Gosport MP calls on housing secretary to review plans for 190 homes between Fareham and Gosport

The plans would see 115 houses from Bargate Homes and 75 houses from Fareham Land LP built on land along Newgate Lane, between Peel Common and Bridgemary.

A decision on the plans was due from Fareham Borough Council in March – but the council’s failure to rule on the plans in time has lead the developers to appeal to the planning inspectorate.

Following concerns about the future of the strategic gaps over the last two years, Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage has called on housing secretary Robert Jenrick to step in and review the appeals himself.

Ms Dinenage said: ‘If these plans move forward, I’m concerned that this development could close the strategic gap between Gosport and Fareham, put further pressure on our already stretched infrastructure and further pollution into our air.

‘That is why I have written to the Secretary of State asking him to recover these appeals, which would have devastating effects on our area, and take the decision himself.’

In the planning documents, both developers have argued that the sites help to maintain the strategic gap, with a ‘significant belt of open space’ to the west of the developments.

It comes as Fareham Borough Council has been left playing ‘catch-up’ with development applications due to the coronavirus crisis and the uncertainty around tackling nitrate pollution, according to Nick Walker, chairman of the planning committee.

He said: ‘Officers are all working from home, and we have these virtual planning committee meetings – it makes life very difficult.

‘But the biggest issue is addressing nitrates.

‘With the nitrate issue, there seems to be nothing coming out of central government in way of guidance.

‘It’s all being taken up locally.’

Permission for new developments at Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport, Havant and East Hampshire councils has been on hold since March 2019 when Natural England warned of damage to wildlife caused by nitrates.

Both developers claim the Newgate Lane sites will be represent a net negative impact on nitrate pollution due agricultural land being built upon.

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