Farnborough civic quarter

Our masterplan for the civic quarter

The ambitious regeneration masterplan includes proposals for the development of:

• A new leisure centre and cultural hub, including a library, community space and office space for the council and voluntary organisations
• Up to 960 new energy-efficient homes
• A new hotel
• Space for shopping and commercial development
• A replacement skatepark
• more than 1.93 hectares of green open space, including a high-quality central park
• Two mobility hubs, including a multi-storey car park, electric car charging points and cycle hire

Our Development Management Committee granted outline planning permission to the Rushmoor Development Partnership (RDP) for the masterplan at its meeting in February 2023. 

Following consent, we are moving ahead with detailed plans for the leisure and cultural hub and drawing up proposals for the individual plots across the civic quarter.

A vision for the civic quarter

Together, the regeneration proposals will create a vibrant mixed-use space, providing new opportunities for town centre living alongside active ground floor uses, such as cafes and restaurants along with the leisure centre, library and community space.

The new central park will become the focal point for events and a place to meet friends, while improved pedestrian links will help to join up the town centre and the wider area, including the Farnborough business park.

Overall, the scheme will help to encourage a sense of community, health and wellbeing, and connection, with a greater focus on arts and culture and promoting sustainability, as well as increasing footfall and local spend in the town centre.

About the civic quarter site

The civic quarter sits to the south of Farnborough town centre and is currently home to Farnborough library, the former leisure centre, which is being demolished, the council offices, Westmead House offices, the skate park, surface car parks, public open space and the now-demolished Elles Hall and police station.

Details of the proposals

New homes

The proposals include new homes designed for different housing need.

Building new homes in Farnborough continues to be one of our priorities. Overall, the Local Plan sets out a need for at least 7,850 new homes across Aldershot and Farnborough between 2014 and 2032.

The site will include 10% affordable housing. This is lower than the council target of 20% for town centre sites and 30% for out of town centre sites, but reflects the significant infrastructure costs of the development, including new sub-stations, re-routed drains and new road networks.

New commercial units and the wider town centre

The civic quarter masterplan includes space for ground floor commercial units that can be changed to a range of uses depending on the demand.

Our aim is that the new civic quarter residents and commercial tenants will help increase footfall into other parts of the town, which in turn will encourage new businesses into vacant units in the centre. 

Green open space and trees

At the heart of the civic quarter will be a new central park. As well as providing high quality green open space, the new park will host a destination play area, alongside a skatepark, and spaces for events like outdoor markets and performances. With shops and restaurants sitting alongside, the central park will offer safe, useable space throughout the day and into the evening.

We are committed to keeping the impact of any tree loss to a minimum. As part of the outline planning application for the overall site, we calculated a 'worst case scenario' assessment, but we expect the actual figure to be less. As each site comes forward for development, we will make a full assessment as part of the detailed planning application. We will also discuss with Hampshire County Council, as the highways authority, any trees that need to be removed because of road changes.

We will replace trees where they do need to be removed. We recognise that the benefit of mature trees outweighs that of newly-planted trees, so we will stagger tree removal and planting so that there is a mix of mature, semi-mature and new trees across the site by the end of the scheme. 

More widely, the Rushmoor Development Partnership is committed to achieving a biodiversity net gain of at least 10% across the civic quarter, improving natural habitats and the ecological value of the site.

Traffic and roads

The proposals would include road layout changes, including a T-junction that would replace the Pinehurst roundabout. It is not proposed to re-open the old Farnborough Road cul-de-sac.

As part of this, the Rushmoor Development Partnership carried out a modelling exercise to consider potential traffic flows at five key junctions:

• Sulzers roundabout
• Pinehurst roundabout/proposed t-junction
• Kingsmead/Victoria Road junction
• Clockhouse roundabout
• Ham and Blackbird roundabout

The modelling showed that with the proposed road improvements, the development would have very little impact on, or even improve, traffic movement on these junctions and they would still be able to operate within their designed capacity. 

The wider masterplan also promotes sustainable transport, such as car shares, bike hire and bus travel. Our plan is to include separate pedestrian and shared cycle and e-scooter lanes to protect pedestrians.

Parking

Overall, there will be more than 1,200 parking spaces across the development, including 750 public spaces, alongside residential and car sharing spaces. Our aim is for the parking offer to be as flexible as possible and for the development to support the use of alternative transport.

Helping to address climate change

The council has a target of being carbon neutral by 2030 and alongside this, the Rushmoor Development Partnership has taken great care to make sure the civic quarter scheme addresses environmental concerns. This includes:

• Delivering biodiversity net gain across the development
• Moving away from using gas to air source heat pumps for heating and hot water
• Designing the new buildings to be energy-efficient, including high levels of insulation, efficient lighting, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, as well as energy-saving controls for space heating and lighting
• Taking into account advancements in technology in the design of the buildings to reflect that it will take several years to realise the full extent of the proposed development

Heart of Farnborough group

If you are community-focused, want to make the best of your town and get involved with local events, then please consider joining our Heart of Farnborough Group. Visit our Heart of Farnborough group page for more information and to sign up to take part.