RIP Shapley Heath Again: Government Drops Shapley Heath Funding
The Government has issued a press release about funding of new Garden Communities. Shapley Heath is conspicuous by its absence from the list of projects.
The release boasts of the £15m funding being made available this round. They expect the programme to deliver 16,000 dwellings per annum from 2025 and almost 200,000 jobs. Here is a quote from the press release:
- £15 million funding to support delivery of thousands of new homes in beautiful, green garden communities across England.
- Part of a £69 million programme to deliver up to 16,000 homes per year from 2025, creating almost 200,000 jobs and boosting the economy.
- Builds on the government’s plans to level up the country, regenerate underused land and bring forward beautiful new developments.
The full list of projects receiving support is shown at the foot of this post.
Impact of Government Dropping Shapley Heath Funding
We now have a situation where the council rejected a new town at Winchfield in 2012. The Inspector threw it out again in 2018/19 saying it wasn’t necessary and citing concerns about viability and deliverability. Since then, the Council have spent over £700K on essentially the same project and delivered nothing of substance. Certainly, they have produced nothing to alleviate the Inspector’s concerns. Now they have been unable to convince the Government to continue supporting the project.
Yet, during the recent election, CCH councillors were proposing to hold another consultation about the same failed project.
Katie Davies Public Consultation including Shapley Heath
Are they mad?
Full list of Garden Communities receiving support
Garden Towns
- Hemel, Hertfordshire.
- Otterpool Park, Folkestone and Hythe.
- Manydown, Basingstoke.
- Harlow & Gilston, Essex and Hertfordshire.
- Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
- Taunton, Somerset.
- St Cuthbert’s, Carlisle.
- Greater Exeter, Devon.
- Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.
- North Northants, Northamptonshire.
Garden Villages
- Longcross, Runnymede, Surrey.
- Newton Abbot, Teignbridge.
- Langarth, Cornwall.
- Burtree, Darlington.
- Chelmsford, Essex.
- Dunton Hills, Brentwood.
- Golden Valley, Cheltenham.
- South Ashford, Ashford.
- Tendring – Colchester borders.
- Skerningham, Darlington.
- Long Marston, Stratford-on-Avon.
- East of Biggleswade, Central Bedfordshire.
- North Dorchester, Dorset.
- South Seaham, Durham.
- Whetstone Pastures, Blaby.
- Uttlesford Park, Uttlesford.
- West Carclaze, Cornwall.
- Culm, Mid Devon.
- Halsnead, Knowsley.
- West of Elvington, York.
- Dunsfold Park, Waverley.
- Welbourne, Fareham.
- Meecebrook, Stafford.
- Dalton Barracks, Vale of White Horse.
- Salt Cross, West Oxfordshire.
- Infinity, South Derbyshire.
- Berinsfield, South Oxfordshire.
- Borough Green Gardens, Tonbridge and Malling.
- Bailrigg, Lancaster.
- Spitalgate Heath, South Kevesten.
- Tresham, East Northamptonshire.
- Pan-Essex.