Hampshire County Council has approved spending £1.1 billion over three years on its capital programme, which includes major highways, waste, and school projects across the county.
The money will be spend on services that affect residents, including road improvements, bridge repairs, school refurbishment, county parks maintenance, coastal defences, and waste centres.
On a decision day on January 20, the executive member of universal services, Cllr Kristy North, approved the capital programme, which will spend £1.14 billion over three years.
From the total budget, 75 per cent will be spent on highways and transport, 16 per cent on the property, and the rest is divided between recreation and flood, coastal defences and waste.
The programme is funded by £899.55 million of external resources funding and £242 million of local funding.
The £1.14 billion programme included more than 90 highway projects, the addition of six schools to the schools condition programme (SCP) that will undertake re-roofing and thermal improvement works, and the construction of a new materials recovery facility (MRF) at Eastleigh, with a value of £50.5 million.
Cllr North said: “Despite the challenges we [Hampshire County Council] face, it is a really significant capital programme, and there is a lot of welcoming investment in there.”
Included in the 90 highways and transport projects, with an expenditure of £853 million, is the M27 Junction 10 plan, with an increased budget from £97.5 million to £113.5 million. That scheme is all about revamping the junction to support new homes and jobs at Welborne Garden Village near Fareham.
Also included is the new Botley Bypass, with an increased budget of £48.22 million; the Havant Footbridge replacement project, which is anticipated to start later in 2026; and the construction of a new materials recovery facility in Eastleigh, with a budget of £50.5 million.
The property services department, which is in charge of the council’s buildings, including school buildings, has a budget of £185 million.
Six schools are added to the SCP, forming part of a re-roofing and thermal improvement programme.
Four of these schemes, worth £550,000, will take place at Wootey Infant, Kingsclere Primary, Bursledon Junior, and Gomer Infant.
Kings School and Purbrook Infant will also be part of the proposal but with different budgets proposed. Both schemes aim to re-roof and upgrade the thermal performance.
Under the property budget, £1.5m will be invested in the corporate estate to improve energy efficiency at the council’s buildings, including boiler, LED lighting, and roofing upgrades.
The £24m budget for recreation, which looks after the county parks, includes an additional £655,000 for improvement works at Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve.
Funding will also be released for the Hayling Billy Trail Improvements, the protection of the Basingstoke Canal, and the Country Park Transformation (CPT) programme, which will see improvements at Lepe Park, Royal Victoria, River Hamble, Staunton, and the Queen Elizabeth country parks.
Lastly, the waste and environment area will have a budget of £78.5m. This will include constructing the £50.5 m new materials recovery facility in Eastleigh that is expected to be open by 2027, council officers confirmed.
Schemes such as the ‘B3400 Andover Down Pedestrian Improvement’, the ‘Sleaford Lights Junction’ and the ‘Calshot Futures’ have been removed from the programme.
Funding has been reduced for others, such as the Ladybridge Bus Priority and Pedestrian/Cycle Enhancement, the Andover Town Centre—Western Avenue, and the Junction Road, Totton.
For the first time, this year’s capital programme has been prepared on an expenditure basis. This means that the programme sets an overall scheme value and then profiles the expenditure by financial year, covering the period over which the completion of a scheme is expected to take place.
Director of universal services Patrick Blogg said the programme indicated that this approach would offer more transparency, clarity, and better planning for the authority.