A centre four times the size of today's was approved on 16 October. Building starts before the end of 2026 and the council now expects it finished by spring 2028.

The new Fareham Park Community Centre has planning permission. The council approved its own application on 16 October 2026, according to the planning register record for P/26/0868/D3. Building work will start before the end of the year, the council said on 21 October.

The bigger change is the finish date. When the application went in, the council’s project page said it was “likely to be at least 3 years” before the centre was complete. That would have meant 2029. The Fareham Park project page now says the council expects the works “to be completed by Spring 2028”.

What has been approved

The building goes on Fareham Park Recreation Ground, on the south side of Henry Cort Drive, PO15 6NA. It replaces the existing centre on the north side of the road. The council says the new one will be around four times larger than the current building, which it describes as the smallest community centre in the borough.

The approved design includes:

  • a main hall and a secondary hall
  • youth and pre-school spaces
  • a quiet and counselling room
  • a kitchen and social areas
  • a pétanque terrain with floodlights, and outdoor landscaping
  • air source heat pumps and solar panels

Neilcott Construction is the builder. Boyle & Summers of Southampton is the architect and the agent on the application, which the council’s leisure services department made.

Councillor Frair Burgess, the council’s executive member for leisure and community, said the existing centre “no longer meets the community’s needs”. She said the new one would “provide modern, flexible spaces to help strengthen community connections”.

Who will run it

The council says the centre will be run by a community association made up of local organisations, services and residents. It is looking for people to join. You can email leisure@fareham.gov.uk or call 01329 824495.

The money

The project page still says the council is “exploring options for more external funding” to pay for the community centre, and has hired a bid writer to help. It records £700,000 from the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund, allocated to the masterplan and the first phase, the play area that opened in September 2025. Neither the press release nor the project page gives a cost for the building.

What it means for you

If you use the current Fareham Park centre, it stays open while the new one is built across the road. The council’s plan is that the old site becomes affordable housing only once the new centre is finished. That third phase needs its own planning permission, so there will be a separate application to comment on.

If you live near the recreation ground, expect site works to begin before Christmas. The council has not yet published a start date, working hours or any change to parking or paths around the site. We will add them when it does.

We first reported the plans in August: Fareham Park Community Centre plans in. For other decisions across the borough, see our Fareham planning news page.