Homes England has awarded £41.25m towards the upgrade of Junction 10 of the M27, which will enable the development of a new garden village in Hampshire.
Hampshire County Council and Fareham Borough Council welcomed the news, with the county council describing completion of the funding agreement as ‘a significant milestone’.
Its cabinet has agreed that it will take on the role of delivery body for the project, ‘subject to all the necessary funding being in place'.
Junction 10 currently has restricted access, only allowing partial movements for traffic westbound off and eastbound on.
The upgrade will involve a new motorway underpass and three new slip roads to facilitate an ‘all moves’ arrangement to enable the development of the Welborne Garden Village in North Fareham. Developers of the new village will provide the remaining £50m for the road scheme.
The county council said a recent agreement with National Highways will allow it to deliver the project once design work has been completed and all remaining approvals are in place.
Rob Humby, deputy leader and executive lead member for economy, transport and environment, said: ‘We have always supported the development of a new Garden Village at Welborne and always advocated the importance of putting in place the necessary infrastructure and connectivity to leverage the full benefits for the local economy and communities.
‘As highway authority for the local road network, our transport planners and engineers are very experienced at successfully managing the development and delivery of large transport projects on our own network.
‘However, the construction of a motorway underpass on National Highways’ network, is technically complicated and requires expert and specialist engineering teams. Whilst we do not underestimate the magnitude of the task, we are proud to be leading this important milestone project.’
Sophie White, director of infrastructure grants at Homes England, said: ‘Our multi-million pound funding will provide strategic transport infrastructure for the new garden village at Welborne, unlocking 6,000 high quality homes and jobs in the area.’
Cllr Seán Woodward, executive leader of Fareham Borough Council said: ‘Over the years I have been widely quoted as saying not a brick will be laid of Welborne until all of the necessary infrastructure is identified and funding sources confirmed. Funding is now in place for the new junction of the M27 so I am delighted the project can now move forward.’
The county council has now issued an invitation to tender for the completion of the design and construction for the new junction 10. It said the works will follow the completion of National Highways’ Smart Motorway works and its own also improvement scheme at Junction 9.
Construction of the new junction is set to begin in 2023, assuming that all outstanding approvals following the completion of the junction design by the contractor can be completed to programme.
