22 April 2009 - Celebration as Rowner’s Outline Planning is Granted

The Rowner Renewal Partnership is celebrating the approval of the outline planning submission by Gosport Borough Council for the £145 million regeneration proposal to transform the centre of Rowner.

The plans followed over a year’s intense public consultation with residents and community groups to devise a MasterPlan for the eight year project to replace the existing properties with homes built to the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) standards of high quality and sustainable housing. As well as providing the existing residents with an improved environment, the regeneration scheme will deliver 37% affordable housing.

The first area to be developed will be at the southern end of Howe Road and possibly around the footbridge area of Rambler’s Drive. The whole project is expected to complete in 2017. Using over £4 million funding from the HCA, £3 million from PUSH and their own financial resources, Portsmouth Housing Association now owns over half the properties within the regeneration area.

Hazel Warwick, Spokesperson for The Rowner Renewal Partnership and Regeneration and Development Director of Portsmouth Housing Association said:

“This is a very exciting day for the Partnership and represents over three years’ hard work in the planning and public consultation. The Partnership will now work on the detailed planning application for the first phase of the development with the view to start on site in late summer/autumn 2009.”

“The area at the southern end of the site is now largely empty and we are looking to re-house those remaining as soon as possible so that we are ready for the regeneration to begin.  Our detailed architectural drawings for each individual phase will be exhibited as soon as they are available and we will continue to engage with all residents and community stakeholders.”

David Ashworth, Director of Development for the Homes and Communities in the South East said:

“This approval comes after extensive consultation with residents and we are delighted that we can now move to preparing detailed designs for the first phase.  I would like to thank all those who participated in the consultation and the preparation of the planning application. “

Since the submission in early January, the Partnership has continued to engage with residents and community groups. At the end of January the Partnership invited residents to the Nimrod Community Centre to view the plans over two days. The event was staffed by Portsmouth Housing Association and representatives from the architects John Thompson & Partners were there to answer any queries.

Approximately 65 visitors came to the exhibition. While there was some constructive criticism including suggestions on how to improve room lay-outs and some concerns regarding the finance, the plans were generally well received, welcomed and seen as a great improvement to the area.

A small number of concerns were also raised directly with Gosport Borough Council planning department and the Partnership responded directly to these with a leaflet explaining in more detail their intentions.

It outlined areas such as:

• Estate layout
• Sustainability and energy efficiency
• Property design and standards
• Local environment and recreational spaces
• General design information
• Traffic issues
• Parking

You can download the Rowner Response leaflet here or find it on the Downloads page.