'˜They are trying to cram in more and more houses'

Residents across the Fareham Borough were ‘worried’ about the infrastructure of the town will not cope after the council released the draft local plan yesterday which will mean nearly 10,000 new homes being built over the next 20 years.

Barbara Potts, who lives near to a 700 house allocation in Warsash, said: ‘We are concerned about the support facilities for all these developments.

‘We know people have to have somewhere to live but surgeries and schools already have long waiting lists in the area.’

Brownfield sites - previously developed - such as in Fareham town centre is proposed for nearly 600 homes with greenfield developments of 700 homes planned for Portchester and Warsash.

Portchester resident John Pickering said: ‘The trouble is they are trying to cram in more and more houses in to smaller and smaller areas.

‘All these houses will have at least one car maybe more and a few days ago we were worried about pollution and this will certainly increase the traffic and make that worse.’

Lib Dem Councillor Shaun Cunningham said: ‘Not one of those new homes will provide any new infrastructure for our local road network, no funds to mitigate the additional pressures on healthcare provision or to meet the demand for additional school places.’

Cllr Cunningham added: ‘Welborne was supposed to have been our good shepherd.

‘All we hear are excuses after excuses for the mishandling of the project’

Fareham resident, Sally Brown said: ‘We are not opposed to it as people do need places to live but it is a shock to have nearly 10,000 houses in total and my biggest concern is if we have the right infrastructure and facilities to cope and I don’t think we do at the moment.

She added: ‘I think residents wrongly assumed that 6000 homes at Welborne would mean no other houses being built.’

Cllr Woodward has previously admitted the garden village is running a few years late.

He said: ‘It was only on September 22 we got a single landowner who owns 90 per cent of the land.

‘That is obviously not going to see all 6,000 houses built in that time but that is still 6,000 houses that are not built on other greenfield sites.

Cllr Woodward added: ‘We have a government which is absolutely determined that housing needs will be met.

‘If we didn’t do this we would have had it done to us.’

.The Draft Local Plan 2036 will be discussed by the executive on Monday, October 9.

The last day for registering for a deputation is midday on Thursday, October 5.

A form can be requested by calling 01329 824594 or visit fareham.gov.uk/about_the_council/council_and_democracy/deputationsother.aspx