9:50am Thursday 6th September 2007
FOUR thousand new homes have been built in the Winchester district in the past six years - but more than three times that amount should be built over the next 20 years.
That's what a Government panel has called for in new, higher house-building targets for Hampshire.
Winchester alone will be forced to accommodate 12,240 over the next two decades.
Planners want 32,000 extra homes in the south east every year until 2026, instead of the 28,900 as suggested by the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA).
It means Winchester will now have to find space for 1,801 additional new homes than before.
The Examination in Public panel was convened to look at housing needs following the publication of the figures by SEERA.
The panel said that if these new homes were to be built on greenfield sites, they would be focussed to the north of the city, such as the controversial Barton Farm site.
Over the next two decades, Southampton will see the biggest increase in homes (16,300), followed by Winchester (12,240), Isle of Wight (10,400), Test Valley (9,520), Eastleigh (7,080), New Forest (4,140), Fareham (3,720) and Gosport (2,500).
Two strategic development areas (SDAs) - new self contained communities built on undeveloped greenfield land - will also be created north east of Hedge End (6,000 homes) and north of Fareham (10,000 homes).
The local target is part of an overall strategy to build 128,300 new homes in Hampshire and 640,000 across the south-east - confirming the region as the engine room of the UK economy.
Test Valley has been told to make room for another 610 and almost 5,000 more will need to be built in the rest of Hampshire.
Hampshire County Council has raised concerns, arguing that schools, roads, hospitals and other services would become over-stretched.
At the last UK census in 2001, the Winchester district had 43,132 homes. That figure went up to 47,395 by last year - a rise of 9.9 per cent.
The amount of houses built each year in the Winchester area has also risen, from 241 in 2000/01, trebling to 694 in 2004/05, before falling to 496 in 2006/07, of which 93 per cent were built on brownfield sites.
But while brownfields include old industrial sites and petrol stations, they also contain properties built in gardens along with flats in converted houses.
Despite the new home targets, housing association, A2 Winchester, still believes there is a shortage.
Group director, Margaret Newbigin, said many people who have grown up in the district were being priced out of the market.
"The kind of people coming to us are very different to a few years ago, and many are young professionals," she said.
"In the past, even if they couldn't live in Winchester itself, they could get something nearby, but the whole area is now becoming unaffordable."
Winchester City Council cabinet member for housing, Cllr Tony Coates, said: "I think a greater supply might help the housing market to stabilise rather than the huge increases we've seen in recent years."
He added that building extra homes would be difficult because the district lacked brownfield sites.
"That means everybody is looking to make use of existing housing sites in Stanmore and Weeke and so on.
"These places have attractive green spaces, but if they are used for higher density development then they might become less attractive," added Cllr Coates.
SEEDA chairman Jim Brathwaite said: "What we need is planned investment in infrastructure to support the region's strong economy."
Cllr Ken Thornber, the leader of Hampshire County Council, said: "I am disappointed and angry that Hampshire County Council, which is already taking the lion's share of new housing in the draft South East Plan, is now being asked to take even more.
"Throughout our Holding out for Hampshire' campaign, we have been adamant that Hampshire could not take more housing unless the Government guaranteed adequate and timely funding for vital infrastructure.
"To date we have not had any Government assurances for the already planned housing, let alone for these extra figures."
Westminster is due to launch a consultation on the targets this autumn before making its decision.
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