Issues Facing the South
House Building
Housing Targets
The government’s plans for new housing are ambitious. The target set for Hampshire is currently 128,000 new homes by 2026, 80,000 of which will be built in South Hampshire alone (which covers the area south of Winchester city from the Test Valley across to the A3). These figures are mirrored across many other parts of the South (as well as other schemes further north in the country).
Who set these targets?
These targets are being set centrally, mostly by un-elected bodies such as the South East Regional Assembly on behalf of the Department for Communites and Local Government (formerly John Prescott’s Office of the Deputy Prime Minister). Local government has little influence over this. Many local authorities are actually very uncomfortable with what they are being forced to do by central government. Some would call this approach communism… It is certainly very dictatorial in nature – especially since all the major issues are local ones.
Where will all the extra houses go?
While it is actually very difficult to get hold of the exact figures, the following numbers have been published recently in the press for South Hampshire:
- Southampton – an extra 16,300 new properties within the city.
- Eastleigh – 7,080 new homes
- Test Valley (probably affecting Romsey and North Baddesley): 9,520 new dwellings.
- Winchester: 12,240 new properties.
- A new town of 6,000 properties on the green countryside between Hedge End and the villages of Botley and Durley.
- An even larger new town of 10,000 properties on the fields between Fareham and Wickham (North of the M27, near Knowle Village).
- A further 3,720 dwellings in the city of Fareham.
- Another 2,500 properties in Gosport.
It seems that the land for building will come from swallowing up as much existing open space as possible within each of the urban areas, and then clearing and building on significant areas of surrounding countryside for the remainder.
Why are they doing this?
The government and other authorities involved in the planning process claim that the reason for the massive amount of development is to provide more affordable housing, and to bring further economic growth and prosperity to the area.
Are their Reasons Valid?
The truth is that building new homes even at this colossal rate is unlikely to have a significant effect on house prices – at best it will slow down the rate of increase (see the section on house prices).
As for "economic growth" and "prosperity", we all know that this probably means allowing a small number of people (ie. developers and business leaders) to get very rich while the rest of us have our quality of life reduced by sheer overpopulation. The government stands to do very well out of it all too, with all the extra stamp duty, inheritance tax, etc… Local government too will reap dividends in tens of thousands more council tax payments.
Can the area cope with this much development?
This is a question that will be dealt with in other areas of this site. We discuss the following:
In short though, we are certain that the region will not cope with the sheer volume of the proposed development, and will be seriously damaged as a result.