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Date submitted

30 July 2026

Submitted by

Interested party

Gosport is a unique peninsula with finite land, constrained transport links and significant challenges in meeting the needs of its growing community. Every major development has a lasting impact on our Borough and must be considered not only in isolation, but in terms of its cumulative effect on our residents, infrastructure and future prosperity. I do not believe this proposal is the right fit for Gosport. Whilst I fully recognise the Government's responsibility to provide immigration detention facilities, I do not believe this proposal adequately addresses the significant and long-term consequences for our Borough. It would result in the permanent loss of one of Gosport's most important strategic housing and regeneration sites, removing the opportunity to deliver around 225 much-needed homes, including affordable housing, at a time when the Borough is already struggling to meet housing demand. Beyond the loss of housing, I remain deeply concerned about the cumulative impact of this proposal. Questions remain over the capacity of our already constrained road network, the lack of certainty surrounding future transport mitigation, the implications for emergency access and evacuation, the pressure on local health services, the absence of published evidence to support key assessments, and the potential impacts on policing, fire and ambulance services. The application also raises significant concerns regarding flood risk, ecology, operational disturbance to neighbouring residents, and the long-term implications of a development that appears capable of accommodating a future prison use. I am equally concerned about the impact on the wider regeneration of the Haslar peninsula. This is one of the most important regeneration opportunities in the Borough, with the potential to deliver homes, employment, investment and economic growth whilst respecting and enhancing one of Gosport's most significant heritage assets. This proposal risks fundamentally altering that vision for generations to come. The application, as submitted, is also hampered by extensive redactions and a lack of supporting information in a number of critical areas. This has made meaningful public scrutiny and a comprehensive planning assessment extremely difficult. Transparency is fundamental to maintaining public confidence in the planning process, particularly for a proposal of this scale and significance. Taken together, these concerns lead me to conclude that the proposal has not demonstrated that it represents sustainable development in this location or that its wider impacts on Gosport have been properly understood or mitigated. I therefore respectfully object to this application and ask that the Secretary of State gives full and proper consideration to its cumulative impact on housing delivery, regeneration, transport, healthcare, emergency services, heritage, the environment and, above all, the residents of Gosport. Gosport has always played its part in serving the nation. However, that must be balanced against the needs of our own community. This proposal would have profound and lasting consequences for the future of our Borough, and I do not believe those consequences have been sufficiently justified or addressed. I therefore respectfully request that the application is reconsidered in light of these significant concerns.