7:20am Friday 31st July 2009
By Matt Smith
A FLAGSHIP housing project that would see part of a Southampton estate bulldozed has been dealt a blow after the Government slashed its funding.
Almost £2m of funding towards a scheme to knock down part of the Thornhill estate to build new shops and more than 100 homes is now uncertain.
Housing minister John Healey unexpectedly announced the cut just days before Southampton City Council appointed Barratt and First Wessex to carry out the £14m Hinkler Parade regeneration project.
Hinkler Parade was due to get £1.9m next year from a £9.4m fund for housing growth in south Hampshire, which has been cut to £5.3m. Other projects in Gosport and Portsmouth were also due to get a slice of the cash.
Fareham council leader Sean Woodward, chairman of the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) which hands out the cash, said: “It will potentially kill off these projects. The whole vision of PUSH is targeted for the regeneration of Southampton and Portsmouth. This is a kick in the teeth.
“I am particularly disappointed that the secretary of state, Southampton MP John Denham, has not recognised the importance of Government funding support for our ambitious plans to tackle the provision of housing, employment and infrastructure in south Hampshire.”
Southampton City Council finance spokesman Councillor Jeremy Moulton said: “South-ampton is having to take thousands of new homes yet our local MP is slashing the essential funding to provide the infrastructure to support them.”
A decision on which PUSH projects will have their funding cut will be made in November.
Meanwhile Mr Healey has invited councils across the country to bid for cash from a £1.5 billion fund to build 20,000 new affordable homes over this year and next.
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