Hampshire council area

Selling Land in Gosport

Gosport has the lowest housing delivery result in Hampshire and almost no open land to build on. On this peninsula, the land that counts is inside the town: old yards, commercial plots, large gardens and former defence sites, and the council's new plan is built around exactly that.

Free review of your land in Gosport

We pay for the planning, at our own cost and risk
Your price is agreed up front, in writing
If planning is refused, you keep your land and owe nothing

Gosport at a Glance

Gosport Borough Council covers a peninsula of 2,750 hectares on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, surrounded on three sides by the Solent, taking in the town of Gosport, Lee-on-the-Solent, Rowner and the Haslar peninsula. Its adopted plan calls it one of the most densely populated areas in the South East, at 32.6 people per hectare. There is no railway station in the borough. The Gosport Ferry, one of the busiest passenger ferry routes in the country, links it to Portsmouth Harbour station, and the Eclipse busway, which follows the line of a former railway, connects Gosport with Fareham.

25% in the Housing Delivery Test 2025. The council built 257 homes against a requirement of 1,020, the lowest result of Hampshire's eleven district and borough councils, so it is treated as having evidenced unmet housing need.
A plan from 2015. The current Local Plan, adopted on 14 October 2015, covers 2011 to 2029. Its replacement, the Gosport Borough Local Plan 2042, is at submission stage.
A large gap between need and capacity. The new plan proposes about 2,500 homes to 2042, against the 7,378 that the government's standard method asks for.
No Green Belt. Beyond the urban area, the 2015 plan protects settlement gaps towards Fareham and Stubbington and treats the Alver Valley, with its country park, as a green regeneration area.

All of this points the same way. A private landowner in Gosport is far more likely to hold something useful inside the urban area than on its edge, and national policy has rarely been more supportive of that kind of land.

Gosport in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
25%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
257
of 1,020 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
October 2015
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Published for consultation
As at March 2026.

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Where Developable Land Comes From on a Peninsula

Inside a settlement, policy S4 of the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework says development should be approved unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits. That applies whatever the council's housing figures are, and in Gosport it covers almost the whole borough. Combined with a delivery result of 25%, it means the council has every reason to welcome well-designed homes on land that is already built on or enclosed by the town.

The land that tends to come forward in Gosport is small and scattered rather than large and open:

Commercial yards and workshops, including builders' yards, garages and depots that have outgrown their location.
Redundant buildings such as older offices, halls, clubs and single-storey shops with space behind or above.
Large gardens and backland plots with a workable access, in the older parts of the town where plots are generous.
Waterfront and boatyard land, where marine uses have wound down and the council's policies on employment and the waterfront have to be addressed.
Land held with a former defence or institutional use, where the buildings have closed and the site sits within the urban area.

When the 2015 plan was adopted, it recorded that the peninsula was reached by just three road routes, the A32, Newgate Lane and Stubbington Lane, and that parts of the A32, Rowner Road and Newgate Lane had reached capacity. With limited roads and no railway, parking and traffic weigh more heavily in Gosport than in most towns, so a backland scheme is often judged on how cars reach it as much as on the homes themselves. Rights over a shared drive, a strip of land in someone else's name at the entrance, or a neighbour's window facing the plot can each decide the outcome. The access and ransom strips guide covers the first two, and we check all of them in the desktop review before anyone visits.

The Gosport Borough Local Plan 2042

The council published its draft plan on 5 March 2026 and consulted on it until 16 April 2026, followed by an addendum of changes consulted on between 20 July and 1 September 2026. The addendum deleted policy RA8, the regeneration policy for Rowner, and a leisure allocation at the Criterion. The combined submission plan was due before the council's Economic Regeneration and Skills Board on 24 September 2026 and Full Council on 14 October 2026, after which it goes to a planning inspector for examination.

The plan puts previously developed land first. The council says it will use brownfield sites to create homes and local jobs, particularly in marine and advanced manufacturing, and open up parts of the harbour and Solent waterfront that the public has not been able to reach. It names Fort Blockhouse and the town centre among its key sites.

The Shortfall the Plan Does Not Meet

At about 2,500 homes, the plan meets roughly a third of the standard method figure. East Hampshire District Council, responding to the consultation, worked the need out at 434 homes a year over 17 years, calculated a gap of 4,878 homes and said it would consider unmet need from Gosport, Havant and Portsmouth, though possibly only in its southern parishes and after its own needs. Until that shortfall is resolved, Gosport's own low delivery keeps national policy firmly on the side of suitable homes inside the borough.

The Regeneration Areas

The council has long focused change on a small number of large sites, most of them former naval or defence land. They matter to other landowners because they bring new roads, services and investment, and because they show where the council wants activity to be.

Area	What is happening
Gosport Waterfront and town centre	The regeneration area at the heart of the town, backed by baseline and consultation reports, with the town centre named again as a key site in the new plan.
Fort Blockhouse	Part of the Haslar peninsula, identified in 2015 for mixed leisure and maritime uses and named by the council as one of the key sites in the new plan.
Haslar	The former Royal Hospital Haslar and neighbouring land, identified in the 2015 plan for mixed uses led by medical, health and care.
Daedalus	Part of the Solent Enterprise Zone, with the airfield, its coastal position and its historic core as the assets the 2015 plan builds on.
Alver Valley	A green regeneration area, guided by the 2014 Alver Valley Country Park strategy, rather than a housing area.

If your land is next to one of these areas, its prospects can change as they are built. A site that is awkward today can be better connected once a new road or access opens next door.

The Strategic Gap, the Coast and the Alver

Beyond the urban area boundary there is very little farmland left. Most of it lies in the settlement gaps between Gosport and Fareham and between Lee-on-the-Solent and Stubbington, whose character and function the 2015 plan says will be preserved. The unmet need route in policy S5 can apply outside settlements, but inside a gap the loss of openness weighs heavily, so we would be cautious about field-scale housing there.

The coast is the other constant. Gosport is a low-lying coastal borough at risk of tidal flooding, and the 2015 plan put 380 hectares, 15% of its land, in Flood Zones 2 and 3. Our flood risk guide explains how the sequential test and flood-resistant design apply.

New homes here also have to show they will not add to nutrient pollution in the Solent, and pay towards managing recreational pressure on the shoreline birds. Bird Aware Solent's charge covers homes built within 5.6 kilometres of the protected areas; since 1 April 2026 it has been £501 per one-bedroom home, rising to £1,299 where a home has five bedrooms or more. These are fixed costs of any scheme, and they are allowed for from the start.

What We Look for in Gosport

Yards, depots, garages and workshops inside the urban area, especially where the business is moving or closing.
Redundant commercial or community buildings with land around them.
Large gardens or backland with a realistic, independent access.
Sites next to or close to the regeneration areas, where new access or services are planned.
Land mostly outside the highest tidal flood risk, or with enough dry ground for the homes.
Groups of adjoining plots where neighbours are willing to put land forward together.

Former marine and defence land in Gosport often needs a contamination survey and a tidal flood assessment before a layout can even be drawn. We pay for and run all of that work, along with the drainage and design reports, and if permission is not granted you keep your property and owe us nothing. Sites like these are what our brownfield and yards page is about.

Questions About Land in Gosport

Gosport is at 25%. Does that help a small site inside the town?

Yes, though the main support comes from policy S4, which already favours suitable homes inside settlements. The low delivery result adds weight to the need for them, which helps when a scheme has to be balanced against neighbours' concerns or the loss of a business use.

I run a business from a yard. Would losing the employment use count against it?

It can. The new plan puts weight on local jobs, particularly in marine business and advanced manufacturing, so the case has to show why the site is no longer needed for that use or why homes are the better outcome. We prepare that evidence as part of the planning work.

Is my field in the strategic gap worth putting forward?

Usually not for housing on its own. The adopted plan commits to preserving the gaps, and the peninsula has very little open land left. There are exceptions, such as land already built on, and we will tell you plainly which applies.

Could my land be affected by the new plan even if it is not allocated?

Yes. Once adopted, the plan sets the urban area boundary, the regeneration policies and the rules on employment and open space that every application is judged against. We check the submission version against your land.

My plot is in a flood zone. Does that rule it out?

Not always. About 15% of the borough is in Flood Zones 2 and 3, and many schemes are designed with raised floor levels and safe escape routes. It does mean more evidence, which we commission and pay for.

Tell Us About Your Land in Gosport

It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly. We reply within 2 working days, in confidence.

About your land

Which council area is the land in?

Own land in more than one area? Choose one here and tell us about the others below.

Postcode or nearest village *

Approximate size in acres

About 4.0 hectares. Not sure? Give your best guess.

Current use

Where is it?

Access

Land Registry title number (optional)

Your details

We need a phone number or an email address, whichever you prefer.

Your name *

Phone

Best time to call (optional)

Anything else we should know? (optional)

We use your details only to reply about your land. We do not contact the council or anyone else about it without your agreement. See our privacy notice.

Sources

We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.