THE redevelopment of Sir John Moore Barracks at Flowerdown has been bubbling under for a few years. We have reported that the Army is due to move out soon freeing up the large site.
What with Station Hill, Silver Hill/Saxon Gate and the new sports centre the future of the base has been somewhat neglected.
It would appear that the Ministry of Defence is proposing a mixed use: 800 homes, park and ride, assisted care living and the retention of some of the facilities, which were only built in the mid-1980s when the Army left Peninsula Barracks in Winchester city centre in 1985.
Business leaders will be disappointed that the idea of a ‘business park’ is not currently being pursued.
But 800 new homes, with 40 per cent available to people on the council housing list, will make a big and welcome dent in the housing target
One aspect that needs to be kept in focus is the preservation of the chalk downland within the site. Hampshire has little enough of it left in an undisturbed state for what is left to be damaged.
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