Introduction
Labour supports the principle of the Welborne development. We believe that this new community is needed in Fareham to supply much needed housing to reduce the housing waiting list and allow our young people to be able to still live and work in the area. Without it our children and grandchildren will be forced away from Fareham to seek affordable housing. We also believe that this development will ease the pressure on the few green open spaces and strategic gaps within the borough.
Housing
It is our strongly held view that the provision for affordable housing proposed in the consultation document is inadequate. We believe that a mix of both affordable and social housing is necessary which should equate to 50% of the overall development. Such housing must include a high proportion of shared ownership, housing association, council and co-operative ownership. A key requirement is that there is long-term security of tenure for residents. Labour believes that the increase in the proportion of affordable / social housing is needed to help alleviate the housing waiting list which is currently at 2000. Our view is that this proposed amendment to the plan will allow enough housing to help low and medium income families get good housing and still give provision for those who aspire to more expensive / larger housing.
Schools
We are supportive of the proposition of an all-through school, enabling the earliest possible development of secondary school places within Welborne. It is desirable that provision of school places within Welborne is made as early as possible such that a culture of travelling does not become embedded, consistent with the policy objectives of self-containment and minimising the traffic impact on adjacent communities.
We would encourage the adoption of space for nursery/per-school places in close proximity to the primary schools, such that parents and children requirement to travel is minimised. We also expect that space should be allocated for Nursery provision within neighbourhood centres.
Employment
We encourage the plan for Welborne to provide for a number of reasonably sized ‘anchor’ employers to provide job opportunities for residents of the Welborne development. It is also desirable that employment opportunities within the Welborne development covers a range of skills at a range of levels, consistent with the desire to maximise the self-contained nature of the development and minimise commuting to nearby population centres.
Transport
We are concerned about the potential impact of Welborne on traffic in the northern part of Fareham, if adequate safeguards are not put in place. In order to limit the adverse impact, we urge Fareham Borough Council to ensure that the modification to the M27 junction 10 is constructed early in the development timescale and that an early traffic survey is undertaken in north Fareham to see if any highway alterations to ease congestion are needed.