Fareham can’t get a grip on as it is.

‘With the extra homes people would have to wait even longer for medical treatment too.’