Planning Update Delays

As a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, the United Kingdom entered a nationwide lockdown on the 23rd of March 2020. This meant that all non-essential services were required to either close or work remotely where possible. This resulted in a number of local authority services being suspended.

With the current easing of the lockdown, we can confirm that our planning team in the UK are engaging with all the relevant authorities to ascertain the progress of all our sites.

We are treating this as a matter of urgency and we hope to have some updates to share with you in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Bursledon, Southampton, UK   Sold Out

Site Information

Bursledon is situated on the River Hamble, in Southampton, England within the Borough of Eastleigh. Nearby is the famous Hamble-le-Rice, which is a popular yachting location known across the world as the 'Heart of British Yachting' (BA Yacht Club). It is also renowned for being an aircraft training centre during the Second World War. Bursledon has a railway station, a marina and dockyards which are located close to the site.

Bursledon is located 15 miles from Portsmouth and is only 15 minutes drive from BAA Southampton International Airport which serves 43 international destinations. Nearly 2 million passengers pass through the airport each year both for business and pleasure, and it provides employment for 1,300 people in the local area.

Bursledon Railway Station serves the surrounding towns and is on the West Coastway Line. There are rail links to Southampton city centre every 10 minutes and to London Waterloo every 20 minutes.

Southampton is a city rich with heritage and is the home port to some of the world's top ocean liners and cruise ships. It is also one of Britain's busiest cargo docks.

Our Planning Department Comments

• The site falls within the Eastleigh Borough Local Plan Review (2001-2011) – adopted in May 2006.
• The local plan is in the process of being replaced by the new style LDF (Local Development Framework). The latest published timeline is for the Core Strategy to be adopted in late 2011 and a Site Specific Allocation Document a year later.
• The South East Plan in its latest form recommended that Eastleigh Borough provides at least 7,080 additional dwellings in 2006-2026. This is one of the few districts with a recommended increase above the council's original submission. Whilst the SE Plan has now been withdrawn, this demonstrates the general acceptance of Eastleigh as a good location to accomodate further development.
• The Local Plan identifies the site as within the strategic gap, however the Secretary of State has decided that the strategic gaps policy should be deleted as it was not in accordance with national development guidelines. Formal removal of the strategic gap should follow in due course.
• The site is not subject to greenbelt policy or any other landscape or ecological designation such as AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) SSSI (Site of Specific Scientific Interest) or SINC (Site of Interest for Nature Conservation).
• Eastleigh Borough Council has acknowledged that by 2012 they will have insufficient sites to supply the area's housing needs and by 2017 the shortfall will be 1,360 houses.
• In addition to this, there is a requirement for a further 1,600 houses by 2026 – hence the council must allocate a significant amount of additional land beyond that which they have already identified.
• Major housebuilders Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey control a sizeable amount of land to the east and north east of our site and Taylor Wimpey have identified Bursledon as an area ripe for development.

Latest Planning Update

The Post Hearing Letter from the Inspector was provided to the LPA at the end of April 2020 but it was very much a summarized version of his findings and further information was due to be provided post the nationwide UK lockdown. However, the letter did identify Bursledon as needing to provide further sites for housing including sites such as ours within the strategic gap. In essence, the Inspector has reiterated his concerns around Eastleigh's over reliance on large windfall sites for housing delivery.

Furthermore, there remains growing need for traffic alleviation measures to be implemented within Bursledon to mitigate the impact of current developments, particularly the Kingfisher Grange development. Our site will be required for any successful program.

The lockdown did result in a pause of the examination process and this is scheduled to recommence before the year end and continue into early 2021.