Details like this must be sorted before any building

To say that the longawaited garden village of Welborne has had a troubled gestation would be an understatement. From the time it was announced about 16 years ago, with the less catchy name of the North of Fareham Strategic Development Area, it has moved through various iterations, all attracting some degree of controversy.

The number of houses may have come down to 6,000 from the originally mooted 10,000 or so, but it has always been the question of infrastructure which has been a huge sticking point. When Fareham Borough Council’s leader, councillor

Sean Woodward was quoted on numerous occasions insisting that ‘not one brick’ would be laid for Welborne before the infrastructure issues were ironed out.

At that point the predicted start date was 2016. Since then, the development has acquired garden village status and it still has yet to welcome its first resident.

Given all of the protracted negotiations, it is hardly surprising therefore, to hear that facilities in nearby Wickham are already anxious about the impact Westborne will have on them.

Houghton Way surgery in Wickham is calling for its boundaries to be redrawn so it will not have to accommodate residents from Welborne. Perhaps ironically, this comes as the surgery makes its own plans for expansion, but their concerns are justifiable. Practice manager Ed Kennedy has argued the case on the grounds that they need to ‘give safe and adequate care’ to those in Wickham, let alone thousands in a town yet to be built.

Welborne must have its own medical needs catered to – and there must be cast-iron provisions for the infrastructure of those who live there.

If there are not, the impact on neighbouring villages and towns will be disastrous. And not just for healthcare.