Council ready to invest £2.6m as scheme to regenerate town centre enters second phase - what are they planning?
The second phase of a town centre regeneration project will see millions of pounds injected by the council.
Fareham Borough Council is in the process of bringing its town centre back to life, with the aim of making it ‘fit for now and another 50 years’.
Work so far has included improvements to the bus station at the botttom of town, new events such as Fareham’s Big Weekend and Festive Thursdays, and making West Street a more vibrant, accessible and social space to entice young people back into the town centre.
As the project moves into phase two, councillors will be presented with proposals for the town centre’s future later this week. At the full council meeting on Friday, February 20, they will review the proposals and vote on whether work can begin.
These plans include a potential decked car park outside Fareham Live, the demolition of an eastern third of Fareham Shopping Centre. Once the dust has settled there, that space could be used for additional parking, as well as a fresh pedestrian route through to West Street.
The report reads: “A smaller surface car park could be located adjacent to a new entrance to the Shopping Centre. This would maintain convenient, short‑stay parking provision and enhance accessibility for visitors while avoiding the need for extensive surface parking elsewhere within the site.
“The distribution of car parking will play a major role in shaping the user experience and the wider placemaking objectives of the town centre. The aim is to ensure parking is sensitively integrated - supporting ease of movement, reinforcing key arrival points, and freeing up strategic areas of the site for new public spaces.
“The council remains firmly committed to reversing the decline of Fareham town centre and securing a vibrant, resilient and economically successful future for residents, businesses and visitors.”
In total, the second phase of the project is estimated to cost £2.6m, with £1.1m of that being spent in the planning application process. According to Fareham Borough Council, the majority of this is already allocated in the annual budget, although £262,200 of that will have to come from the authority’s reserves.