Welborne Garden Village, Fareham
The opportunity / type:
Welborne Garden Village will be a new standalone community and is the largest mixed-use development scheme in Hampshire of up to 6,000 new homes, supporting some 13,800 new local residents. Designed on Garden City principles, it will be built over a period of 20+ years. It was selected as one of the Government’s first tranche of 14 Garden Communities; there are around 40 now.
Welborne will occupy a strategic position in the South Coast Solent region, with easy access to Southampton International Airport, Port of Southampton and Portsmouth Harbour. It will be an exemplary development for the region, setting new standards for high quality design and contributing significant new public open spaces, community facilities, homes, employment and retail to the region. Welborne will also act as a draw to the wider community, providing a very desirable place to live with attractive public realm, parks, woodland, open spaces and high-quality recreational routes, a range of retail offers and jobs. Three new primary schools and a secondary school are proposed together with supporting social infrastructure such health care, community spaces and sports /leisure facilities. Major highway improvements are planned for junction 10 of the M27 and A32 to improve access to the site with Hampshire County Council acting as the Project Sponsor for Highways.
Welborne Land Ltd and Buckland Development Ltd are the landowner and Master Developer behind Welborne. The affiliated companies were established by major local landowner (Southwick Estate) in response to their land being allocated by Fareham borough Council in pursuit of their Welborne Plan. Buckland and Welborne Land Ltd are pursuing a different approach to the design and delivery of Welborne based on legacy, long-term vision and involvement, early investment and on-going stewardship of the developing community. The development will deliver significant employment, retail and commercial provision with up to 20 ha of employment land for Business (B1 Use Class), General Industrial (Use Class B2) and storage and distribution (Use Class B8) uses in over 97,000 square metres of employment floor space, largely focused within the southern part of the site close to the new M27 access, which is estimated to create over 5,700 new jobs. The District Centre, Village centre and local hub will include retail and commercial uses together with social infrastructure to support the residential development. The proposal will bring forward food and non-food retail floorspace. The District Centre will bring forward Welborne will also support around 2000 jobs in the wider local economy and generate around 1,000 permanent jobs during its construction, together with significant opportunity skills and training opportunities.
Location:
Located north of Fareham in Hampshire, at the intersection of Junction 10 of the M27 and the A32, Welborne occupies a strategic position in the South Coast Solent region, with easy access to Southampton International Airport, Port of Southampton and Portsmouth Harbour. Sub-regional transport nodes provide links to London and other major towns as well as the Solent Enterprise Zone.
Details:
Planning status:
Outline Planning Permission was granted for the development in September 2021. It reserves all matters other than access and seeks permission for the general layout of key land use within the development, with detailed access proposals related to the M27 junction 10 and highway improvement on A32. This will act as a framework for future detailed applications. Buckland development Ltd will submit the Strategic Design Codes then detailed applications for each phase of development.
The Buckland OPA has sought to be as compliant as possible with the policy and guidance in the Council’s “Welborne Plan” and support relevant national planning policy and guidance. Establishment of the Welborne Plan by FBC and preparation of the subsequent outline application by Buckland Development Ltd have involved discussions with many relevant statutory organisations and consultation with the local communities.
Infrastructure:
The total value of investment by the Developer into Welborne’s infrastructure to facilitate and support the development is estimated at £308M, with nearly £50M of public funding in addition supporting the M27 Junction 10 Improvement Scheme.
Delivery sequences:
Buckland Development Ltd has a long-term view of the project seeking to make early investment in infrastructure, maintain on-going involvement in delivery and the subsequent stewardship of the new community, working closely with FBC and other key delivery parties.
It is anticipated that Buckland Development Ltd will start on site in the Summer of 2022 with infrastructure enabling works for the first phase of housing. The intention is to work with local and regional housebuilders. Current indications from Buckland Development Ltd indicate that work will start in the northern part of the site to ensure the major motorway improvements can commence in the south of the site.
Economic development considerations:
- 21.35 hectares (52.6 acres) of strategic employment land north of the M27 and accessible by the strategic road network
- 30,000 sqm of B1 Office; 35,000 sqm of B1c/B2 Industrial; and 40,000 sqm of B8 Storage and Distribution will be delivered within the first three phases (around 15 years)
- Potential for flexible serviced office space and support for start-up and small businesses will be developed alongside the main employment areas, for example within the District centre and Village Centre
- Business Incubation Centre to support the growth of small businesses and entrepreneurship
- Opportunity for specialist employment such as R&D, innovation, consultancy and prototyping with potential to support the growth of priority sectors for the region in advanced manufacturing, marine, aerospace and environmental technologies
- Government funding and developer contribution to contribute towards the delivery of an ‘all moves’ M27 junction 10 and other infrastructure
- Identified as one of the Governments 14 Garden Villages and currently one of the most advanced stage of delivery of those 14
- High quality public transport (Bus Rapid Transit) will serve the employment areas and it is planned to connect it to central Fareham, the rail station and, in the longer term, to Portsmouth
- Long-term potential for the development of a railway station at Welborne, providing future direct rail connections to Portsmouth, Winchester, Basingstoke and London
- Attractive pedestrian and cycle ‘greenways’ and walkable neighbourhoods will connect workers with the new shops, amenities and employment available at Welborne
- Health and Leisure facilities – including hotel, sports pitches and associated facilities
Local authority: Fareham Borough Council
Master Developer: Buckland Development Ltd
Development address: Fareham, Hampshire, PO17 5BN
