Plans for a smart town with 1,500 homes within the New Forest National Park, Hampshire have been scrapped, with the plan described as no longer “viable”
Plans for the site of the former Fawley Power Station to become a 300 acre smart town have been pulled.
The Fawley Waterside development would have included a 330ft tower, driverless cars, a marina, an amphitheatre, and would have utilised Internet of Things (IoT) technology into the town itself, creating a science and technology innovation campus.
Companies including Cisco, Vodafone, Siemens, and IBM were part of a technical group to achieve this.
The designs of the cancelled town were also drawn up by Ben Pentreath and Léon Krier, architects noted for their former work on King Charles’ Poundbury development, Dorset.
A loss of affordable housing for the area
Despite two planning applications being approved in 2020, and demolition of the power station being completed in 2023, the plans for the smart town have been pulled.
Leader of the Lib Dem opposition group on the New Forest District Council, Malcolm Wade, voiced concerns about the loss of the affordable housing included in the plan.
“This was a golden opportunity, now snatched away, to provide much needed housing stock to alleviate our significant housing challenges right across the district,” he added.
“What concerns local people now is the prolonged delay whilst discussions over the use and future development of the site takes place.”
A spokesperson for the Fawley Waterside development said:
“The decision to withdraw the applications has not been taken lightly, but multiple assessments of the current scheme have shown that it is not viable.
“Fawley Waterside will continue working closely and collaboratively with both New Forest District Council and The New Forest National Park Authority to consider the most appropriate development strategy for the site.”
The fate of the Fawley Power Station site is unknown
Whether the scrapped smart town is still in consideration for alternative development is currently unknown.
The chair of the New Forest National Park Authority, David Bence, said: “The former power station site is, uniquely, entirely enclosed by the New Forest National Park and any successor scheme will need to meet an exceptionally high standard of design and layout that has regard to the landscape and setting of the National Park.”
The news of the pulled smart town comes hot on the heels of a Labour victory in Britain, with a key campaign promise being the delivery of 1.5m new homes and a wave of new towns across the country.
