MULTI-MILLION pound plans to tear down Fareham’s “Berlin Wall” in order to build new affordable homes have been unveiled.

Fareham Borough Council will spend £2.85m on redeveloping the former Hampshire Rose pub site on Highlands Road in Fareham which has been left as a derelict wasteland since 2005.

The plans for one of the council’s most expensive social housing schemes will see the construction of 18 one and two-bed affordable flats, in four blocks, with associated parking.

The authority claims the development will help to ease the pressure on the housing waiting list.

Currently, 1,000 people are waiting to be housed in the borough with the majority of them wanting a one or two-bed flat.

After the pub closed in 2005, private developers purchased the site with the hope of building luxury residential housing but their plans were thrown out.

The site was then purchased by Hampshire County Council in October 2010 after a bidding war with rival developers with the aim of building a children’s centre.

However, the county council abandoned the scheme shortly after and in November 2014 sold the land to the borough council so they could develop plans to provide new affordable housing.

Councillor Peter Davies, who has represented Fareham North West on the borough council for 31 years, said he was looking forward to liberating Fareham’s Berlin Wall which he labelled an ‘eyesore’.

He added: “The site as it is at the moment is totally overgrown and a blot on the landscape.

“After the council purchased the site almost two years ago, I welcome the submission of the plans which will provide much needed social housing in the town.”

Councillor Sean Woodward, the leader of the council said: “The scheme is a much-needed investment to get people off the housing waiting list which currently stands at 1,000 people.

“We have a desperate need for affordable housing in Fareham and this development will help to address that plus it’s a brownfield site which currently looks horrible.”

Councillor Roger Price, the leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, added: “The site has been left untidy for many years so the principal of new housing is welcomed on the former Hampshire Rose site.”

Construction on the site could begin later this year if planning consent is given in the Autumn. The plans are expected to be submitted in the next week.