First homes built at new Hampshire garden village
But there are still questions about plans for a new junction on the M27
The first phase of a new town for Hampshire, north of Fareham, is gathering pace but there is still uncertainty over whether M27 upgrades will happen.
Welborne Garden Village is a 6,000-home scheme that has been in the pipeline for more than two decades and has been made possible through Fareham Borough Council working with Buckland, the master developer. The firm is then partnering with three regional housebuilders to create the town over the next 25 years.
The three housebuilders, CG Fry and Son, Thakeham, and Pye Homes, have started building the first 474 homes approved by Fareham Borough Council’s planning committee in March, with 203 in the pipeline.
In total, there is outline permission for 6,000 houses for an estimated 15,000 people, a district centre, supporting neighbourhood centres, a new secondary school and three new primary schools with green sustainable credentials such as an electricity supplying substation. Developers then submit detailed plans for each element before work can start on site.
Almost half of Welborne will incorporate green space from gardens, woodland, allotments, community orchards, open spaces and formal parks. Trees that will line the roads are being planted before the houses are being built.
Buckland said a total of 700 homes are expected to be approved for building by the end of this year.
It said: “Planning for 71 village centre homes has already been submitted. The consultation is progressing and should be approved in the next few months with building likely to start this autumn/winter.
“Applications for around a further 152 homes will be submitted in the near future.”
The homes range from one to five bedrooms, including flats, terraced houses, semi-detached and detached two-to four-storey homes. Welborne is zoned into neighbourhoods with the first approved houses to be built forming part of what will be known as Chesterfield and Dashwood.
Mark Thistlethwayte, chairman of Buckland Group, said: “We remain dedicated to building a place where the heritage of Hampshire is honoured, where community thrives, and where the natural world flourishes alongside residents.”
While in 2022, Hampshire County Council (HCC) chose Volker Fitzpatrick to design, build and deliver the M27 Junction 10 upgrade needed to accommodate the Welborne development, the funding still isn’t in place.
In recent months, reports revealed that Hampshire County Council, as the delivery body for Junction 10, would not have enough funding to proceed with the project and needed more help from stakeholders.
The upgrade will provide a new motorway underpass to the west of the existing M27 Junction 10, three new slip roads and construct a new dual carriageway linking the new slip roads to the existing road network.
But a report said that the county council would write to bodies, including Homes England, Welborne Land Limited, Fareham Borough Council, the Department for Levelling Up Homes and Communities (DLUHC), National Highways, and the Department for Transport (DfT), saying extra funding was needed by the county council to continue as a delivery body into the building phase.
During a county council cabinet meeting in December 2023, Tim Lawton, assistant director of highways and transport, told members it was unlikely the Department of Transport and National Highways would provide further funding for the project as it would provide “very little benefit to the strategic road network”.
This week, a council spokesperson said: “Further discussions with relevant parties are still ongoing to determine whether the M27 Junction 10 project can proceed into construction.”