Welborne Garden Village shows how long‑term masterplanning and garden community principles can support housing delivery, quality placemaking and long-lasting public value at scale.
Delivering large‑scale housing in England demands more than meeting numerical targets. New communities are expected to support long‑term wellbeing, climate resilience and local identity, while responding to infrastructure constraints and policy scrutiny. Welborne Garden Village in Hampshire was conceived as a response to this challenge: a new settlement designed as a distinct place, to function as a complete community and mature over time.
Welborne is one of the largest and most advanced of the UK’s new garden communities. Planned as a new settlement rather than an urban extension, it provides a live example of how infrastructure‑led masterplanning and a placemaking‑first design can help translate policy ambition into a deliverable, people‑centred framework for growth.
AECOM supported Buckland Group as the landowner and master developer of Welborne Garden Village for more than a decade through to the grant of outline planning permission in 2019. Working as part of a wider multi-disciplinary team, our role spanned masterplanning and urban design, landscape and green infrastructure, infrastructure delivery planning, ecology and cost management.
A landowner‑led vision comes to life
Welborne’s approach to placemaking has been shaped by the long‑term vision and stewardship ambitions of the Hampshire-based landowner. Rather than responding with a speculative proposal, the landowner took the initiative to engage with existing regional and local planning authority processes from the outset, to contribute to shaping the concept of a new settlement.
Legacy and quality of place were central drivers. The landowner recognised that creating a successful new community would require investment, sustained involvement, clear governance and a commitment to long‑term outcomes rather than short‑term gain. This perspective helped establish an ambitious planning environment and provided continuity as the project progressed through policy formation, site-wide masterplanning and outline planning consent.
Working closely with the client, we translated this ambition into a clear spatial vision: a beautiful, well-planned new settlement that brings the amenities of small‑town life into a verdant setting, shaped by high standards of urban and landscape design. Schools, shops, employment, services and parks are planned within an interconnected network of tree-lined streets and green spaces, supporting a walkable, sociable and resilient way of life.
Reinterpreting the legacy of garden cities and suburbs
Welborne draws on the legacy of the original garden cities and suburbs, reinterpreting their principles for contemporary conditions. Lessons from Letchworth and Welwyn Garden Cities as well as Hampstead and Brentham Garden Suburbs informed early thinking about character, neighbourhood structure, street design and housing density, helping to establish a clear, place‑led vision from the outset.
Combined with contemporary best-practice urban design principles, these precedents were used to test how generous green space, tree‑lined streets and clearly defined public and private realms could be delivered at viable densities. This work helped shape a design approach that prioritises legibility, permeability and civic pride, while responding to modern requirements for movement, parking, infrastructure delivery and stewardship.
At Welborne, garden village principles are expressed through a connected street network, a clear hierarchy of centres and neighbourhoods, and landscape as a structuring element rather than residual space. 50 per cent of the Welborne area is dedicated to new and enhanced green infrastructure forming a connected network of parks, green corridors, sports areas and suitable alternative natural greenspace, supporting biodiversity, recreation and wellbeing for both new and existing communities.
In June 2023, the then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities visited Welborne, describing it as a “ground‑breaking vision for a modern garden village”.
From vision to consent: shaping a long‑term, policy‑led framework
This place‑led approach was developed alongside a sustained, policy‑driven planning process. Welborne’s inclusion in the Fareham Borough Council core strategy, followed by a dedicated area action plan, established both the principle of a new settlement and the framework needed to support it.
We led the testing of strategic masterplan options to assess capacity, environmental constraints and infrastructure requirements, helping to demonstrate that large‑scale, housing‑led growth could be delivered in a way that was policy‑compliant, viable and responsive to local character and community needs.
AECOM also led the preparation of the infrastructure delivery plan, submitted as part of the outline planning application. Developed as a ‘living document’, it brought together transport, utilities, social and green infrastructure requirements alongside cost and phasing considerations, providing a coordinated approach to infrastructure delivery supporting outline consent.
The resulting outline planning consent provides a sufficiently flexible framework for up to 6,000 homes, employment space, district and village centres, a secondary school and three primary schools, strategic transport upgrades, social infrastructure and extensive public open space. Crucially, the consent supports phased delivery, allowing the scheme to adapt as detailed design, funding and policy contexts evolve.
Maintaining design quality as phases come forward
Since the grant of outline consent, placemaking has continued to evolve substantially through the appointment of Ben Pentreath as Town Architect, the development of Strategic and Neighbourhood Design Codes and Street Manual. Carefully selected small and medium enterprise (SME) development partners have been appointed on a joint venture basis using these codes.
Combined, this has helped maintain design quality and coherence as each neighbourhood and individual phases come forward, reinforcing the original placemaking vision.
Creating public value
Construction of the first phase of 700 homes at Welborne is underway and the new settlement has recently welcomed its first residents – an important milestone for the garden village, which will eventually be home to an estimated 15,000 people. Significant investment was made in the early delivery of infrastructure, including advance mature planting, parks, and play areas – all of which were completed before the first residents moved in.
Alongside on‑site works, Buckland Group, with support from Homes England, has committed substantial funding to the M27 Junction 10 improvement scheme. The £100-million upgrade is a critical regional infrastructure project, which will enhance local connectivity and unlock the development’s full potential.
Beyond the creation of new homes and improved transport links, Welborne is delivering significant public value through investment in the local economy and employment. Around 70 per cent of consultants, contractors, and sub‑contractors involved in the development are based in Hampshire, reflecting the project’s Local First approach. This has supported local businesses and jobs while ensuring that the benefits of growth are felt by surrounding communities.
An exemplar of strategic placemaking at scale
In June 2023, the then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities visited Welborne, describing it as a “ground‑breaking vision for a modern garden village”. His comments reflected the project’s wider relevance to national debates about housing delivery, placemaking and the role that long‑term, plan‑led frameworks can play in reducing risk.
As homes, green spaces and local facilities are delivered alongside infrastructure, Welborne is beginning to realise its ambition to create a place where people can benefit from beautiful homes, greener neighbourhoods and a strong sense of belonging from the very start.