Save Warsash & the Western Wards

November 2023.

Despite the valiant efforts of many dedicated individuals and your generous donations, the Council has been successful in obtaining planning for around 1000 new homes in Warsash. Two high Court appearances later, 1 successful and one unsuccessful with development well underway we are now closing this appeal and thank you all for your support. Time for a change of leadership!

Decision on High Court hearing May 28th 2021:

The results of the Judicial Review were handed down from the High Court at 10:00 am today. We are delighted to announce that we were successful, and we won the case. The individual planning permission (on a site in Warsash) will have to be quashed.

Whilst we did not win on all seven grounds, a summary of the grounds we did win on are as follows :That the council acted unlawfully and unfairly towards the residents, that their evidence was ignored and that the residents were prejudiced by the late submission of documents by the Council.

That the Planning Committee failed to grapple with our request for a deferral and the judgement needs to be shared with everyone concerned within the council in this case, as there are lessons to be learnt from this.

The Council's application to appeal against this judgement was refused. They still have the option to ask for permission from the court of appeal.

We also received clarification on the grounds likely to have a much wider impact regarding the Natural England advice and the judge included recommendations for changes to and more clarity in, their advice.

We hope that this will significantly change the way in which Fareham Council deals with planning applications in the future.

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Update March 2021 - please read in conjunction with February update

Many of you have noticed the construction work off Brook Lane near the centre of Warsash and commented with dismay as you feel like the mass housing development has started. But that site does NOT have full planning permission. They cannot build houses there yet! The works underway are only for the access road and a sub-station....no more! Also please note that this is just ONE of many development sites planned for Warsash. If Fareham Borough Council has its way the whole of Warsash will be a housing estate with thousands more people and cars. FBC are aiming to put 1001 new houses in Warsash alone and use 100 acres of greenfield space to build on. Save Warsash has been defending Warsash for 3 years and believe that the council is behaving unlawfully, and threatening the internationally protected environment of the Solent. A high court judge has granted us a Judicial Review for TWO sites in Warsash in May (11-13th). 

Please support us in any way you can such as financial donations, leaflet drops, spreading the word to friends and neighbours or organising events. We have a number of fund raising events planned such as Warsash Wildlife walk (2nd to 5th April), table top sales (likely 18th April) and a plant sale (date to be advised). Event details can be found on our Facebook pages 'Save Warsash' or 'Save Greenaway Lane and....'

Thanks you for your brilliant support.  

UPDATE February 2021: I am delighted to tell you that the Save Warsash group in their Judicial Review, took 7 grounds to a High Court Judge on the 5th February, with permission being granted on all 7 grounds. This means we have proved our grounds against FBC are strong and have merit for High Court hearing. Implications are not just for FBC but potentially much wider.

This is the second Warsash case to obtain permission and both will be heard in a 3 day hearing in the High Court on the same day and by the same judge in June and you can read the Barrister and QC's announcement here: 

https://www.ftbchambers.co.uk/news/high-court-hear-challenges-advice-natural-england-%E2%80%98nutrient-neutrality%E2%80%99-advice-note

Thank you all for your support so far. We couldn't have don't this without you. Don't stop the support now, we need it more. We need to focus on the end game now and we can only do that if we raise sufficient funds. Our fundraising is still open and you can choose one of the following ways:

Direct into our bank account (no charge):

     Account name: R L Da Silva A/c no: 60520128

     Sort code: 20 79 29

or at Gofundme:

           https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-warsash-amp-the-western-wards?qid=5a6f9219cac9a84b960df99c8a4f4893

(PLEASE NOTE Fees of 15% will be deducted on Gofundme unless you edit the 'TIP' to zero)

Some of you have already contributed financially for which we are very grateful. A total of £31,332 has got us this far but we still need about £25,000. For those who haven't yet contributed but plan to, NOW is the time! or if you've contributed and you want contribute more in view of today's result please do.

If Fareham Borough Council believe we won't be able to raise the funds and we'll have to give up, let's prove them wrong! We will do the hard work but need donations to cover the legal fees starting from NOW. Thank you for all the wonderful support  

IMPORTANT NOTE - When donating we recommend you remove any tips to the Go Fund Me site. To do this, under the amount you will be donating, ensure you set the 'tip' to zero, by selecting 'other' and setting to zero. The default 'tip' appears to be set at 15%! 

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September 2020 update - proposed legal action

On September 4th 2020, Save Warsash and the Western Wards issued a letter to Fareham Borough Council and have proposed a Judicial Review of Decision to Grant Planning Permission for ‘6 Detached Residential Units And Associated Detached Garages, Incorporating Wetland Creation’ at Land Adjoining 79 Greenaway Lane, Warsash SO31 9HT (P/18/0884/FP).

We have marched, organised petitions, lobbied councillors, made deputations at planning meetings, requested information that has not been supplied and provided professional opinions that suggested some actions by Fareham Council have been unlawful. All of this has failed, so now is the time to raise the stakes and we need your help.

The legal grounding work has been done and notification issued to FBC, and now we need your financial support once again to see this through. Legal professionals do not come cheap so please give generously to this cause. All this will happen very quickly, so please act quickly too.

Thank you

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August 2020

Planning in Fareham Borough has moved into a new phase.

Since January 2019 all residential development has paused due to the impact of Nitrates from housing on the protected areas in the Solent. FBC are now about to sign a legal agreement with the Isle of Wight Council and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT) which means the Wildlife Trust buy agricultural land on the Island and re-wild it, which they claim reduces the nitrates that are added to the Solent. Developers then buy ‘credits’ from that to offset the Nitrates they are adding to the Solent by building on the mainland, herein known as 'offsetting'.

In addition, there are 12 sites - 1 in Funtley, 1 in Titchfield, 1 in Portchester, 2 in Locks heath and 7 in Warsash, which were given planning permission prior to the Nitrates but developers now have to include mitigation against the Nitrates in those applications. There are several options for doing this. FBC decided that just one officer should be granted delegated powers to pass these sites through, unless there are material changes to the application. In particular, those applications which are using the HIWWT ‘offsetting’ option will be waved through. Of those 12, one in Titchfield was granted planning permission by delegated Officer, one in Warsash was withdrawn and one in Warsash went back to planning committee and was granted planning permission.

What does this mean for us? The flood gates will now open for hundreds of homes to be built in the Western Wards. These outstanding applications will be waved through by just one Officer without the public even knowing about it, let alone getting the opportunity to comment or object. We are talking about 726 new houses being approved this way.

Over the last couple of years residents have worked tirelessly, objecting, complaining, matching, asking FOIs, delivering deputations but it has all been totally ignored by FBC. By far the most effective intervention was getting legal advice from a top planning QC which won us the appeal against one Warsash site. As we enter this new phase of planning, we feel we have no choice but to take things a step further, guided by the same QC. However, that doesn’t come cheap. We have combined our resources with the Conserving Habitats in Portchester group (CHiP - search Facebook (link did not work)) and Save our Strategic Gaps group (Stubbington - SoSG - search Facebook). So, if you feel strongly about losing all of our green fields and habitats to development, please contribute as soon as you can to the fund raising on this page and encourage your friends and family to do the same.

October 2019:

Councils are starting to come up with interim solutions to the Nitrates issue which means that Planning application approvals are likely to restart. Also, application P/18/0482 (100 dwellings on land adjacent to 125 Greenaway Lane), is the first to go to appeal since everything came to a stop, because FBC have failed to determine the application within the time allowed.

As a result, it is now the Inspector who will decide whether to grant permission or refuse. The appeal Hearing takes place on **Tuesday** **22nd October** **2019** at Fareham Council's offices. The date for comments on the case closed on the 24 September 2019, but come along to the hearing at FBC Offices 10:00 am 22nd October (all day hearing).

This is likely to be our last chance to show how we feel about not just this application but all the development in the area and you can help us do that. Please continue to support us by making donations or providing comments and objections.

The link to the application AND to view the appeal are here: Link to FBC  

Thank you.

January 2019:

A huge thank you to all those who contributed to the recent fundraising and supported us at the planning committee meeting on Wednesday 16th January. The fundraising paid for a leading planning QC whose opinion is FBC are (potentially) acting unlawfully. In our deputations Rob and I asked committee to refuse permission as a) access onto Greenaway Lane for 100 houses would be catastrophic and b) they would be acting potentially unlawfully. After a long debate the vote was 4 against deferral and 5 for deferral (chair had casting vote). On top of the 2 issues we raised, members also asked we look at the bigger picture as "enough is enough" for Warsash. A small victory but nonetheless the best for this group so far. We are now seeking additional funding for the next planning hearing where we will be challenged by FBC's legal representatives about our QC's opinion. Your donations will help massively with this. We are very grateful for them and please excuse us if we don't get to thank you personally.  

Background:

Fareham Borough Council (FBC) have issued a Draft Local Plan detailing 92 ‘Developable housing sites’ in the borough. They propose to build approximately 1500 new houses in Warsash & within a 2 mile radius to meet the housing needs to year 2036. The critera for the Borough is dictated by central government and is not negotiable. The breakdown of sites is as follows:

11 sites in Warsash (800 plus houses)

6 in Park Gate

7 in Sarisbury Green

3 in Locks Heath

5 in Titchfield

7 in Titchfield Common

The Western Wards (WW) is once again targeted with an excessive number of new homes. 1500 are in the WW. Since 2011/12 to 2016/2017, of the 1859 new homes built, 62% have been constructed in the Western Wards (1146). 

Our OBJECTIVE is to substantially reduce the number of new developments in Warsash and the Western Wards by encouraging all residents who object to the plan to:

1. Comment on FBC's Local Plan (cut off 08/12/17)

2. Sign a petition agianst the plans

3. Comment on individual planning applications

4. Join a protest march on 3rd December 2017   

We may have to accept some new developments but the level proposed by FBC is totally unreasonable for the existing infrastructure, (roads, schools, health care etc) most of which is already over capacity and cannot be expanded. We need to strongly encourage FBC to re-consider other viable sites such as the Newlands Farm site and in doing so spreading the burden accross the borough. 

Inevitably there is a financial cost attached to raising awareness amongst local residents who are affected. The money will be used in the campaign for printing leaflets, posters, banners and also for the services of a specialist planning consultant to advise on planning policy matters that may be significant in support of our case.   

Please lend your support by way of financial contributions so we can carry on our awareness campaign and also employ a specialist local planning expert for policy advice to help achieve our stated objectives.