Work to build the first batch of homes at the new Hampshire town of Welborne should start this year – and there is fresh hope M27 junction improvements will happen.

Fareham Borough Council has said detailed planning applications for the Welborne Garden Village homes are being submitted and builders could start by the end of 2024.

The Welborne Plan for 6,000 houses in a new town near Wickham, north of Fareham, was adopted in 2015 and the outline planning application approved in 2021.

Lee Smith, the council’s head of planning, said: ”Now, nearly 20 years later, there is movement on the ground with infrastructure and pipe work. Trees are physically going in. They are 20/25 ft high, pretty substantial trees that are going in at the moment. There are 68 trees going in at a very big size.”

READ MORE HERE: Petition at Wickham Surgery over impact of new town

The meeting heard developers Buckland Development have appointed three regional housebuilders to build the first homes; C G Fry and Son, Thakeham and Pye Homes.

A total of 474 homes are coming to planning for a decision for the first wave and Mr Smith said the builders are keen to start.

The planning committee will rule on the application in due course the meeting heard that if the builders stay true to their word, they will start ‘very quickly indeed’, during this calendar year.

Borough planners have received around 30 planning applications associated with the development of Welborne Garden Village, which includes detailed designs of the development.

Cllr Sarah Pankhurst (Independent, Titchfield) asked the officer about the M27 Junction 10 improvement scheme, which had been in doubt over funding.

READ MORE: Planning application submitted for Welborne village centre 

She said: “There’s a lot of discussion about Junction 10. Is it going to happen? Is there confidence here that it will?”

To which planning officers said ‘yes’.

The M27 Junction 10 currently has restricted access, only allowing partial movements for traffic westbound off and eastbound on. The proposed improvements involve the provision of a new motorway underpass to the west of the existing M27 Junction 10, three new slip roads and the construction of a new dual carriageway to link the new slip roads to the A32.

The meeting also heard that ‘Building Welborne Beautiful’ has been produced by the planning officers and is a council document that is trying to capture everything about Welborne that the public and government bodies such as Homes England, want to know about the project. It will be distributed in late March to raise awareness of the progress and next steps.