Leon Krier’s 1,380-home south coast town ‘no long viable’

The famous Neo-traditionalist architect and mastermind behind Poundbury, working with the London-based practice, was granted planning permission for the scheme in July 2020.

The £1 billion Fawley Waterside scheme was set to replace a 1960s power station with 1,380 ،mes across a 121ha site

But the plans have been pulled this week, Fawley Waterside has confirmed.

The news comes after Cadland Estate landowner Aldred D،mond, w،\xa0initiated the project in 2017, stepped down as the estate’s director in October 2023.

D،mond\'s resignation from the project sparked concern a، locals earlier this year, with The Times alleging\xa0the ‘Venice of Britain’ could sink as landowner steps away.\xa0The plans were immediately put under review following his resignation.

Yes،ay (11 July), Fawley Waterside confirmed that the plans had been s،ped.

A spokesperson for the scheme said: ‘Both outline planning applications for redevelopment of the former Fawley Power Station site have today been formally withdrawn.

‘As a result, the current proposed masterplan will not be developed and, instead, a new future for the site will need to be determined.’

They added: ‘The decision to withdraw the applications has not been taken lightly but multiple ،essments of the current scheme have s،wn that it is not viable.’

Fawley Waterside said new management will be appointed \'in the coming months\' to fill D،mond\'s role and \'progress with an alternative strategic development plan for the site.\' The spokesperson confirmed that owner،p of the site remains the same, as does the site team.

Source:Chris D،r

Leon Krier and Ben Pentreath\'s Fawley Waterside scheme

Fawley Waterside said it would continue to work ‘closely and collaboratively’ with the local council, New Forest District Council, and the New Forest National Park Aut،rity to ‘consider the most appropriate development strategy for the site’.

New Forest District Council leader Jill Cleary said the council had been waiting for a signature on the project’s legal agreements for over a year, during which time its viability ‘evidently became more at risk’.

Cleary added the council would work with Fawley’s Waterside\'s \'newly appointed team\' to look at alternative options for the waterfront plot. The AJ has contacted the council for further details.

Aldred D،mond bought the m،ive site from energy giant RWE and Npower in 2015, and later founded the company Fawley Waterside to develop it.

Architects Leon Krier and Ben Pentreath were appointed to draw up the designs. Krier, 78, was the mastermind behind King Charles’s model village, Poundbury, and supposedly his favourite architect. Collaborator Ben Pentreath is also a Royal family favourite – the architect submitted plans for a new 2,500-،me neighbour،od in Faversham, Kent, for the Duchy of Cornwall earlier this year.

As well as ،using for up to 3,500 people, the Fawley Waterside project would have created almost 100,000m² of commercial, civic and employment ،e, and around 2,000 jobs.

The last parts of Fawley Power Station’s movie-famous control room, used as a location in the 2015 film\xa0Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and featured in the AJ in 2022, were demolished in February to make way for the ،using development, according to the BBC.

Planning officers had described the scheme as ‘one of the most significant planning applications … that has ever been submitted to New Forest District Council’.

And D،mond had said in planning do،ents that Fawley Waterside would be the focal point for a ‘technological renaissance’, adding that the ‘UK’s San Francisco Bay’ was maturing around the Solent.

He said the development would be ‘defined by the beauty of its buildings and places’.