Comment
Future planning along the Solent
Three of Solent’s waterfront urban authorities are commencing consultation on their new Local Plans, providing the opportunity to get involved and be part of delivering their ambitious visions for bringing forward development along the Solent. The regeneration potential offered by their waterfront locations is a key element of the emerging strategies.
Portsmouth City Council has launched the consultation of its Regulation 18 draft Plan, running until 31 October 2021. Whilst the draft Plan was approved at Cabinet in July 2021, we understand there are discussions with central government over housing targets. Members are concerned that meeting the nationally set 17,000 new homes target would have significant environmental impacts.
As part of the draft Plan, Portsmouth City Council updated their aspirations for the city centre, with the identification of ‘development areas’, including the rebranding of some opportunities. Potentially tying in with the Solent’s Freeport status, New Landport is the name for the land formerly known as City Centre North / Tricorn site, which now includes the council owned former Sainsbury’s site. This is a significant opportunity site for the council which has stalled for a number of years, and clarity would be welcome on the delivery framework for these sites.
Lennox Point (formerly known as Tipner West) remains a strategic priority for the city council, however the ambitious plans are subject to a significant caveat in the draft Plan that the potential impact on the harbour environment can be satisfactorily addressed.
Across the harbour, Gosport Borough Council has committed to commencing consultation on their Regulation 18 draft Plan at the end of September, running throughout the autumn. The draft Plan is due to be approved at committee tomorrow (22 September 2021), with consultation pencilled in for next week. Mitigating the impacts of climate change is a key priority in the draft Plan, with a sustainability theme running throughout the strategy. Regeneration of the waterfront is a clear aspiration with the identification of the Harbour Regeneration Area, capitalising on the authority’s unique naval and maritime heritage assets and maximising the potential as a marine destination. Gosport town centre and Daedalus also remain strategic priorities with the plan. The Plan seeks to deliver mixed-use communities across these key regeneration areas, with proposed allocations for c. 2,000 homes across the Harbour Regeneration area (including the town centre) and Daedalus.
Meanwhile along the Solent, Southampton City Council has launched a further Call for Sites exercise, following on from a lacklustre response to their previous consultation. The Call for Sites consultation will run until 17 October 2021 and provides the opportunity to promote development sites (housing, employment, mixed use or self-build) to the council for consideration. The sites promoted during the Call for Sites 2020, and the sites submitted as part of this consultation, will be included within the Councils Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SLAA) which will be used to inform the emerging Southampton City Vision Local Plan site allocations.
If you want to find out more about any of the other plans or have sites or development interests in these area, please get in touch with Cat White, Mervyn McFarland or Sarah Hockin.
21 September 2021
