New moves on Welborne
£75m scheme up from £30m
PLANS for 6,000 homes in Fareham are going back to public consultation as funding for motorway improvements leaves affordable housing numbers uncertain.
With improvement works at j unction 10 of t he M27 required f or the Welbor ne development to proceed, the gover nment has agreed to increase its funding of the infrastructure work from £10m to £30m.
Still facing a shortfall, Buckland Development Ltd will double its spend on the motorway works – raising its contribution to £40m.
The £75m i nfrastructure project – partly funded before the recent cash boost – has ballooned in cost as it has stalled over the years, with an estimated budget of just £30m in 2017.
Now, the developer could struggle to reach its target of 1,800 affordable homes due to its increased expenditure, Fareham Borough Council has war ned.
Buckland is committed to affordable housing making up 10 per cent of the garden village at a minimum, and it is still the aim for that figure to reach 30 per cent by the time the entire site is completed, according to council leader Sean Woodward.
Cllr Woodward said: ‘ We will be continually looking for more f unding as the scheme progresses.
‘As the profitability grows – as it surely will – then the funding that the gover nment is putting into Fareham for the (motorway) scheme will be recovered and put into more affordable housing.
‘It is totally in accordance with the Welbor ne plan that by the end of the scheme we will have 30 per cent affordable housing.
‘Like many things, we need to get started before you can sort out of the details.’
But Cllr Shaun Cunningham said he and many other residents have ‘no confidence’ t hat Welbor ne will rise above its minimum commitment for affordable housing.
He said: ‘ What should concer n everyone is that if Buckland puts i n another £20m, what is the knock-on effect on affordable housing?
‘We are in a brand new world with Covid-19 – the whole plan should be revisited.’
The council has begun a public consultation on the amended plans – which include minor changes to the A32 road layout – which will run until Monday, January 25. The plans will then appear before the council’s planning committee.
We are in a brand new world with Covid-19 – the plan should be revisited. Cllr Shaun Cunningham