Fawley power station site: 'New town' plan submitted

Plans have been submitted to build a new town on the site of a former power station.

The £1bn Fawley Waterside scheme in Hampshire would incorporate 1,500 homes and 2,000 jobs, developers said.

The oil-fired Fawley Power Station, between the New Forest and Southampton Water, was decommissioned in 2013 after operating for more than 40 years.

Developers said the station's landmark 650ft (198m) chimney would be demolished in 2020.

Developer and site owner Fawley Waterside Ltd said there was "disappointment in the local community" about the prospective loss of the chimney, which it said was "one of the largest buildings in Britain".

Chief executive Aldred Drummond said: "I'm a keen sailor so I see it from wherever I am in the Solent so despite its ugliness it has an obvious attraction.

"But it was a big, polluting building. The reason this power station was closed down was because of its pollution so we have to remember that."

The plans, lodged with New Forest District Council, include a replacement 330ft (100m) tower that would "act as a navigational aid for sailors".

A dock, boat stack and canal would enable jobs to be created in the marine sector as well as in "digital industries", the developer said.

The power station's turbine hall basement would be used to park 2,000 cars.

The developer said there would be "limited widening" and roundabout improvements on the nearby A326, following "understandable local concern" about extra traffic.

Fawley Waterside Ltd, acting through investment firm Long Harbour, bought the 300-acre site for £25m in 2015.

The Drummond family owns the Cadland Estate which surrounds the site.

Building work is scheduled to begin in 2021 and the first homes would be available two years later.